Original article in Ukrainian by Yuriy Glukhov, for UP
Translated by Eugene Ivantsov
Of course, a modern Ukrainian is ready to tell more about important political, economic or social events of the past five, ten or twenty years, depending on his age. When asked to ponder over and politically detachedly state 10 years which were the most significant for Ukrainian people for the past 100 years, he might comment on the following dates:
1914 – the beginning of World War I (1914-1918). Enormous human losses – the Russian Empire lost 3 million people, 0.5-1 millions of Ukrainians among them.
Besides, World War I became the main cause of further social convulsions, having turned into an ‘almighty producer of the Revolution’ (Lenin)
1917 – the beginning of state coups, revolutions, mass crime and the civil war. This process ended in establishment of the communist regime on 1\6 of the Earth. The regime lasted for 70 years.
Because of the World War I and the victory of Communists on the larger part of the Russian Empire, Ukraine was split. Its larger part became one of the USSR republics while the Western territories joined two neighboring states.
1933 – the year of Holodomor. During this year Ukrainians suffered the most human losses in the peaceful time. The Famine took lives of about 3-3.5 million people living in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialistic Republic.
The Famine in Ukraine, as well as in other USSR republics, was caused by the flagitious policy carried out by the Communist Party. To finance industrialization and fight opponents of collectivization peasants were deprived of bread and other foodstuffs.
The Famine started already in 1932. The years of 1921-1923 and 1946-1947 were also characterized by problems with food supplies. However, human losses during these periods cannot be compared with the year of 1933.
1941 – USSR entered into World War II. After the running fights Ukraine was totally occupied by German Armed Forces.
Unlike World War I, there were considerable human losses among civilians. Red Army lost about 10 million people; human losses among civilians were almost the same. Taking into account that the population of Ukraine constituted 20% of the entire population of USSR, human losses in Ukraine reached 4 million people.
However, unlike Ukraine and Belarus only part of the Russian territory witnessed war and invasion and the war did not touch Asia republics directly. That’s why there were more than 4 millions of war victims in Ukraine.
1986 – Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster. It is really hard to calculate human losses. Besides relatively low number of people who died during the disaster and a couple of months after it, hundred thousands or even maybe millions of Ukrainians were affected by enhanced radiation. People are still dying because of Chernobyl disaster.
Chernobyl disaster crippled Ukrainian economy. Much money has been spent for the security and protection of reactor, social and medical needs of the victims. The government spends millions now and will do that in future.
1991 – the collapse of USSR and Independence of Ukraine. Mourning of Communists and triumph of anticommunists, including Ukrainian nationalists.
Sudden worsening of living standards, cut of economic ties between former USSR countries, galloping inflation, falling birth rates (demographic crisis).
1993 – final collapse of Ukrainian economy and impoverishment of people. The prices increased a hundredfold – Ukrainians got salaries and pensions in millions of ‘karbovantsy’. Thousands of enterprises went into bankruptcy. Mass unemployment overwhelmed the society.
Chaos and disorder in the country. Ukrainians lost their savings in Sberbank (Savings Bank) due to an insane inflation. Engineers, doctors and teachers were reeducated into sellers and shutter traders.
1998 – financial crisis in Ukraine as a result of incorrect policy of the National Bank of Ukraine and Finance Ministers. Living standards of Ukrainian citizens have been improving while the official economy continued its downfall. It was accounted for the establishment of the shadow economy (about 50% of the entire economy). The government and the National Bank reassured people in the stability of hryvna, introduced in the country in fall 1996.
However, the rate of exchange was artificially maintained in proportion of UAH 2/$1.
As a result, National Bank funds decreased by 70%, from $2.3 billion to $700 million. An uncontrolled rate of exchange reached UAH5.3-5.5/$1. The economy in general suffered considerable losses. Importers profited from the low rate of exchange before the crisis, while exporters did that after it.
2004 – the year of the Orange Revolution. During the last years of Leonid Kuchma’s presidency and Yanukovych’s premiership (2003-2004) the authority mixed to the ground with business and the criminal world. Stealing of state property became incredible – for example a highly profitable plant Kryvorizhstal was sold to Kuchma’s son-in-law for 20% of its real price. Authorities and criminal business, covered up by high-ranked officials, stole from the budget, evaded taxes, controlling most of mass media in the country.
People’s patience snapped after election fraud in 2004. Ukrainians came into the streets. Maidan Nezalezhnosti in Kyiv became the main bastion of the opposition.
As a result, people overcame the government with the slogans: ‘Criminals must go to prisons’, ‘We are not jerks’, ‘A No-Go for Corruption’, ‘Democracy for Ukraine!’…
2006 – the year of betrayals, revenge of kuchmism, worsening of living standards. Just after the Orange split in 2005, caused by corruption scandal, Ukrainian government signed a shady gas agreement on January 4, 2006. The price of gas, supplied to Ukraine by the agency firm RosUkrEnergo, almost doubled.
It caused advance in prices for power resources and utility tariffs for population as a result of which inflation acceded expected rates and real incomes of the citizens started to decrease in 2006.
Parliamentary elections 2006 could have resulted in formation of a democratic coalition of Yulia Tymoshenko Block, Our Ukraine Block and Socialist Party of Ukraine. However, socialist leader Oleksandr Moroz suddenly took the side of Party of Regions and Communist Party, blaming Our Ukraine of the dirty pool. An Anti-crisis Coalition was formed.
President Yushchenko did not dare to dissolve the parliament and consented to Yanukovych’s premiership. It was the comeback of an old team to power. The new government carried out comb-outs, sacking their opponents and ‘orange officials’ in the structure of the executive power.
The economy acquired the same features it used to have in 2004: cutting of social projects, budget preferences for the ‘insiders’, lobbying of Donetsk business, blenching tax-dodging.
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Of course, different people may give different judgments of the political, economic and social events in the country for the past years. It is just one of the possible viewpoints.
I am sure there will be different estimation of the next year in Ukraine. Everything depends on the coming events and personal political affiliations which might be strictly antipodal. Here are the possible variants: the year of government’s mayhem and the year of stability, the year of the second Maidan and the year of the 6th Universal (National Unity Pact)…
