Ukrainization

Ukrainization (also spelled Ukrainisation or Ukrainianization) is a policy of increasing the usage and facilitating the development of the Ukrainian language and promoting other elements of Ukrainian culture, in various spheres of public life such as education, publishing, government and religion.

The term is used, most prominently, for the Soviet indigenization policy of the 1920s ("korenizatsiya," literally ‘putting down roots’), aimed at strengthening Soviet power in the territory of Soviet Ukraine and southern regions of the Russian SFSR. In various forms the Ukrainization policies were also carried in several different periods of the twentieth century history of Ukraine, although with somewhat different goals and in different historical contexts.

Ukrainization is often cited as a response and the means to address the consequences of previous assimilationist policies aimed at suppressing or even eradicating the Ukrainian language and culture from most spheres of public life, most frequently a policy of Russification in the times of the Russian Empire (see also Ems Ukaz) and in the USSR, but also Polonization and Rumanization in some Western Ukrainian regions.

Following independence, the government of Ukraine began following a policy of Ukrainization, [cite web|url=http://www.archives.gov.ua/Sections/Revolution_2004/UKL/photos.php?UKL302|title=Світова преса про вибори в Україні-2004|accessdate=2008-01-07|work=Архіви України] to increase the use of Ukrainian, while discouraging Russian, which as reported by the BBC, has been banned in education systemVolodymyr Malynkovych, [http://www.igpi.ru/info/people/malink/1139380574.html Ukrainian perspective] , Politicheskiy Klass, January, 2006 ] , government, [cite web|url=http://www.korrespondent.net/main/180954|title=Constitutional court forbad a socialist to report in foreign language|accessmonthday=June 7 |accessyear=2007 |work=Korrespondent |language=Russian] national TV, radio programmes and films, meaning Russian-language programmes need a Ukrainian translation or subtitles ["Ukrainian broadcasters have criticised a government order banning national TV and radio programmes in Russian. ... This will mean that Russian-language films or programmes will need a Ukrainian translation or subtitles." - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3630631.stm] [ [http://www.russiatoday.ru/features/news/27078 RussiaToday : Features : Wanted: Russian-language movies in Ukraine ] ] [ [http://www.ukranews.com/eng/article/136020.html Ukranian News - Court Obliges Film Distributors To Dub All Foreign Films Into Ukrainian ] ] .

1917-1923: Times after the Russian Revolution

Following the Russian Revolution of 1917, the Russian Empire was broken up and the Ukrainians, who developed a renewed sense of national identity, intensified their struggle for an independent Ukrainian state. In the chaos of the Great War and revolutionary changes, a nascent Ukrainian state emerged but, initially, the state's very survival was not ensured. As the Central Rada, the governing body, was trying to assert the control over Ukraine amid the foreign powers and internal struggle, only a limited cultural development could take place. However, for the first time in the modern history, Ukraine had a government of its own and the Ukrainian language gained usage in state affairs.

As the Rada was eventually overthrown in a German-backed coup (April 29, 1918), the rule of a Hetmanate led by Pavlo Skoropadsky was established. While the stability of the government was only relative and Skoropadsky himself, as a former officer of the tsarist army, spoke Russian rather than Ukrainian, the Hetmanate managed to start an impressive Ukrainian cultural and education program, printed millions of Ukrainian-language textbooks, and established many Ukrainian schools, two universities, and a Ukrainian Academy of Sciences. The latter established a Committee on Orthography and Terminology, which initiated a scholarly and methodological research program into Ukrainian terminology.Stephen D. Olynyk, " [http://www.ukrweekly.com/Archive/1997/079719.shtml ANALYSIS: The status of Ukrainian military terminology] ", "The Ukrainian Weekly", February 16, 1997]

The Hetmanate's rule ended with the German evacuation and was replaced by the Directorate government of Symon Petlura. However, Ukraine submerged into a new wave of chaos facing two invasions at the same time, from the East by the Bolshevik forces and from the West by the Polish troops, as well as being ravaged by armed bands that often were not backed by any political ideology. The nation lacked a cohesive government to conduct language and cultural policies.

1923-1931: Early years of Soviet Ukraine

As Bolshevik rule took hold in Ukraine, the early Soviet government had its own reasons to encourage the national movements of the former Russian Empire. While trying to ascertain and consolidate its power, the Bolshevik government was by far more concerned about political oppositions connected to the pre-revolutionary order than about the national movements inside the former empire. Besides, the reversal of the assimilationist policies of the Russian Empire was to help to improve the image of the Soviet government and boost its popularity among the common people.

