Table Of ContentSOVIET POLITICS
AND THE UKRAINE
1917-1957
Soviet Politics
and the Ukraine
1917-1957
BY ROBERT S. SULLIVANT
1962
Columbia University Press
NEW YORK AND LONDON
To My Mother
and Father
COPYRIGHT © ig62 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS
Library of Congress Catalogue Number: 62-10455
Printed in the United States of America
CONTENTS
Introduction 1
i The Bolshevik Approach to Nationalism and the Ukraine 7
it Bolsheviks and the Revolution, 1917-1920 20
in Federalism and Ukrainian Cultural Nationalism, 1921-
1927 65
iv Centralization and the Demand for Uniformity, 1927-
1934 149
v The New Loyalty and National Rights, 1934-1944 209
vi The Culmination of National Restrictions, 1944-1953 243
VII The New Leadership, 1953-1957 280
vin Conclusion 314
Notes 327
Bibliography 397
Index 422
PREFACE
This book is an effort to place in some perspective the rather
uncertain problem posed by the Soviet system as it functions at
the regional level. There is little need to justify a regional study
of this kind. Despite its modest dramatic impact when contrasted
with political studies at the Union level, it offers compensations
of its own. Because of the centralized nature of the Soviet federal
system, ties between republic and Union politics are much closer
than in the American system, and study of the first provides
suggestions useful to studies of the second. Moreover, the po-
litical process—again unlike the American system—appears re-
markably similar at the two levels, and generalizations can be
applied appropriately to both. Further, the circumspect fashion
in which political events at the center have characteristically been
reported in most periods has been less typical in areas removed
from Moscow and at regional and local levels; instructive material
and interpretations may be found in these places which would not,
because of more careful scrutiny, be released at the center. And
finally, the regional and nationality attitudes of the people living
in the Soviet border areas have posed peculiar problems for Soviet
leaders and forced significant modifications of Soviet practices;
these special problems and modifications alike are of considerable
interest to the West.
Of the Soviet border regions, the Ukraine has played, historically
as well as politically, the most important role. Its population is
largest and its economic level is highest in the Soviet Union outside
the Russian core. Apart from the Georgian republic it has developed
perhaps the richest national literature and strongest national
movement. Although its party organization has never assumed
a central, dominating role as have the Moscow and Leningrad
organizations, it has grown to be the largest subdivision of the
Communist Party of the Soviet Union and has been linked in-
VI PREFACE
creasingly with Moscow and Leningrad as a principal basis of
political power and support. Because of Khrushchev's personal
identification with the Ukraine, the region has become a reservoir
supplying highest leadership to the center. In the future the
Ukraine may lose importance in the eyes of new Soviet leaders
who will be less closely tied to it as a region. But it seems likely
to continue to play a major role in Soviet political life.
The scope of the study is broad, covering the whole of the Soviet
period until 1957. It is intended, therefore, to serve as an in-
troduction to the problem rather than as a definitive statement.
The treatment too is uneven, chiefly because Soviet sources—on
which the study is principally based—are rich in some years, lean
in others. Without question, the best source material has en-
compassed the periods of the Revolution and the twenties: in
these years there is an abundant literature both in the form of
works published at the time and, more recently, in the form of
excellent Soviet monographs—many of them unpublished dis-
sertations—-based on archival materials not yet available directly
in the West. Less complete information is available for the periods
of World War II and the years after Stalin's death. The leanest
years are those of the purges, 1934 to 1941, and the last of the
Stalin years, 1945 to 1952.
The list of those who have influenced and supported and molded
the direction of this study is long. Among those who have read
and offered suggestions on the manuscript are Quincy Wright,
Hans Morgenthau, Leopold Haimson, and Richard Pipes. John
Armstrong of the University of Wisconsin provided especially
valuable assistance through comments and discussion. A grant
from the Inter-University Committee on Travel Grants supported
a six-month stay at Moscow State University where materials not
available in the United States were found. Publication was sub-
sidized by a generous subvention from the Social Science Research
Council. My most grateful thanks go also to the staff of the Co-
lumbia University Press, and to my wife whose assistance left its
impress on the work at every stage.
June, 1962 ROBERT S. SULLIVANT
NOTE ON TRANSLITERATION
The Library of Congress transliteration system for Russian and
Ukrainian words is used throughout this study, but diacritical
marks and ligatures are omitted. Certain Russian words such
as kolkhoz (collective farm), oblast' (region), and raion (district)
are treated as though they were English words.
Place names are given their commonly accepted English spellings
which, in most cases, are derived from Russian rather than Ukrain-
ian names. The names of personages are spelled according to
the preferred listing in the Library of Congress catalog. For the
sake of uniformity and consistency, certain errors which result,
snch as the Russian spelling Grin'ko for the Ukrainian name
Hryn'ko, are not corrected.
