It was very strange to see one's friend in the building of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine when it was difficult even for Communists to enter that hallowed place, let alone an ordinary, non-party citizen. And not only to see him there but to see the casual clothes, tee-shirt and shorts, that he was wearing, something probably unseen in the building since it was constructed.
This happened on August 26, 1991, shortly after the Ukrainian Parliament had voted for national sovereignty.
The putsch in Moscow had just ended in failure. Democracy had apparently prevailed. The Ukrainian Government banned the Communist Party as an organization which had supported the rebels. A commission was appointed to investigate the actions of the Com-munist Party and my friend, a well-known journalist, became one of its members. The weather was very warm and my friend had come to the building, where previously everyone had to be wearing formal suits and ties, dressed as if for the beach. Truly, democracy was being resurrected.
Afterwards, those who wanted to, among them myself, scrambled out onto the roof to pull down the red flag with its hammer and sickle emblem. How happy we felt. It seemed that the dictatorship of the Communist Party had finally ended. Ukraine had become independent and no imperialist government based in Moscow would now threaten the blossoming of the new state. Ukraine would become a strong, democratic, civilized nation. That feeling of euphoria increased when in a referendum a few months later, in December, more than 90 percent of the voters said they wanted independence for their country.
Seven years after these events the former headquarters of the Central Committee has kept its somber appearance. The only difference is that instead of the red flag there is now a blue and yellow one and instead of housing the first secretary of the Communist Party, Volodymyr Scherbitsky, it now houses the presidential adminstration of the President of an independent Ukraine, Le-onid Kuchma.
Today it is again impossible to imagine a person entering the building in a tee-shirt and shorts. And most of our idealistic illusions have been shattered. There is, sure enough, the rule of law but back in 1991 we dreamed that changes for the better would happen much faster. Reality has not turned out to be as rosy as in those dreams of ours.
'In the past, after our shift ended at work, we would drink a glass of wine and eat sandwiches,' said my neighbor, a former railway worker and now a pensioner. 'And all that would cost one ruble. But what can you get for one hryvna today? Sweet nothing, that's what.' In that simple way he expressed his opinion about the economic situation in the country.
He really does have plenty to complain about. because the worth of a Ukrainian hryvna is indeed much less than that of the old Soviet ruble. And the pension he gets is worth two and a half times less than what he would have received ten years earlier. The standard of living in independent Ukraine is far lower than the one we had during Soviet times.
Ukrainian politicians continually pride themselves on the fact that Ukraine achieved independence without spilling any blood. But that is not exactly the case because the fight for independence did not occur in just the last decade and many paid with their lives for taking part in that struggle. However, in the last phase of that independence struggle, events really did pass off without violence or killings.
And that fact in itself – that independence seemingly fell into our laps like a gift from Heaven – has given rise to some complex psychological problems. There are many people, especially the more elderly, who believe that today's difficulties are the result of Ukrainian independence rather than that the disintegration of the Soviet Union came about because of a crisis in the imperialist system.
Because of that attitude, the Communist Party in Ukraine, which idealizes the Soviet era and is constantly calling for a 'union of brotherly nations' – code for the reformation of the old USSR – enjoys a lot of support. In the last parliamentary elections, although the communists did not secure a majority, they did get far more seats than any other party.
Communist propaganda during Soviet times taught the ordinary person that they ought to be grateful to the state for their education, for their job and for the pension they would eventually get – delivered to their door by a postman twice monthly.
The state controlled every aspect of its citizens' lives, including their private lives. The inhabitants of the USSR were supposed to be convinced that the state would look after them from the cradle to the grave.
When that control and involvement in every aspect of its peoples' lives became far less after the proclamation of Ukrainian independence, many of those people felt bewildered and lost.
Now people, especially the younger ones, realize that if you do not take care of your own welfare, nobody is going to do it for you. That psychological change is not coming about painlessly but these same people are forming the beginning of that class that in the West is called the middle class. They, in fact, are providing a basis for the hope that Ukraine will survive as an independent nation.
I remember that in the years 1992 to 1994 the international press was filled with ghastly prognoses about destabilization in Ukraine. The most pessimistic scenarios even envisaged a civil war triggered either by disagreements between Ukraine and Russia over the status of the Crimean peninsula or brought on by the dire economic situation. But none of those scenarios came about.
However, when the leaders of the nation pat themselves on the back and attribute the absence of conflict to their wisdom and far-sightedness, then I think of the words of my great-grandmother who said: 'Let anything happen but only let there not be war.'
The thing is that Ukrainians, whose country lies at the center of Europe, have many times found themselves caught between warring foreign armies – between the hammer and the anvil. And during each of those tragic times, Ukrainians found themselves shedding the blood of their fellow countrymen, often fighting against one another after being forced to fight for those foreign armies or being forced to take up positions on opposite sides of the barricades.
Therefore a hatred for any kind of conflict has probably etched itself into the Ukrainian psyche on an almost genetic level. That is why Ukrainians are willing to tolerate just about anything as long as there is not a war. But there is another side to this positive character trait – it allows unprincipled politicians to exploit that tolerance.
Politicians and businessmen shoot one another while the ordinary, tolerant, citizens patiently carry on with their work. They do not get involved in crooked deals but are trying to rebuild the country that has now belonged to them for seven years.
Their patience and hard work will never be lacking but what is missing is some wise leaders to channel all that energy in the right direction.
(Yuri Lukanov is the former head of the press office of Rukh – the largest pro-independence movement – and author of a book about President Leonid Kuchma)
