 Nostalgia for The System By Volodymyr SENCHENKO |
The 1st of December is an important date for Ukraine. Other historically important dates since the year 1991 include Independence Day, the 24th of August and Constitution Day, the 28th of June. But it was on the 1st of December 1991 that the people of Ukraine voted "yes" for Ukraine to be an independent nation. In an all-Ukrainian referendum, 90.3% of the population voted in favor of separation from the U.S.S.R. This was the start of the official dissolution of that union which had lasted so many decades and which is now frequently referenced as the former Soviet Union or the FSU (as in "...Ukraine, which was a member of the FSU").... The then leaders of three Slavic countries, Leonid Kravchuk (Ukraine), Boris Yeltsin (Russia), and Stanislav Shushkevych (Belarus), wasted no time and on the 8th of December of the same year they signed the Declaration on Dissolution of the U.S.S.R.
Each year since 1991 the Ukrainian mass media mark the 1st of December and bring focus to it as an important historical event for Ukraine. It becomes a time for reviewing events subsequent to that date. The day when almost all of the population of the country, regardless of their national origins, expressed a desire to live in an independent county.
As various people and groups, including even those sometimes called oligarchs, begin to look back at what has come to pass since 1991 the Ukrainian mass media express their own vision of the gains and losses of Ukraine and its people during the twelve years of the nation's independence. Pro-authorities mass media try to find mostly positive changes along with some few difficulties. Those on the radical right and left in opposition list primarily the losses.
Of course, there have been both gains and losses since independence.
The Ukrainian population has been most negatively impacted by the loss of some of the social benefits that had been provided in the FSU: these losses have been in the education sector, in the health system (free delivery of adequate medical care), access to free dwelling places and in the availability at stable low prices of essential commodities. However, while one shouldn't forget that Soviet people enjoyed those benefits, it should also be remembered at the same time that the average person received very low remuneration for his/her work. Still many see mostly the losses since Independence and the collapse of the Soviet Union arouses in many an overall discontent in current Ukraine.
It's interesting to note that at the beginning of Independence no one expected the perks provided by the Soviet system to end. Everyone hoped and believed all of the gains of socialism would be preserved. At that time these social benefits were considered essential and not something that one could be deprived of. The people anticipated retaining all available benefits and at the same time being able to enjoy new dynamics of development in economy, science, culture etc., as well as obtaining guarantees of personal freedoms.
A second strong negative impact on the country and its people was Ukraine's unanticipated fall into the category of less developed or even third world country. In discussions about the state of the country Ukrainians widely use the expression: "It's a pity for the country". After all, not long ago Ukraine was the third leading country in terms of nuclear arms potential. The country maintained the second largest army in the whole of Europe - almost one million soldiers. In economic terms Ukraine was among the top ten countries in the world. These factors gave Ukrainians hope and belief in a better future for their country under Independence.
The logic for such reasoning was quite simple and understandable: it would be easier for a smaller country such as Ukraine (compared to the territory of the U.S.S.R.) to achieve a better life as an independent state. Also the ruling power structures would be "closer" to the people and their needs. Judging from the results from the above mentioned referendum, the people showed their lack of desire to live in "all-equal" (communist) society where from the Far East of Russia, Kamchatka, to the West of the U.S.S.R., the city of Kaliningrad there was the same type of architecture and city planning, only one culture - Soviet etc. Ukrainian society was "escaping" from a system where everything was centralized; and where even the simple right to publish student textbooks belonged solely and exclusively to Moscow.
Inefficient central planning which caused production and delivery problems of immense proportions was accompanied by total conformism and during the years of perestroika all this was called by one word - "The System". The System was seen as the source and cause for all of the problems and troubles of the country which created frustration for the people. The System exhausted all "vital forces" of the developed regions of the U.S.S.R. Ukraine was one of those regions. This was done for the sake of achieving ambitious imperial plans for Soviet hegemony, for the sake of prestige of the superpower. The System took away most of Ukraine's resources necessary for development and progress.
The truth as has now been found is that the results of twelve years development as independent Ukraine is that the expected gains have not materialized and the losses have been many. And yet Ukrainian society hasn't loss hope in a better future and hasn't recoiled against or much less rejected their country's independent status. Recent polling data shows that two-thirds of Ukraine's citizens still want to live in an independent country. Yes, this is a smaller percentage than those who voted in favor of independence on December 1, 1991. But when Ukraine's catastrophic economic and political losses are considered, such a percentage of the population still seen supporting independent status is seen as positive and optimistic.
