published in Eastern Economist #406, November 12, 2001
October Revolution Day is the old soviet holiday commemorating the Russian Revolution – to those of us who learned our history from books printed outside the Soviet Union. Traditionally, it was a day of parades here. Now it’s a day of protests: mostly, diehard communists protesting the new world order and, occasionally, non-communists holding counter-protests.
To make things a bit more confusing, October Revolution Day is Nov. 7, thanks to a religious muddle with calendars. A 10-day leap forward was announced by Pope Gregory XIII in March 1582 to compensate for time lost due to Julius Caesar’s imperfect 365.25-day calendar. Three turn-of-the-century leap-years later, the gap had grown to 13 days.
The Russian Church, of course, refused to accept the new calendar, an example of the anti-scientific conservatism it continues to exhibit to this day. The Bolsheviks, not giving a fig for Church or State, finally adopted Pope Gregory’s version in February 1918. But the old-calendar name stuck to what was now their “November” revolution.
Ukraine’s Communists are not faring so well these days. They tried fillibustering passage of the Land Code in a truly soviet way – blocking the voting process, engaging in fisticuffs, stealing voting cards and tearing up ballots. But they failed [see RC#23] and the Code was finally passed Oct. 25. Ironically, this was the turning point in the old October Revolution.
In response to threats of further disruptions and a lawsuit, Deputy Speaker Stepan Havrysh warned a few days later that if the Left continued to interfere with the Rada’s work, he would institute a “sheriff” to keep order in the VR. In addition to the current 5-day ban from the session hall, Speaker Havrysh threatened to introduce fines for “bad behavior,” which he figured would dissuade 90% of deputies from being really disruptive. In Japan, he added for good measure, a legislative “cop” is allowed to use a rubber billystick to whack any deputy who gets too aggressive, once.
So, on the 84th anniversary of the Revolution, the usual marches took place in major cities. But a trend is a trend, and the trend was distinctly down in most parts of Ukraine.
In Donetsk, a little over 600 people braved the chilly weather to complain. In Kharkiv, briefly the capital of Ukraine under Stalin, only 200 people showed up. In Chernivtsi, deep in the heart of Bukovyna, 300 hit the streets.
Mostly these leftists were complaining about President Kuchma and the corruption they see throughout the country. Many were also demanding that Mr. Kuchma reunify Ukraine with Russia and Belarus. It seems they weren’t too concerned that Russia is every bit as corrupted and that Belarus is run by a petty tyrant. As usual, many of the Communists also demanded Kuchma’s resignation.
One exception was Luhansk. Sitting on the border with Russia but less russified than Donetsk, it benefits less from a fluorishing local mafia. Despite having a complete facelift on its train station two years ago, widespread poverty is clearly getting to the locals. 1,500 of them turned out to say so.
In the nation’s capital, Kyiv, seven political parties had registered to march on Nov. 7. With moon-faced Communist boss Petro Symonenko leading the way, over 5,000 faithful walked the standard route from the Arsenal to Yevropeyska Ploshcha (ex-Komsomolska), in front of Ukraine House (ex-Lenin Museum).
This time, the march was led not by one-foot-in-the-grave pensioners, but by children wearing revolutionary hats and waving signs saying “Long Live the Great October Socialist Revolution!” “No rehabilitation for Bandera!” and “Ban the sale of land!” Three great revolutionary themes, the first two of which are historically Russian.
Against this backdrop, Mr. Symonenko railed against what he called the country’s “pro-American” foreign policy. The righteous path is eastward, he shouted, in lockstep with Russia and Belarus. Only on this path does Ukraine have a chance of surviving was his somewhat contradictory conclusion. Never one to miss the opportunity for a little campaigning while there’s free media coverage, Symonenko added: “Ukraine’s salvation lies in uniting Communist and non-party representatives at the next election. I hope that the People will make the right choice.”
All this was in direct disregard of the fact that the majority of the People – or their elected representatives – had, among other things, clearly passed the Land Code: the vote was 232:2. Self-preservation, if nothing else, has also led Ukraine’s legislature to clearly reject reunification in any form.
But the Communists seem to still have a Revolution sympathizer in high places. That same day, Mr. Kuchma visited a major farm show where he stated, for the umpteenth time, that he would sign the Land Code – “but not today.” The president said he had a letter for the VR with about 40 “suggested” changes. Unlike Stalin, he can’t just jackhammer his own version through, but he can certainly stonewall the Rada’s.
Then came the kicker: “Lenin promised land,” said Ukraine’s democratically-elected president, “and we have carried out his promise. The land is being given to those who work on it.”
Mr. Kuchma seems to still consider diehard communists a core constituency. He probably hasn’t heard that a growing population of young people in Ukraine thinks Karl Marx is a fancy chocolate maker in Kyiv.
The speech was broadcast on channels across the nation. To some viewers, the Head of State looked a bit drunk as he spoke. Well hey, this was historically a celebratory day.
Meanwhile, the first sitting of a public trial against the crimes of communism, Nuremberg-2, took place that same day, organized by the Youth Committee Against Communist Crimes. And for the first time this year, President Kuchma did not declare Nov. 7 a national holiday.
I think I’ll raise a glass to this. •
–from the notebooks of Pan O.
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