How to get rid of the ghosts of the past

The times of transitional stages, like the one that modern Uk­raine is currently undergoing in the 21st year of its existence (the time we are now having is so much Kafka style: the “reforms” and “advance into Europe” are often carried out by people, who sincerely believe that “the Earth begins, as you know, from the Kremlin” and, either consciously or unconsciously, consider the col­lapse of the Soviet Union the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century; hence, those “reforms” and “Euro­pe­anization” sometimes have, if to put it mildly, the specific na­ture – they obviously bear a stamp of Russkiy Mir (Russian World)), times of consciousness crisis and diso­rien­tation of values require, first of all, one thing – honest con­ver­sa­tion with one’s own self. It is important to ask a few “in­con­venient,” but fun­da­men­tal que­stions, especially now that the time of the 94th anniversary of the Bol­she­viks taking power in Russia prompts to it.

First question. As you know, nothing comes out of nothing; states are also not born from emptiness. Thus, modern legally independent Ukraine is a heir (of what, in fact?) of its own historical past, a certain state structure was the “grain” of it historical formation. The practice of the past 20 years shows that this “grain” (and, at the same time, an inexhaustible source of human, material, and spiritual resources) was not our real predecessor – the Ukrainian National Republic (1918-21), but the quasi-state formation, which was called the USSR. It was the USSR that gained independence in 1991. James Mace, an incredible historian, wrote a lot about it, but it seems he was not adequately heard.

Second question. What reasons do we, Ukrainian people, have to believe in historical “miracles”? Namely: is such a miracle possible, when loyal, tested staff from Brezhnev-Andropov era (or those of Komsomol hardening) would promote real, honest, truly European reforms? Maybe there are reasons to think that people you hire (Stalin was, in fact, right in saying that they determine if not everything, then at least quite a lot) will continue, like it has been for the past 20 years, to “implement” reforms designed solely to fit their needs, stealing everything that can be stolen out of habit learned during the decaying, soft, Brezhnev totalitarianism. By doing so, they deliberately form the disastrous gap between living standards of an ordinary Ukrainian and those of an oligarch, drowning in luxury – this is a great offence to the Ukrainian people and a possible cause for the disastrous Ukrainian Rebellion, senseless and merciless. Fortunately, only wisdom of offended people still (at least for now) rescues from this.

Third question. Do we, Ukrai-nian people, remember the saying of the 20th century genius Oleksandr Dovzhenko: “A nation, that does not know its history, is a nation of blind people”? Who benefits from the fact that people wouldn’t know the truth about the destruction of million of innocent souls – “those living in Ukraine and beyond its territory,” about violence, lies, Russification, jeer at nature, crazy military adventures, and other “charms” of life in the USSR (at the same time the author of these lines never thought that those 74 years of history should be drawn only in hell-black colors – it is still our, not somebody else’s, history, and that’s what makes it tragic)? It is well known that even Romans advised: “if you want to understand the events, find out who benefits from them.” Who benefits from rewriting history textbooks according to Soviet cliches? Here is another question: what is common between oligarch Party of Regions and the “fiery champion of working people” – the Communist Party? At some point, one of the former CPU leaders Leonid Hrach gave a very informative hint that allows to see many problems in real light. He said that they have “common geo­po­li­tical orientation.” Just like this.

And we still question ourselves on where this nostalgia for the USSR comes from and how long it will exist.