ukrainization in 20th

Ukrainization in 1920th Though the promises of the Bolsheviks to respect the principle of the national identity, which they gave during the civil war, though the establishment of the national soviet republics and ostentatious federalism of USSR the communist party in the first years of its rule still appreciably had not the support of the non Russian people. It remained the tiny, mostly Russian and local organization, which uncertainly held

out on the peasants and non-Russian masses, which doubted in their moods and didn t know what power they want to support. So Ukraine was the weak section of the Soviet Power and this fact openly admitted even Stalin. That s why than NEP soothed the peasants, the party began the company, directed on the extension of the support with the side of non-Russian people, on the conquering of their inclination.

In 1923 on the XII congress of the party its leadership initiated the policy of rooting. It called by common efforts to achieve the involving non-Russian to the party, to the State machinery the learning and using of the local languages by the workers the support by the state the cultural and social developing of other people. The Ukrainian kind of this policy is called the ukrainization.

Before the introduction of ukrainization, it was necessary to perform some changes in the Party leadership of Ukraine. This leadership predominantly consisted of the soviet rulers, which were send from Moscow or from the local Jews. For the most part they didn t snow any great understanding of the necessity of ukrainization and were less trended to make this project a reality. Moreover most of them underlined the Russian preference before the local.

So one of the most powerful rulers of the Ukrainian communist Party the Russian Dmytro Lebid didn t even try to hide his animosity to the Ukrainian language, customs and traditions, ukrainization in general. He defended the so-called theory of the struggle of two cultures, from which followed that though the Russian culture in Ukraine is closely connected with the progressive proletariat and the city, while

the Ukrainian culture is connected with the backward peasants and the village, than the Russian culture sooner or later will win, and the duty of the communists is to support this natural process. Although the ideas of this statesman were shared by the most of his rulers in Moscow, they considered these ideas premature that s why him and the number of other outstanding non-Ukrainian statesmen recalled. On their posts were appointed such loyal and disciplined representatives

of Moscow as Lazar Kaganovych the Ukrainian Jew, who lead the Party machinery of Ukraine and was ready to draw the party line on the ukrainization or the Ukrainians which sincerely desired the success to the ukrainization. To the last belong Vlas Chubar, who replaced Rakovsky on the post of the head of the Soviet Ukrainian government, ex-fighter Olexandr Shumsky, who headed the compartment of the agitation

and propaganda, and omnipresent old Bolshevik Mykola Skrypnik, who became the commissar of justice. Only after dismissal of uncompromising Russian bureaucrats as them called Lenin from the post, the Soviet Ukrainian Government could take for the realization of new policy. The first efforts of ukrainization made their one s aim to extend the using of the

Ukrainian language, especially in the Party and government. The necessity of this was evidence in 1922 per one member of communistic Party fell seven those, who always use only Russian language, in the government this ratio was 13. In 1923, August, for avoid of this disproportion, party and governmental statesmen got the instruction to pass through the special organized courses of Ukrainian language.

Those, who didn t manage to finish these courses successfully, threatened the dismissal. In 1925 it was ordered to the statesman to use the Ukrainian language in all governmental correspondence and publications. And in 1927 Kaganovych proclaimed that all the business letters of the party must be provide in the Ukrainian language. Though absence or the remarkable enthusiasm among the numerous non-

Ukrainian members of the government and the Party the new policy gave impressive results. If in 1922 it was provide less than 22 of governmental affairs on the Ukrainian language, than in 1927 70. At the same time the number of Ukrainians in the governmental establishments increased. In 1923 only the 35 of the administrative officials and 23 from the

Party members were Ukrainians. Till 1926-1927 theirs part were accordingly 54 and 52. But, the Ukrainians, that got a majority, in general concentrated on the lower levels of the party-governmental hierarchy. At the end of the 1920th their representation in Central Committee didn t exceed 25. The ukrainization company comprised the all branches of the life of Soviet Ukraine. The greatest influence it provides on the education.

In contrast to the tsarist government the Councils devoted a great attention to the schools and theirs achievements in this field were impressive. Such interest was caused by several factors on the ideological point of view to exemplify the new way of life the soviet society must be the educated more than that the educated population means the increasing manufacturing potential and power of the state and at last the education give an excellent opportunity to graft to the new generation the soviet valuables.

