Viewing all events between Russia and Ukraine (and Georgia) from the long arc of history: Krushchevs first task as First Secretary of the Ukrainian Communist Party in 1938 was to build up, virtually from nothing, a brand-new Party apparatus to succeed the one which has been presided over by Kossior from 1929 until its destruction in the purges. But even as Krushchev was building, the purges continued. The following section (Krushchev Remembers) offers a revealing glimpse of the nature of this process. What Krushchev does not mention is that his second task was to Russify the Ukraine by eliminating from positions of authority and trust all Ukrainians who might be suspected of local patriotism (the so-called bourgeoise nationalists) and by discouraging the use of the Ukrainian language in school and elsewhere. This was an operation of extreme importance in the eyes of Stalin. Ukrainian nationalism was very strong on this rich land, which was not only the breadbasket of the Soviet Union but also the most powerful industrial base. The official excuse for this policy, which was carried out with great ruthlessness, was--as Krushchev himself said in the summer 1938-- to eliminate all those who wanted to let in the German fascists, the landowners, and bourgeoise, and make the Ukrainian workers and peasants slaves of fascism, and the Ukraine a colony of the Polish-German fascists. -Edward Crankshaw -Strobe Talbot, translator and editor -1970
Posted on: Sat, 26 Jul 2014 22:17:01 +0000