Until the early-1930s, Ukrainian culture enjoyed a widespread revival due to Bolshevik concessions known as the policy of Korenization ("indigenization"). In these years an impressive Ukrainization program was implemented throughout the republic. In such conditions, the Ukrainian national idea initially continued to develop and even spread to a large territory with traditionally mixed population in the east and south that became part of the Ukrainian Soviet republic.

The All-Ukrainian Sovnarkom's decree "On implementation of the Ukrainization of the educational and cultural institutions" (July 27, 1923) is considered to be the onset of the Ukrainization program. The (August 1) decree that followed shortly "On implementation of the equal rights of the languages and facilitation of the Ukrainian language" mandated the implementation of Ukrainian language to all levels of state institutions. Initially, the program was met with resistance by some Ukrainian Communists, largely because non-Ukrainians prevailed numerically in the party at the time. The resistance was finally overcome in 1925 through changes in the party leadership under the pressure of Ukrainian representatives in the party. In April 1925 the party Central Committee adopted the resolution on Ukrainization proclaiming its aim as "solidifying the union of the peasantry with the working class" and boosting the overall support of the Soviet system among Ukrainians. A joint resolution aimed at "complete Ukrainization of the Soviet apparatus" as well as the party and trade unions was adopted on April 30, 1925. The Ukrainian Commissariat of Education (Narkomis) was charged with overseeing the implementation of the Ukrainization policies. The two figures, therefore, most identified with the policy are Oleksander Shumskyi, the Commissar for Education between 1923 and 1927, and Mykola Skrypnyk, who replaced Shumskyi in 1927.

The rapidly developed Ukrainian-language based education system dramatically raised the literacy of the Ukrainophone rural population. By 1929 over 97% of high school students in the republic were obtaining their education in UkrainianVasyl Ivanyshyn, Yaroslav Radevych-Vynnyts'kyi, " [http://www.vesna.org.ua/txt/ivanyshynv/movnaz/index.html Mova i Natsiya] ", Drohobych, Vidrodzhennya, 1994, ISBN 5-7707-5898-8] and illiteracy dropped from 47% (1926) to 8% in 1934.Volodymyr Kubiyovych; Zenon Kuzelia, Енциклопедія українознавства "(Encyclopedia of Ukrainian studies)", 3-volumes, Kiev, 1994, ISBN 5-7702-0554-7]

Simultaneously, the newly-literate ethnic Ukrainians migrated to the cities, which became rapidly largely Ukrainianized — in both population and education. Between 1923 and 1933 the Ukrainian proportion of the population of Kharkiv, at the time the capital of Soviet Ukraine, increased from 38% to 50%. Similar increases occurred in other cities, from 27.1% to 42.1% in Kiev, from 16% to 48% in Dnipropetrovsk, from 16% to 48% in Odessa, and from 7% to 31% in Luhansk.

Similarly expansive was an increase in Ukrainian language publishing and the overall flourishing of Ukrainian cultural life. As of 1931 out of 88 theatres in Ukraine, 66 were Ukrainian, 12 were Jewish (Yiddish) and 9 were Russian. The number of Ukrainian newspapers, which almost did not exist in 1922, had reached 373 out of 426, while only 3 all-republican large newspapers remained Russian. Of 118 magazines, 89 were Ukrainian. Ukrainization of book-publishing reached 83%.

Most importantly, Ukrainization was thoroughly implemented through the government apparatus, Communist Party of Ukraine membership and, gradually, the party leadership as well, as the recruitment of indigenous cadre was implemented as part of the korenization policies. At the same time, the usage of Ukrainian was continuously encouraged in the workplace and in government affairs. While initially, the party and government apparatus was mostly Russian-speaking, by the end of the 1920s ethnic Ukrainians composed over one half of the membership in the Ukrainian communist party, the number strengthened by accession of Borotbists, a formerly indigenously Ukrainian "independentist" and non-Bolshevik communist party.

The increase of the share of secondary school students obtaining education in Ukrainian (from 47.9% to 67%) over the first decade of the Ukrainian independence roughly corresponded to the share of native Ukrainian speakers - 67.5%. [ [http://ukrcensus.gov.ua/results/general/language/ Population composition by the native language] according to the Ukrainian Census (2001).] However, the schools continue to be transferred to the Ukrainian language up to this day. At the end of the 1990s, about 50% of professional school students, 62% of college students and 67% of university students (cf. 7% in 1991) studied in Ukrainian [" [http://www.ombudsman.kiev.ua/d_06_3.htm Annual Report of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights “On the situation with observance and protection of human rights and freedoms in Ukraine” for the period from April 14, 1998 till December 31, 1999"] "] and in the following five years the number increased even further (see table).