The most impressive success achieved the Councils in the liquidation of the non-written language. During the revolution nearly 40 of the population of the towns were written 10 years later 70. During this period in the village the written population increased from 15 to more than 50. As the mass educational company was provide on the Ukrainian language, so the extension of the education meant the extension of the ukrainization between

the youth of the state. The motive force of the ukrainization of the educational system was M. Skrypnik the head of the educational commissariat from 1927 to the 1933. Working with the almost obsessed diligence, he achieved that in the culmination for the ukrainization 1929 more than 80 of the general not specialized schools and 30 of the higher educational establishments provided the trainings only on the Ukrainian language.

97 of the Ukrainian children studied on the native language. It was expected that Russian and Jewish minority, having the opportunity to study on the Russian, would pass the courses of the Ukrainian language. Before the revolution, when there were no Ukrainian schools in practice, ukrainophiles could only dream for such conditions, which created Skrypnik ten years later.

The success of these efforts was most impressive, if we take into account all the difficulties, which they met on their way, especially the lack of the good teachers. The program of the ukrainization demanded 100 thousands of the teachers, and there were only 45 thousands. This burning issue pushed Skrypnik to the try to invite some thousands of teachers from the Galicia, but he didn t manage to get the permit from

Moscow on this may be because the soviet power was afraid of the high national identity of the Galicia. It was also a lack of many textbooks. Another problem that especially sharply felt in the universities was that the Russians they consisted the majority of the teachers often refused to use the village language. Typical in such way was the expression of Tolstoy, the professor from Odessa I considerall the friends, who began to read lections on the

Ukrainian language as a renegades. But even in the universities the Ukrainian students soon became consist the majority. The rapid ukrainization of the education was favorable for the increasing moods of the national optimism, which caught Borys Antonenko-Davidovych, the writer In the march of the millions to the Ukrainian school he saw the fire of the great renascence.

The analogical renascence experienced the Ukrainian mass media, which were cruel oppressed by the tsarist government and for which the first years of the soviet power were not favorable. In 1922 from all books published in Ukraine only 27 issued in the Ukrainian language, on this language were also published nearly 10 newspapers and chronicles. Till 1927 on the Ukrainian language were published more than half of the books, and in 1933 from 426

newspapers of the republic 373 were published in the native language. The Ukrainian language was introduced in the officer schools and in the big parts of the military reserve in Ukraine above all afterwards the complaints of the Skrypnik on the subject of that the Red Army was a mode of russification. Existed even the plans of the reorganizing of Army due to the territorial principle.

It was strange, but these projects were support by such outstanding non-Russian commanders as Myhailo Frunze and Yona Yakir. It was necessary to cancel the Russian cultural monopoly in the cities for the obtaining the continuous consequences of ukrainization. Social-economic changes, which took place in 1920th, persuaded the admirers of the ukrainization to the idea that it can be done.

The mass course on the industrialization, started by Councils in 1928, created a great need of the workers in the cities. At the same time the policy of collectivization drove away a lot of peasants. Afterwards of this the masses of the Ukrainian peasants migrated to the cities, changing the ethnic structure of the proletariat and townsmen in general.

So if in 1923 in such industrial centers as Kharkiv, Lugansk and Dnypropetrovsk Ukrainians consisted 38, 7 and 16 of the population than 10 years later theirs part increased correspondingly to 50, 31 and 48. To the middle of 1930th the Ukrainians contained the majority almost in all big cities. Ukrainization programs appealed them to keep the native language and don t to pass on

Russian, as it happened before. In Ukraine as everywhere in the Eastern Europe the culture and language of the rural majority, as it seemed, would subjugate the culture and language of the urban minority. The success of the ukrainization though it didn t come so far as Skrypnik with the brother-in-arms wanted first of all was due to the connection with the total process of modernization. The patriotism and traditionalism were not the main causes of the

Ukrainian language conservation. Sooner it can be explained by the cause that the Ukrainian language is better than any other language Ukrainian language gave the opportunity to communicate with the statesmen, to get a good education, to take a useful information from the newspapers and chronicles, to do the duties and so on. Due to the policy of ukrainization the Ukrainian language sopped being romantic and hard to understand

idea-fixe of the tiny group of the intelligence or the feature of the backward rural. Instead of it transferred to the main resource or the communication and identity of society, which were modernized. Report On the History of Ukraine Prepared by Marina Kapitonova FSC-112 Ukrainization in 1920th 2003