EDITORIAL: Theater of the absurd (11/17/96)

EDITORIAL

Theater of the absurd

While on the campaign trail more than two years ago, then-presidential candidate Leonid Kuchma shied away from the concept of a "national idea" that would unite all of Ukraine's 52 million citizens into a strong, democratic nation.

But, on the fifth anniversary of Ukraine's independence this past August, Presi-dent Kuchma showed that he has grown as a politician and matured as a statesman. Addressing the Ukrainian people during the celebrations, he outlined the importance of developing a national idea to consolidate the diverse population of Ukraine. He called for "a democratic, humanistic patriotism, characterized by love for one's homeland, and pride in its people" that would unite all of Ukraine's citizens.

And yet, despite the fact that President Kuchma acknowledges that the ideology of the Soviet period was, to say the least, detrimental to society, and despite the fact that he has called this ideology "an addictive narcotic," he continues to promote the glory of the Soviet past.

Although the Ukrainian Constitution emphasizes that "no ideology shall be recognized by the state as mandatory," last week - on November 7 and 8 - the people of independent Ukraine marked the "Glory Days of the October Revolution."

These days are still holidays in Ukraine, and they are still celebrated by a few thousand elderly people who bring out their red flags and their frayed photos of the great leader Vladimir Lenin and his successor Josef Stalin for the November celebration.

In Kyiv, the scene is almost absurd. The main thoroughfare for the Communist marchers - once called Kirov street (in honor of one of Stalin's most trusted aides who was later done away with by Stalin himself) - is now called Hrushevsky Street in honor of the president of independent Ukraine in 1918, Mykhailo Hrushvesky. This year the marchers listened to speeches by Communist Party Chairman Petro Symonenko and Socialist Party leader Oleksander Moroz on the steps of the former Lenin Museum -now known as the Ukrainian Home - which houses one of the most exclusive restaurants in Kyiv, the Exquisite. They gathered on what was once called Lenin Komsomol Square and which today has gone back to its old name - European Plaza.

But what seems even more absurd than this picture is the fact that the Ukrainian government has yet to rescind these holidays. In this case the government's silence and inertia seem to do more harm than good in consolidating its citizens.

For, while elderly veterans and supporters of this Communist ideology and the Soviet state still feel that they are right to celebrate their history, veterans of the Ukrainian independence movement in the 1910s through 1980s, including veterans of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), who fought both Hitler and Stalin for Ukraine's independence during the second world war, are still being ignored by the Ukrainian government. They still do not have national status as war veterans, although the regions of western Ukraine - the Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv and Ternopil Oblasts - honor them on a regional level.

Why, even in Moscow, President Yeltsin has renamed the October Revolution holidays as "Days of Unity and Accord of the Russian People."

President Kuchma, on the other hand, seems to be in search of a national idea, but it keeps eluding him and the citizens of Ukraine.