America the Beautiful

PART TWO (Conclusion. For Part One, see The Day’s previous issue)

I will briefly recapitulate the main points of the first part of my article:

1. The USSR would have never won the Second World War without immense assistance from the United States.

2. The USSR’s staggering losses were the result not only of the war itself but the destruction of its own citizens by the Soviet state machinery.

3. The invaluable assistance provided by the United States to help win the war, as well as its considerable aid to independent Ukraine today, has not been duly appreciated by some of my fellow Ukrainians.

The West recently marked the 50th anniversary of the Marshall Plan, a program of economic reform that was aimed at reviving devastated postwar Europe. On June 5, 1947, US Secretary of State George Marshall gave a 14-minute speech at Harvard University about the European Recovery Program, which became known as the Marshall Plan. This American statesman declared that in drawing up his plan he was driven by civic responsibility.

Initially, it seems the Americans were not overly enthusiastic about his plan. Who would be willing to part with his money? But after tightening their belts (as the same kind of reform was underway in America), the Americans joined the global process. The US Congress confirmed the importance of the Marshall Plan by giving billions of dollars in aid to Europe, the equivalent of three percent of its GNP.

Seventeen countries, both victors and losers in the war, shared this financial assistance, which Europe would never forget. We know that Stalin rejected both the plan and any other aid. We also know the results: more than 100 million people starved during the postwar period. Radio Liberty has revealed the letters that village residents wrote to their relatives at the front, telling them about the famine and the flight of people into the cities.

People from my generation probably remember the caricatures of Marshal and Churchill that were published in Pravda. I remember them very well.

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Today the United States is providing funds to Ukraine, including government grants and assistance to civic organizations. The list is long enough to rate a separate article. I hope that The Day will contact Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and publicize at least some information about this assistance, which is little known to the general public.

A few years ago the famous philanthropist George Soros closed all his foundations in Russia. Moscow immediately responded by launching an anti-Soros campaign. Then a newspaper in Ukraine published the ramblings of a writer eager to demonstrate his servile stance vis-a-vis the political games of a foreign state. After this article was published, several distinguished academicians anxiously raised this matter with President Leonid Kuchma, declaring that if Soros cancelled his grants for research projects in Ukraine, a great deal of this research work would come to a standstill (I was told this by one of those Ukrainian academicians). Judging by everything, President Kuchma considered the matter because, as far as I remember, there were no more anti-Soros attacks in the media.

I am personally acquainted with several young Ukrainian scholars, who owe their successful careers to US grants. I don’t doubt for a minute that they are all indebted to faraway America. I could cite a great many similar examples, but I will just say that Ukraine has received 1.5 million euros’ worth of TACIS aid aimed at children’s relief programs.

Several years ago, during another hysterical anti-US campaign in Russia, I read an article in a newspaper that at this very time the United States had given Russia a million dollars’ worth of humanitarian aid. (I believe that Russia, like the Bolsheviks, is constantly searching for enemies in order to distract the people from daily unresolved problems.)

I won’t broach the affairs of another country, but why do some Ukrainian political figures try to push my country’s policy to follow that of a foreign state, especially one that is not well disposed to Ukraine? But that, too, is a topic for another article.

I often hear some Ukrainian MPs inciting ill feelings towards the US by constantly bringing up Iraq. No one hears their shouts in the United States, where the grass roots stage protest rallies, re-elect their government, and force those in power to heed public opinion. What our politicians are doing in Ukraine is paying lip service, which is aimed at us alone.

Let me give you another example. Compared to our servile silence when our sons were being sent off to die in Afghanistan, Americans were protesting the war in Vietnam and burning their draft notices, knowing that this meant a prison term.

I simply do not trust all those Ukrainian politicians who say they are truly distressed by the Iraq issue because they don’t give a damn about Ukraine. The impression is that they are working off the sums of money they were paid or trying to earn an extra buck.

I urge readers to regard as suspect any political statements that ignore the US’s contribution to Ukraine’s economy and economic institutions while focusing on the Iraq issue. Let us remember that someone else’s shortcomings do not remove suspicion from us.

