EDITORIAL: A step toward independence (07/22/90)

EDITORIAL

A step toward independence

On July 16, the Ukrainian SSR Supreme Soviet adopted a far-reaching declaration on State Sovereignty of Ukraine and in so doing stressed the republic's intention of controlling its own affairs in all spheres of activity, ranging from the economy, the environment and the military to cultural development and international relations.

Adoption of the Declaration on State Sovereignty was greeted in Ukraine and in the West with mixed emotions. For, while most saw the document as a positive step forward, or as a true step toward genuine independence, others questioned why a declaration on sovereignty would insist on referring to Ukraine as the Ukrainian SSR and assume, through its wording, that the republic, while claiming for itself diverse powers to act independently would still remain part of a curiously unnamed union.

Nonetheless, the declaration's intent is quite clear: Ukraine and its people - defined as citizens of the republic of all nationalities who have the right to free national-cultural development - are the sole source of state authority in the republic and they alone are to determine their own destiny, they alone are to be the masters of their land.

Furthermore, even though the document appears to assume that Ukraine will be a part of a federation, or union, the Declaration on State Sovereignty makes it abundantly clear that this will be a redefined union, based on a new agreement that will take into account the principles delineated in Ukraine's sovereignty proclamation. In addition, the proclamation states that relations with other Soviet republics are to be based on equality, mutual respect and non-interference in internal affairs.

The declaration also proclaims the pre-eminence of general human values over class values and the primacy of standards of international law over its internal state law, while at the same time noting the precedence of Ukrainian SSR laws over union laws.

Ukraine reserves for itself the right to maintain its own armed forces, to control its own natural resources and land, to have its own banking system and currency. It proclaims its neutrality and non-participation in any military bloc, as well as its adherence to three nuclear-free principles: not to accept, not to produce and not to purchase nuclear weapons.

In short, the Declaration on State Sovereignty of Ukraine is a compromise - probably the best that could be expected at this time from a Parliament roughly one-third of whose deputies are members of the Democratic Bloc and where the Communist Party still has the upper hand.

And, it is significant that Communist Party deputies voted in favor of the declaration, following on the heels of their congress's adoption of a resolution "On the State Sovereignty of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic." In fact, the party has been adopting positions long advocated by Rukh and other democratic forces in Ukraine. Now those positions, amazingly, will form the basis of negotiations with Moscow concerning the republic's position within a new union.

But, is the Declaration on State Sovereignty a mere collection of fine-sounding principles? The near future will provide the answer as Ukraine drafts new laws and a constitution on the basis of this historic declaration - one we might add, that already is being compared to the Third Universal of 1917 which, as we all know, led to the Fourth Universal and the proclamation of independent Ukrainian statehood. This declaration, too, may be the crucial step toward complete independence of Ukraine.

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