From the formal establishment of thePeople's Movement of Ukraine on 1 July 1989 to the formalisation of theDeclaration of Independence of Ukraine viareferendum on 1 December 1991, a non-violent protest movement worked to achieve Ukrainian independence from theSoviet Union.[1] Led bySoviet dissidentViacheslav Chornovil, the protests began as a series ofstrikes in theDonbas that led to the removal of longtime communist leaderVolodymyr Shcherbytsky. Later, the protests grew in size and scope, leading to ahuman chain across the country andwidespread student protests against the falsification of the1990 Ukrainian Supreme Soviet election. The protests were ultimately successful, leading to the independence of Ukraine amidst the broaderdissolution of the Soviet Union.
Marked by widespread displays of support for the cause of Ukrainian independence, the revolution ultimately acquired the support of large numbers of the population and ruling Communist Party elite, allowing Ukraine to become independent from the Soviet Union peacefully. Its causes include a mix of economic and political justifications, primarily relating to economic downturn and mismanagement,Russification, and authoritarianism during theEra of Stagnation and Shcherbytsky's 17-year rule. After the revolution, the democratic movement failed to replicate its successes in independent Ukraine, a fact owed to the splintering of the movement along ideological lines and the achievement of its primary goal. The revolution continues to be celebrated in present-day Ukraine, and theIndependence Day of Ukraine is a national holiday.
Ukraine became independent from Russia as theUkrainian People's Republic in 1917. Divided in 1921 between theSecond Polish Republic andSoviet Union,[2] the remainingwestern portion of Ukraine was furtherannexed by the Soviet Union as part of theMolotov–Ribbentrop Pact[3] and formalised by the 1945Potsdam Conference.[4] 3.5 to 5 million Ukrainians were killed in the 1932–1933Holodomor, a famine created by the Soviet government. Present-day historians debate whether the famine was an act ofgenocide against Ukrainians, a result ofcollectivisation in the Soviet Union, or an unintentional byproduct of collectivisation that was subsequently weaponised against Ukrainians.[5] Ukrainians fought in both theRed Army[6] and theUkrainian Insurgent Army (which was at various points allied with[7] or fighting against[8]Nazi Germany) during World War II. The Ukrainian Insurgent Army continued to fight the Soviets after the war until 1949, though some units continued fighting until 1956.[9]
During theEra of Stagnation, theUkrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was ruled by First SecretaryVolodymyr Shcherbytsky, a close ally of Soviet leaderLeonid Brezhnev and a member of hisDnipropetrovsk Mafia political clique. Shcherbytsky took aim at nationally minded members of the Ukrainian intelligentsia; a 1973–1975 purge of theCommunist Party of Ukraine resulted in the removal of around 5% of the party's members, and every member of theUkrainian Helsinki Group of human rights activists was arrested and deported to labour camps. This was matched bya general crackdown on Ukrainian culture, a purge of Ukrainian academia and cultural institutions, and the systematic targeting of the Ukrainian language by the government. The 1979 removal ofValentyn Malanchuk [uk], who had overseen the purges, did little to stem the tide of Russification, and further events celebrating the Russification of Ukraine occurred in 1982.[10]
On top of political concerns, the Ukrainian economy continued to decline throughout the 1970s and 1980s, particularly in the easternDonbas region, where metallurgy and coal mining were the main economic activities. The shift from coal to nuclear power devastated the local economy, and a combination of overly-centralised collective farms and droughts negatively affected Ukraine's agricultural economy. The 1986Chernobyl disaster further galvanised growing opposition to the Soviet government in Ukraine.[10] The liberalisation of Soviet society as part ofPerestroika allowed greater room for free expression and self-identification,[11] but the majority of these changes did not affect Ukraine to the same extent as other Soviet republics, or other countries within theEastern Bloc. In 1989, however, Ukrainian pro-independence activity exploded, particularly in Western Ukraine, which had little experience being under Russia compared to other parts of Ukraine.[12]
A series of strikes by coal miners began in the Donbas on 18 July 1989, spurred by simultaneous strikes by miners in theKuzbass region of Russia. The strikes, while based primarily on economic misfortunes, were also pro-independence in nature; the leaders of the strikes expressed overt support for the independence of Ukraine from the Soviet Union, so that the country could better manage its own economy. The response from Shcherbytsky's government was to use state media to discredit the strikers and restrict information about the spread of the strikes.[13] The demands of the strikes became more overtly political, calling for the resignation of Shcherbytsky andValentyna Shevchenko,Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada.[14]
By August 1989, Shcherbytsky's position within the Communist Party was tenuous. On one hand was intense pressures from the strikes,[14] while on the other hand, as one of the last three remaining Brezhnevites to hold office in the Soviet Union, theCentral Committee of the CPSU was simultaneously pushing for his resignation. In September 1989 he was removed from the Central Committee, and days later he was replaced asFirst Secretary of the KPU byVladimir Ivashko.[15] Shevchenko also later resigned.[10]
Firing Shcherbytsky, however, did not stem the tide of activism. ThePeople's Movement of Ukraine for Perestroika, founded days before Shcherbytsky's ouster by dissident leaderViacheslav Chornovil, was approved on the initiative ofLeonid Kravchuk (at the time the only member of the Central Committee of the KPU who could speak Ukrainian). The People's Movement, orRukh (lit. 'the movement'), was inspired by similar national organisations in other republics, particularlySąjūdis in Lithuania. An earlier attempt in 1988 had been suppressed, and the name of this attempt had been chosen deliberately to convey the concept that Rukh was not in opposition to the CPSU, but rather in support of it.[12]
