Toppling Stalin, in Manitoba: the story of a grassroots protest (02/20/05)

Toppling Stalin, in Manitoba: the story of a grassroots protest

by Orysia Paszczak Tracz

All I wanted was to buy some beer. Ukrainian beer. Slavutych. At the neighborhood Liquor Commission they carry both Slavutych and Obolon. In Manitoba, alcoholic beverages are not sold in corner liquor stores or supermarkets, but in provincially operated stores run by the Manitoba Liquor Control Commission (MLCC).

As I picked up my two Slavutych bottles, I ran into Ivan Banias, the manager of the store. We often talk about Ukrainian liquors and how it is not easy to get them into the stores here. It would be so good if the many fine Ukrainian "horilky" and wines could be sold throughout Canada. Then, without comment, he pointed to a display of wine from the Crimea.

Two types of wine from the famous Massandra winery, a sherry and a port, were prominently displayed in the fine wine section. Pretty bland labels, sort of beige and brown. But then I looked closer: it's the famous photograph of the sitting Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin posing at Yalta, during that conference in 1945 that caused so much grief for Eastern Europe. Stalin? The image of Stalin, in 2005, selling wine?! It took a while to sink in, and I was stunned.

Ivan shook his head and shrugged his shoulders, and said, "I told them as soon as they sent this here that there would be a negative reaction." Not one bottle had been sold the entire time the wine was on display.

By the time I got home I was doing a slow burn. This was just not right. I sent off a letter to the powers that be at the Liquor Commission, with copies - just in case - to an editor at the Winnipeg Free Press and to the Ukrainian Canadian Congress. I mentioned it also on the politics section of Infoukes on the web (www.infoukes.com), wondering if anyone else had seen it, and if this wine was being sold with this label anywhere else. I received a few replies that it may also be available in Ontario and Alberta, and some have seen it in the United States.

Lubomyr Luciuk of the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association (UCCLA) was especially interested in this issue and said he would pursue it. I did find it bewildering that a few individuals in the Ukrainian community to whom I mentioned this matter were not too concerned, and did not see the point in making an issue out of this. "Does it really matter nowadays," asked one. From others, I received no reply at all to my queries about action on this.

When I had not received a reply from the MLCC by Friday (one week later), I telephoned Roman Zubach, vice-presidents of human resources. He was aware of the issue and assured me that the wine had been removed, and that it had come with that label from Crimea.

Alun Bowness, the manager of specialty purchasing, replied the following week: "I am sorry to hear that you were offended by the photo on the label. When the MLCC reviews product prior to accepting a listing, the label is part of our consideration process. Our intent is to ensure that labels are not offensive to society at large. We have been looking into the matter of the label on the Massandra bottles. We believe that the winery is responsible for choosing the photo on the label, not the Canadian distributor. As the Massandra winery is located in Ukraine, we did not realize that the photo would be offensive to those of Ukrainian heritage. Over the past few days, we have come to understand that the region of Crimea in Ukraine is very much Russian influenced, which may explain why the winery chose to feature the Yalta photo. It is not the MLCC's intention to offend our Ukrainian customers, and, therefore, I am informing you that we have removed the product from our shelves. Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention."

I found the reaction of the MLCC to be quick, to the point and polite. And I was wrong about thinking the label was printed in Canada. Independently, Dr. Luciuk prepared a press release from the UCCLA which was sent out to the media and picked up by a good number of newspapers and international news services. And the press was calling me, too. I was interviewed by the CBC (carried nationally) and the Winnipeg Free Press.

Because the issue of the Yalta Conference statue (the same big three) in Crimea was being discussed on the Maidan webpage http://www.maidan.org.ua, I sent them my letter. It appeared in English, then in Ukrainian translation, with an editorial comment to its readers: "Maidan-inform has received confirmation that the commission has removed the wine from sale. We are publishing this letter along with replies of our readers in the file 'What to Do?' listing concrete violations [of laws in Ukraine]. Take a lesson from Pani Orysia, write, send copies of your letters to Maidan, and we will follow and investigate the reactions along with you. Yes, this is not yet Canada here, but already it is no longer a sovok [Soviet Union, derogatory term]. With every similar letter we are moving further and further away from it."