Still, the rather high population percentage (36.9%), which seems to have nothing against living in a "liberal Russian Empire", arouses some surprise. A well-known Russian politician, the head of "Unified Energy Systems", Anatoliy Chubais recently noted this political development towards the direction of Russia. Who could have foreseen 15-20 years ago that some part of Ukrainian society would be looking for some of the values of the System? Perhaps some thought that there would be some nostalgia for certain features of the System? Personally I didn't know of and have not heard anything about such "prophets".
Looking for an answer to such a "U-turn" in collective consciousness, Ukraine's mass media call such a thing "an expression" or even "a coefficient of national sadomasochism". And the media advise Ukrainians "to gradually distil the 'slave complex' out of themselves". Why are they mentioning sadomasochism or slave consciousness, when these very people prefer independent Ukraine? Probably, the cause isn't in the national specifics of the Ukrainian mentality, but in something else.
As for me, an ordinary citizen of Ukraine, the cause is in the corruption of Ukrainian power, its division by clans. The problem lies in the fact that the power isn't able to protect ordinary citizens from the self-will of corrupted officials "privatized" by oligarchs.
Officials "privatized" by an oligarchic clan serve only his/her master. They ignore basic citizens' rights and dignity in pernicious ways and without fear of penalty. These officials make exceptions only for citizens who pay separate fees. Naturally, ordinary citizens look for their protection and for punishment to be meted out to these officials. And they can't find that in Ukraine. So, here one recalls the prior experiences of ordinary citizens in the centralized Soviet system - a time when Ukrainian, Georgian, as well as other peoples and group's citizens were subordinate to a central, all-Union power structure. At that time Moscow had, of course, its own clans, but those were Moscow groups. They were fighting between themselves, but in the situation where someone from other parts of the U.S.S.R. - periphery - appealed to them for help, they were able to rather actively and quickly settle all matters in each specific case. And in order to show their necessity and energy, Moscow central structures were quite often eager to show refrain from scorn and bias in other regions of the empire. Frankly speaking, central power was afraid of actions of regions of the country. Besides, the ruling Communist party "backed up" the regions of the U.S.S.R.
One acquaintance of mine who has been living permanently in the U.S. for many years (by the way, he's happy about it) answered my question on nostalgia in this way: "I long for doors covered with red fabric. One could find truth and protection behind those doors". (Doors on the studies of Communist party leaders were covered with red fabric.)
So, central structures were perceived by citizens as more or less objective and unbiased "referees". Now there are no such referees. The European court appears to be of little use to Ukrainians. During the last few years it received appeals from more than 13 thousand Ukrainians, but only three thousand appeals were reviewed. Appeal procedure for this court appears to be too complicated and bureaucratized.
What can ordinary Ukrainians do to resist the corruption and the self-will of Ukrainian officials? As of now, nothing. We must accept self-sacrifice to the current order as our fate. And this has become quite common throughout all Ukraine. Occasionally people having no other way and being brought to total despair engage the most extreme of actions: they may seize an official's office, set themselves on fire, or even blow themselves up with explosives. And quite often people who do such things are higher educated and otherwise mature individuals who don't have a "slave consciousness".
Thus, the apparent willingness of 37% of the Ukrainian population to live under the conditions of a "liberal empire" is neither sadomasochism nor caused by "slave consciousness", but primarily due to the corruption in the Ukrainian power structure.
It's good, however, that the extreme actions described above are done by separate individuals and are not of a mass character. Such actions can be used by the opposition during elections. It would be worse if people in despair consolidated in groups. However, such a scenario at least becomes possible if not probable. It's possible that within the opposition there can be specialists who would be able to use the despair of the 37% of the Ukrainian population who support the idea of a "liberal empire". This despair of the 37% can be used by the opposition for reaching its political goals. And in such a way some "steam" of excessive pressure may be released from Ukrainian society.
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Read also previous issue' articles:
The Herodotus of Ukrainian History
Ukrainians Want A Country That Respects Them
Ukraine's Brain Drain
Chauvinistic Smoke A Few Words on Russia
A walk on the underside
Re-inventing Production: Military Giants Discover Consumer Goods
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