Victory Day in Lviv
and more on travel to Ukraine

No to American Occupation of Ukraine: NATO Out!

My visit to the most pro-Western city of Ukraine revealed significant changes since my previous trip four years ago. These changes manifest themselves in constantly deepening degeneration, particularly of youth, deeper penetration of the capitalist financial structure into every aspect of daily life and overall degradation of human consciousness tirelessly promoted by the enemy-owned media and consumer advertising. Nationalist hype has been diluted with a mix of apathy, greed, ignorance and political opportunism.

Even though narcotics have become an inseparable part of youth events, the main degenerative tool is alcohol. It is advertised everywhere and sold at low prices in most public cafes any time of the day. Often a bottle of beer is cheaper than a bottle of water. In both Kiev and Lviv parks and streets are full of young men and women with one or two bottles of alcohol in their hands, consuming them in broad daylight. In a café near the university during lunch time one can see tables full of youngsters with a beer each and a bottle of stronger substance to share. The annual celebration of the Day of Lviv had only two sponsors: a vodka company Khortytsia and a winery. Nationalist flags no longer flew over the crowd, they have been replaced by the numerous flags of the Khortytsia brand. The concert MC was obviously paid well for building the loyalty of the young audience to the purveyor of this poisonous concoction. His efforts to downgrade Russian culture by cracking lame jokes about the national poet Alexander Pushkin resembled attempts of a pub comedian appealing to the mob’s lowest instincts and the reaction of the crowd was not nationalist hate, but rather apathetic ignorance, kept warm by Khortytsia. Most of these people do not know what "NATO" stands for, but they may be asked to participate in a referendum soon. Ironically enough, the concert took place on the footsteps of the Memorial of Glory – a monument to the heroes killed in the Great Patriotic War.

Victory Day: Communist Party of Ukraine among other parties

The advertising on the streets has become more aggressive. When several years ago we had noticed mostly billboard invitations to buy, and to buy more, today the ad companies are working day and night on undermining the psychology of people by appeals that are closer to the Western ones, such as: "For me, I and myself" or "Because I am worth it". There are a lot more banks and financial institutions of all sorts and their reaching out with offers of financing, mortgages and other gimmicks and debt traps seems to be here to stay.

Conversations with several former teachers of mine, as well as a visit to an elementary and high school confirmed that corruption within the education systems has only deepened. Teachers, professors and education administrators who take bribes remain the same as twenty years ago, however, the mentality of students and parents that everything is for sale has brewed on the basis of the new post-Soviet "money is God" ideology. Replacing Lenin’s picture in hallways with the Virgin Mary will not help the education process much when there is zero substance behind such pseudo-religion and girls purposelessly wonder around semi-naked and covered in makeup. 10-15 year old girls read Russian versions of US magazines, such as "Girl", from which they learn all about the brand name clothing they "must have" and "where to kiss him". Parents don’t mind. They are too busy making money, so they can pay for those "must have" clothes.

There is a visually noticeable decline in population in the city. Thousands have left for work in Europe and their remaining families live at the expense of these guest workers. How else would you explain constant construction of the 3-story houses and "who has a better SUV" competitions in the town where every single factory has been shut down or sold for parts and where not a single product is being produced? Work abroad and inner-government corruption are the main sources of income. With exception of more mature and, therefore, wiser citizens, other than complaining about low wages, difficulties with finding a job and utility prices on the rise, people in general, especially youth, think they live in paradise and will do even better once they become part of Europe. Adults shun the Soviet days, youth do not remember them.

There was a joyful day in the midst of this gloomy picture. I participated in such a glorious celebration of Victory Day in the Great Patriotic War, which I did not expect in the city of permanent denial of everything Soviet. On May 9^th hundreds of war veterans and people gathered in the part of Lychakivska cemetery where the Soviet soldiers are buried and marched along Lychakivska Street to The Hill of Glory (Kholm Slavy) where there are more graves of war heroes. They held a rally at the Eternal Fire, coordinated by the Party of Regions, Communist Party of Ukraine and Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine. Vladimir Radzievsky, a representative of the local branch of Party of Regions (leader Yanukovich) said some valuable words about the meaning of the Victory. In the midst of the electoral battle between the blocs of Yushchenko and Yanukovich, Radzievsky did not miss the opportunity to use this platform to promote his party and address the impoverished with promises of raising pensions and teachers’ salaries. Speakers highlighted the role of Stalin in the Victory and drew parallels between fascist occupation and today’s "quiet" occupation of Ukraine. Deputies spoke against the actions of the Estonian government in removing the war memorial in Tallinn. A telegram from Petro Simonenko (CPU leader) was read, saying that today’s situation is "the consequence of the struggle of the mighty capital for the occupation of our country."