The next thing I knew, Reuters carried the story, as did Moscow News, a Georgian news webpage, and ITAR-TASS. The item was even mentioned in "Odd News" on one webpage and on a few oenophile pages. And on www.yalta.com (maybe here it hit home about the monument?) as well as on http://www.conference-calling-resource.com/yalta-conference.html [Yalta Conference Website]. One headline writer wrote "Why not just put Hannibal Lecter on the label?" A bit confused about real and fictional people, it seems - but he got the general idea.

But the Massandra winery does not get it. Since there is little information on the label itself, and the Russian-language webpage from Ukraine (http://www.massandra.crimea.com) does not mention this "Stalin wine," I tried finding out about the Canadian connection, and found very little information. One person said the distributors are nice people. They are promoting this wine also in Ontario, including wine sampling parties at Ukrainian churches, and possibly in Alberta.

In a roundabout way, others told me that the Massandra representatives in Canada see nothing wrong with using Stalin on the label. He saved the winery during World War II, they say, and the Massandra folks are eternally grateful. I guess in the great scheme of things, a bunch of grapes is more important than the millions upon millions who were murdered over the decades by Uncle Joe. Maybe more public pressure will help convince them that not all historic events are to be celebrated? They should be solemnly marked, but not celebrated.

As I write this, a news item appears on Maidan that the monument to "The Big Three" planned for Crimea in honor of the Yalta Conference anniversary will not happen - it has been cancelled by the Crimean authorities. I hope this is true. So this is what a letter and much cooperation between only a few people can do!

My protest on this matter was very personal - an aversion to the person and the system that caused such horror and grief to so many, a grief that continues to this day. I did it for my babunia (grandmother) and her youngest son, my Uncle Mykhalyo, both of whom died in the early 1950s directly because of Stalin, and whom I never had the pleasure and comfort of knowing.

* * *

Below is Orysia Paszczak-Tracz's letter to the Manitoba Liquor Control Commission.

Gentlemen: I cannot believe that in 2005 I must draw this to your attention. This weekend, I was at the Liquor Commission and noticed a display of wines from Crimea in Ukraine. I recognized the name Massandra as a famous old winery. I cannot describe my shock and disgust when I saw the photo on the label: Roosevelt, Churchill - and Stalin - at Yalta in 1945.

Stalin?! To promote anything, much less wine? Who in his/her right mind would use the photo of a mass murderer? Now the Yalta Conference was a historic event, but it sure destroyed the lives of people in Eastern Europe, especially Ukraine. It may be marked as a historic event, but certainly not one to be celebrated, and not one used to promote Stalin.

In today's world it should not be necessary to point out why Stalin is a monster, a mass murderer who killed many more millions than Hitler ever did. Just in Ukraine, the Holodomor of 1932-1933 (genocide by famine) starved over 7 million people (some historians say up to 14 million). He exterminated the best of the clergy and the intelligentsia - called the Executed Renaissance. His crimes continued until his death in 1953, and his legacy remained for decades in the Soviet Union. If you need documentation, I can provide it for you.

That label looks like it was printed in Canada (Canada Distributors, Inc.). The distributor should know better. There are more than enough beautiful vistas and cultural/heritage sites in Crimea to be promoted on a label, instead of a photo of a mass murderer. Next, I'm expecting to see Neville Chamberlain and Adolph Hitler shaking hands on a label for German Riesling.

Just as you would not tolerate seeing Hitler on a wine label, you should not permit Stalin to appear on one. I expect those bottles to be removed from all Manitoba Liquor Commissions immediately, and the distributor informed that nowhere in the world should such a label be permitted. If the distributor needs education on who Stalin was and just what he did, this can be arranged. Also, there are still survivors of his gulags and his persecution living in Canada, who could educate the distributors and the Liquor Commission.

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