Other protests against Shcherbytsky were held throughout the year, including protests against theChernobyl disaster.[16] The Chernobyl disaster became a rallying cry for protesters, being invoked as an effort to demonstrate the urgency of the situation.[12]
The next year brought increasing protests. On 21 January 1990, the anniversary of the 1919Unification Act between the Ukrainian People's Republic andWest Ukrainian People's Republic, ahuman chain of three million people linked the western Ukrainian city ofLviv toKyiv, Ukraine's capital. The human chain, which also drew hundreds of thousands of protesters toSophia Square in Kyiv, demonstrated the popularity of Ukrainian independence outside of Western Ukraine. It was the largest demonstration in late-Soviet era Ukraine.[17]
Thefirst multi-party elections to theSupreme Soviet of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic were held in March 1990. TheDemocratic Bloc, led by protesterIhor Yukhnovskyi, won 111 seats to the KPU's 331.[18] The new Supreme Soviet in July 1990 passed theDeclaration of State Sovereignty of Ukraine, by which the Ukrainian SSR gave itself the right to establish an army, central bank, and currency. The declaration further establishedUkrainian citizenship, established the supremacy of Ukrainian laws over the laws of the central Soviet government in case of a dispute, and expressed the intentions to become aneutral and non-nuclear state.[19]
However, a group of students led byOles Donii protested the results of the election, claiming that the Democratic Bloc had enough support to gain a majority of seats.[18] On 2 October 1990, a group of students began occupying theOctober Revolution Square in central Kyiv and launched a hunger strike. As part of their demands, they sought free and fair elections to the Supreme Soviet, the nationalisation of property owned by the KPU, and the resignation of Chairman of the Council of MinistersVitaliy Masol. They also sought to prevent the signing of theNew Union Treaty by the Ukrainian SSR and the stationing of Ukrainian conscripts of theSoviet Army outside Ukraine. The protests garnered the attention of the Ukrainian public, and supporters of the protests came to October Revolution Square in a demonstration of solidarity with the students. Other organisations that were not already on strike moved to do so as a further show of support.[20]
Fears held by protesters of a crackdown ultimately failed to emerge, and many of the Supreme Soviet's deputies sided with the students.[20] After Kravchuk allowed Donii to express his demands within the Supreme Soviet on 15 October, the government acquiesced two days later.[21] The same day, Masol resigned as Chairman of the Council of Ministers,[20] and was replaced byVitold Fokin.
At the same time, Ukrainian independence activists were organising in less confrontational ways, including cooperation with the Soviet Ukrainian government on celebrating the500th anniversary of the Zaporozhian Sich. As part of the three-day celebration in August 1990, soldiers of theSoviet Army helped install theflag of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army and provide accommodations for participants, while events included commemorations of Cossack leaderIvan Sirko and historianDmytro Yavornytsky, a gathering of Cossack groups from throughout Ukraine, a scientific conference discussing the Zaporozhian Sich,[22] and a 500,000-member march in the city ofZaporizhzhia.[23] These celebrations helped to cement Cossacks as a part of the Ukrainian national consciousness.[24]
1991 brought further victories for Rukh and the protest movement. On 17 March 1991 Ukraine's declaration of state sovereignty was confirmed in areferendum, with 81.69% voting in favour.[25]Another referendum [uk], held in theLviv,Ivano-Frankivsk, andTernopil oblasts (regions) alongside the sovereignty referendum, demonstrated 88.3% voting in favour.[26] The growing scale of the protests drew the attention of United States PresidentGeorge H. W. Bush, who urged Ukrainians to stop pursuing independence in a 1 August 1991 speech.[27] The speech, which was criticised by Ukrainian nationalists and American conservatives,[28] urged Ukrainians not to pursue "suicidal nationalism", a phrase also used by Gorbachev.[27]
However, the process of independence was rapidly accelerated later that month by the1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt. After a group of Soviet hardliners attempted to overthrow Gorbachev on 19 August, there were widespread protests against the coup attempt in Ukraine. Gorbachev's return to power failed to stop the ensuing chaos, and on 24 August 1991, the Supreme Soviet ratified theDeclaration of Independence of Ukraine, written by Chornovil and fellow protest leadersLevko Lukianenko,Mykhailo Horyn,Serhiy Holovatyi, andIvan Zaiets [uk].[29] The KPU agreed to the declaration of independence at the urging of Kravchuk, with First SecretaryStanislav Hurenko saying that opposing independence would be a "disaster." In an effort to placate anti-independence communist hardliners, pro-independence deputiesVolodymyr Yavorivsky andDmytro Pavlychko put forward the concept of a referendum to confirm the declaration of independence. Theflag of the Soviet Union was removed from government buildings and replaced with theflag of Ukraine, an amnesty for all political prisoners was signed, the KPU was suspended and its assets were frozen in connection with the coup attempt. October Revolution Square was renamed toMaidan Nezalezhnosti (lit. 'Independence Square'), while[30] Thereferendum proposed by Yavorivsky and Pavlychko ultimately occurred, with 92.26% of votes in favour.[31]
The 1989–1991 revolution led to the establishment of present-day Ukraine. Sometimes referred to as the "National Liberation Revolution" (Ukrainian:Національно-визвольна революція,romanized: Natsionalno-vyzvolna revoliutsiia) within the country,[1] it led to the establishment of the country's political system. Ultimately, however, Rukh (and the broader democratic nationalist movement) failed to replicate the success it achieved in the revolution. Ukrainian politicianVolodymyr Filenko [uk] has attributed these later failures to the success of the revolution, saying toUkrainska Pravda in 2009, "I would attribute this to objective things, namely that we achieved statehood."[32] The Declaration of Independence is celebrated yearly with theIndependence Day of Ukraine.[33]