In some cases, the changing of the language of instruction in institutions, led to the charges of assimilation, raised mostly by the Russian-speaking population. Despite this, the transition was gradual and lacked many controversies that surrounded the de-Russification in several of the other former Soviet Republics, its perception within Ukraine remained mixed,"There has been no consistent policy of Ukrainianization. [...] [I] t is sometimes difficult to admit that the issue is actually about the "assimilation of the Russian-speaking population", which has to be "logical and unforced," but so far has been "forcible."
Myroslav Popovych, the director of the Hryhoriy Skovoroda Institute of Philosophy, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, cited through [http://www.jamestown.org/publications_details.php?volume_id=414&issue_id=3737&article_id=2371110 "Inconsistent language policy creates problems in Ukraine"] , "Eurasia Daily Monitor" by The Jamestown Foundation", May 24, 2006] especially in the regions where Ukrainian was not traditionally spoken." [...] the main mistake of the government has been imposing Ukrainian in those regions where it is traditionally barely spoken, instead of financing Ukrainian culture in the traditionally Ukrainian-speaking areas, such as Lviv."
Mykola Knyazhytsky, media expert and former Chairman of the Ukrainian State TV and Radio Broadcasting, cited through "Eurasia Daily Monitor", ibid]

In two presidential elections, in 1994 and 2004, the role of languages in Ukraine was an important election issue. In 1994 the main opposition candidate, Leonid Kuchma, in an attempt to widen his political appeal, expressed his support for the idea of Russian becoming the second state language, as well as promised to improve his knowledge of Ukrainian language. In addition to the stagnating economy, the language issue likely contributed to Kuchma's victory in the election; but while his knowledge of Ukrainian noticeably improved, Kuchma did not follow on his pledge to make Russian a state language during the 10 years of his presidency.

In 2004 an election promise by Viktor Yanukovych to adopt Russian as the second official language might have also increased the turnout of his base, but it was rebutted during the campaign by his opponent (Viktor Yushchenko), who pointed out that Yanukovych could have already taken steps towards this change while he was a Prime Minister of Ukraine if this had really been his priority. Yanukovych eventually lost that presidential election to Yushchenko, but is now leading the largest faction in the Ukrainian parliament. During his campaign Yushchenko emphasized that his being painted as a proponent of the closure of Russian schools frequently made by his opponents is entirely baseless and stated his view that the issue of school language, as well as the churches, should be left to the local communities. [http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2004/12/20/15006.htm Transcript of televised debates between Yushchenko and Yanukovych of December 20, 2006] , "Ukrainska Pravda", December 20, 2004]

Nevertheless, during Yuchshenko's presidency the transfer of educational institutions from Russian to the Ukrainian continued [ [http://lenta.ru/news/2005/06/02/exams/ Lenta.ru: б.СССР: На Украине запретят сдавать экзамены в вузы на русском ] ] , [ [http://www.edrus.org/content/view/1210/69/ Единая Русь - Русский язык и демократия на Украине ] ] , [ [http://ura.dn.ua/archive/?/2006/03/04/~/389 УРА-Информ.Донбасс - Новости Донбасса · В Горловке закрывают русскоязычные школы ] ] and in the 2006 parliamentary election the status of Russian language in Ukraine was brought up again by the opposition parties. The leading opposition party, Party of Regions, promised to introduce two official languages, Russian and Ukrainian, on the national and regional levels. [ [http://www.partyofregions.org.ua/contrprop/resonance/444f3980d4979/ Russian language is legalized.] Party of Regions information server] On the national level such changes requires a change to Article 10 of the Constitution of Ukraine, which the party hopes to achieve. [ [http://www.partyofregions.org.ua/pr-east-west/44857865032d4/ Borys Kolesnikov: Both languages, Russian and Ukrainian need protection.] Party of Regions information server] Before the election in Kharkiv, and following the election in the other south-eastern regions such as Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, Luhansk, Mykolaiv, and the Crimea the newly elected local councils, won by the Party of Regions (and minor supporting parties) have declared Russian as a regional language, citing the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, ratified by Ukraine in 2003. [ [http://www.mosnews.com/news/2006/06/03/officiallanguage.shtml Ukrainian Region Makes Russian Official Language] MosNews. Retrieved on 2006, 07-06] The central government has questioned such actions of local councils, claiming they overstepped their authority. [ [http://en.rian.ru/world/20060602/48972598.html Ukraine leader to ask court to ban local Russian-language status] RIA Russian News and Information Agency. Retrieved on 2006, 07-06] In Dnipropetrovsk, the court has found the order of the city council on introducing Russian as a regional language unlawful, [ [http://www.korrespondent.net/main/159277 In Dnipropetrovsk the court has cancelled the regional status of Russian] korrespondent.net] but the legal battle on the local status of the Russian language remains to be resolved. [ [http://5tv.com.ua/eng/newsline/179/0/26344/ Mykolaiv city council reconfirms language vote] 5TV Retrieved on 2006, 07-06]