To add colour to the speeches by prominent deputies, veterans and members of the parties I would like to illustrate the wisdom of the generation who has seen a lot and is not falling for the enemy’s treachery. An old, barely educated peasant woman with a distinct Western- Ukrainian accent standing next to me expressed her position: "I do not believe in dollars. It’s all American occupation. Communists are the only ones doing something in this country, but they have lots of obstacles put in front of them. I did not trust Yanukovich from the beginning. I don’t give a damn what his people promise here". She said more about the rulers…

A representative of the Union of Young Socialists showed the organization’s reformist nature by emphasizing in her obligatory speech that today "we live in a free country" where "we enjoy freedom of speech". During the rally people shouted the military call "I serve the Soviet Union!" and responded with traditional "Hurrah!"

Right after the main gathering, Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine held a rally near the grave of Alexander Marchenko who put the red flag on liberated Lviv’s City Council building in 1944. The party’s regional representative Alexander Pokrovski condemned those trying to rewrite history and said that children of veterans with the help of real historians learn true history, not the fake blue-yellow version. He talked about Pax Americana, neo-conservative policies, Iraq, Afghanistan, Poland demolishing Soviet monuments and other aspects of the new occupation. The speakers put to shame Ukraine’s government for not holding a Victory parade in Kiev like Russia did in Red Square. Leningrad blockade survivor and Professor of Economics of Forestry Irina Borisova reflected upon the results of today’s occupation as they can be seen in her industry and the absence of planned economy as one of the key reasons for today’s destruction of Carpathian forests. She thanked the PSPU for the recent blockade of the NATO training maneuvers in Yavoriv near Lviv. She also posed a challenging question: what would Bandera¹ do if the Soviet army did not come?

Taras Sapuga – Head of the All-Ukrainian Union of Workers – member of the Communist Party of Ukraine

Member of the CPU, Head of the All-Ukraine Union of Workers Taras Sapuga continued the subject of difficulties of conducting a workers’ movement in an area where after demolishing of textile, transportation, electronics, defense and any other industry there are hardly any workers left. "All this city is going to do now is serve as an industrial and military garbage disposal for the West." He commented on the fall in the perception and status of a military person by citizens: "Today no one respects people with epaulettes. The army does not have the respect it used to." The Lviv branch of the CPU distributes the party newspaper "Free Ukraine" and political leaflets, organizes regional and participates in national meetings, however, it has a limited, to put it mildly, view of the international situation, imperialist occupation, particularly, in the Middle East and the role of NATO in Ukraine. One must recognize the dedication of CPU members trying to put together some work in the most unwelcoming city. Ironically, the party’s office in Lviv is located at the corner of Konovalets and Bandera¹ Streets.

During discussions many people expressed their dissatisfaction with the PSPU and the CPU not being able to cooperate, to which the local leaders of these parties insisted on their differences and did not provide satisfactory answers about the prospects for common action. The CPU holds closer to the traditional Soviet line while the PSPU is more activist in mobilizing citizens for specific actions.

The government generously provided a police escort for the march and rally mainly to protect the demonstrators from attack by nationalists, which in the event was not necessary. Only a couple of punks with nationalist symbols showed up and withdrew promptly seeing themselves largely outnumbered. The radical nationalists of the 1990’s have degenerated to the level of political horse traders, witness the case of one time anti-American nationalist turned Supreme Rada jobgrabber UNA-UNSO leader Andriy Shkil.

I was surprised at the great number of young families with children, couples, and groups of young people, not only Russian-speaking ones, coming to lie flowers to the monuments and graves of Soviet soldiers in the city where victory in World War II is believed by many and endorsed by media and educators as occupation. The grave of Alexander Kouznetsov,² Soviet intelligence officer who infiltrated the German army in Western Ukraine and was killed near Lviv, was buried in flowers and two hours after the rally people continued arriving.

During the celebration of the Victory Day, promptly following in the footsteps of the Estonians and their removal of the Soviet monument, Lviv City Council passed a legislative project for the review of all monuments in the city and reevaluating their historic significance. This project particularly addressed the question of dismantling the Memorial of Glory. Now Khortytsia concerts will have an even larger stage for their ideological and physical killing.

If any rivalry arises in the near future, splitting Ukraine, it will not come from ethnic or political tensions, but will be choreographed and imposed from above or, should I say, from abroad, for there is obviously not nearly enough evidence of nationalist political activity in this western region.

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1 Yevhen Konovalets – founder, and Stepan Bandera – consequent leader, of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists acting against the USSR in the 1930s to 1950s

2 Alexander Kouznetsov – for more information please see NSC May 2005.

Victory Day celebration speakers from the Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine: laying flowers to Soviet War Heroes

Grandfather and grandson: tradition is carried on.

Youth honoring Soviet hero: Nikolai Kuznetsov

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