The communists are trying to rush through the NATO referendum issue in Ukraine and saddling us with all kinds of useless debates. I think their objective is to prevent us from learning the truth about American assistance and NATO, as well as, perhaps, to slow down our parliament’s performance in order to prevent the kind of reforms we need so badly from being implemented.

If that is not the real reason, then why the rush? The road to NATO and EU membership is a long and winding one owing to many reasons. One of them is the open, unregulated western frontiers that stretch for thousands of kilometers.

In her time the “Iron Lady,” Margaret Thatcher, had no qualms about declaring that Great Britain could not ensure its national security without the help of the US. Despite all their differences concerning the United States, the European leaders also say that they cannot guarantee the security of their countries without NATO. It turns out that wealthy and powerful Europe cannot see itself outside the Alliance, but we, a bunch of bare-assed smarty-pants (pardon my vulgarity) can.

The population of European countries is convinced that they have to maintain close links with America. After all, can you imagine UNESCO, the UN, or even NATO without US and its significant monetary contributions? Let’s not forget that the US Armed Forces are an army of the 21st century.

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I do not expect anyone to automatically accept the facts that I, who am neither a historian nor a politician, have cited in this article. But I expect to be heard: when people start wanting to listen, this means they are thinking about things.

I do not want my fellow countrymen being dragged like dumb sheep in the wake of the hysterical propaganda that people of Vitrenko’s or Zhirinovsky’s ilk are inundating us with their buckets of dirt. We must finally say goodbye to the caveman sovok mentality. We cannot orient ourselves on a “mass conscience” that is ready to yell “Get them!”

We are ruled by a minority, not a majority, because the majority is not always right. The majority means passion for a Hitler or a Stalin. At one time the majority looted churches, burned down libraries on estates, and the estates themselves. False stereotypes about “hostile” America can be easily foisted on the majority. Do we really want to be members of such a majority? As far as I am concerned, the thinking majority in a democratic state must be able to influence the ruling minority.

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The ideologeme that has been foisted on us is difficult to overcome. A graphic example, one that puts my teeth on edge from the constant repetition, allegedly confirms the importance of Stalin, about whom it is said that when he entered a room, Churchill would rise to his feet. Any intelligent person with a modicum of common sense will tell you that the prime minister of a country, however small, will always rise to greet his counterpart entering a room. This is a matter of protocol and ordinary politeness. To interpret this action otherwise is madness.

When myths are being demolished, what is left for the people? In the name of what did they and their families perish?

It is difficult to recreate history in the post-Soviet space, says a contemporary German historian. But that is why it is called history — to learn the truth. Knowledge requires hard work and effort, but this is the first step toward freedom. All freedom starts from inner freedom. Victory is first of all victory over oneself.

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Not so long ago The Year of Ukraine was marked in Russia. None of my friends in Moscow paid any attention to this yearlong event, except for the acts of vandalism targeting the Ukrainian Home on Maly Arbat Street, the destruction of archival newspapers at the Library of Ukrainian literature, and the vandalism on Mt. Hoverlia. I don’t know the outcome of all these events. From what I remember, Ukraine mumbled something in response.

I appeal to President Yushchenko with the proposal that 2009 be designated the Year of the US in Ukraine. I would like Ukrainians to be reminded of the great American culture, which had a considerable influence on Europe; of renowned American writers, like Faulkner, Steinbeck, Salinger, Hemingway, Cheever, Kesey, Albee, and Simon. Our public would be happy to attend concerts by excellent American musicians, attend screenings of Oscar-winning films, and view the works of American artists, and preferably not just in Kyiv but elsewhere in Ukraine. Of course, such projects don’t come cheaply, but I am sure that we could get sponsors from abroad.

America the Beautiful has offered the world so many noble examples. Remember the many people who found refuge in the United States during and after the war, including refugees from poor countries, human rights champions fleeing totalitarian regimes, scientists and scholars, dissidents, Ukrainians with connections to the OUN and the UPA, and Jews. There is no end to this list.

America is a country where charity has become part of the national culture. I think that we Ukrainians have a lot to learn from the great people of this truly great country. As a citizen of Ukraine, who is not authorized by anyone or anything except her memory and conscience, once again I want to publicly declare my heartfelt gratitude to the American people.