In the wake of the 2006 Parliamentary crisis in Ukraine that fractured the governing coalition and returned Yanukovych to the Prime Ministership, the "Universal of National Unity" signed by President Yushchenko as well as the leaders of several of the most influential political parties declared Ukrainian to remain the official state language in Ukraine. However, within a week after signing the Universal, Yanukovych, then approved as Prime Minister of Ukraine, stated at a press conference in Sochi (Russia) that the implementation of Russian as a second state language remains the goal of his party even though he does not see it achieved in the immediate picture because such a change, which would require to amend the Constitution, would not collect the constitutional majority (2/3) in the Parliament of Ukraine given the current political situation.Ksenia Solyanskaya, " [http://www.korrespondent.net/main/161757 Gas would bring us closer] ", Gazeta.ru August 16, 2006. Reprinted by Korrespondent.net]

According to the laws on civil and administrative procedure enacted in Ukraine in 2005, all legal and court proceedings in Ukraine are to be conducted in Ukrainian. This does not restrict, however, the usage of other languages, as the law guarantees interpretation service for any language desired by a citizen, defendant or witness. Nonetheless, on September 6, 2005, the Russian Foreign Ministry criticised the measure issuing a statement [ [http://en.rian.ru/russia/20050906/41317688.html RIA Novosti - Russia - Foreign Ministry protests Russian language ban in Ukrainian legal procedure ] ] that the change infringes on the rights of Russian-speaking Ukrainian citizens. In response, the First Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Ohryzko expressed [ [http://www.ukraine-embassy.co.il/english/news/index.php?text=10675 מידע על אוקראינה - Ukraine In Israel ] ] his astonishment at the Russian Foreign Ministry's commentary. In this connection he cited provisions of Russian law, which state that the Russian language is used Russia-wide by every body of state authority and local self-government, as well as by public organisations. Mr. Ohryzko asserted that this matter is solely Ukraine's own affair.

Language issues can still generate controversy. For example, on May 20, 2008, Donetsk city council passed a resolution limiting the expansion of Ukrainian-language education in the city. The following day the city prosecutor declared the decision illegal and the mayor suspended it, and the council reversed itself two days later. [“ [http://www.ukranews.com/eng/article/125348.html Donetsk City Council Cancels Resolution Restricting Use Of Ukrainian Language In Educational Establishments] ”, Ukrainian News Agency, May 26, 2008.]

References and notes

Further reading

*Volodymyr Kubiyovych; Zenon Kuzelia, Енциклопедія українознавства " (Encyclopedia of Ukrainian studies)", 3-volumes, Kiev, 1994, ISBN 5-7702-0554-7
* George O. Liber, "Soviet nationality policy, urban growth, and identity change in the Ukrainian SSR 1923-1934", Cambridge: CUP, 1992, ISBN 0-521-41391-5
* James E. Mace, "Communism and the Dilemmas of National Liberation. National Communism in Soviet Ukraine 1918-1923", Cambridge, Mass.: HURI Harvard, 1983, ISBN 0-916458-09-1
* Terry Martin, "The Affirmative Action Empire. Nations and Nationalism in the Soviet Union, 1923-1939", Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 2001, ISBN 0-8014-8677-7
* [http://www.sdpuo.org.ua/faction/laws/laws-lang/ Закон про мови (Law on languages)] , 1989 (in Ukrainian), [http://www.minelres.lv/NationalLegislation/Ukraine/Ukraine_Language_English.htm English translation] .
* [http://www.rada.gov.ua/const/conengl.htm Constitution of Ukraine] .
* [http://www2.pravda.com.ua/en/news/2005/11/28/4896.htm Ukrainian language - the third official?] , "Ukrayinska Pravda", November 28, 2005
*
* [http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=43512 UKRAINE: Russian Language Toned Down] , "Inter Press Service", August 11, 2008