• Українська
  • Русский
  • English
Where there is no law, but every man does what is right in his own eyes, there is the least of real liberty
Henry M. Robert

Regime Needs Zlahoda; People Need Solidarity

30 March, 1999 - 00:00

By Anatoly SHYROKOV, Chairman, Central Committee, Trade Union
of the National Academy of ciences of Ukraine,

Yevhen MORENTSOV, director, trade union analytical center
The recent forum on the Union of Democratic Forces and the constituent
assembly of the Zlahoda (Harmony) all-Ukrainian association proclaimed
the goals of their organizations: to ward off a Red revenge, preserve statehood,
and continue the course of reforms. To do so, the organization calls for
uniting around the current authorities (i.e., the government and the President).
This raises two questions: is the new association able to achieve its declared
goals and has it chosen the right way to do so?

WANTING SOMETHING DOES NOT MEAN YOU CAN DO IT

As the government-sponsored media repeatedly stressed, the assembly
was visited by representatives of the Ukrainian societal elite. The meeting
was so elite that it was impossible to find among its participants a single,
as someone once said, "representative of the working people." To identify
the qualitative composition of the association, its founders may be tentatively
divided into three groups: the first consists of those in power and those
close to them; the second comprises those who depend to an extent on the
authorities for business, promotion, decorations, or awards; the third
includes executives who entered this public association against their will
in order not to expose to reprisals the collectives they head. Naturally,
these groups have different attitudes toward the idea of the association.

Now let us consider Zlahoda's ability to achieve its enunciated goals.
Neither the President nor the government have been able of late to overcome
negative trends in the nation's development. Socioeconomic conditions have
worsened so much that a considerable number of individuals have begun to
feel nostalgic about the Soviet past. This re-enforces the leftist electorate
and produces a large number of those who could potentially support the
Left.

As to preserving statehood, much has been done here precisely to the
contrary. This means distorting the national idea with resounding appeals
to national consciousness, for many now in Zlahoda were more enraptured
with themselves in Ukraine than Ukraine in themselves. A state rests on
six whales: the economy, finances, the armed forces, science, education,
and culture. Suffice it to look at the state of affairs in these spheres
to see that the state is crumbling. No doubt, there are people in Zlahoda
who know what to do and how, but the trouble is that they are rejected
by the ruling elite, for they do not belong to it. The rulers listen to
neither scholars nor industrialists, and they have no desire at all to
use the nation's intellect, thinking that lack of knowledge is the best
economic concept.

Little wonder, most of our citizens have raised the question of what
is to be done in the current situation when the rulers call for unity,
offering a carrot in the shape of a 2-2.5-fold wage rise enshrined in the
Ukraine-2010 Program. This means we will be earning 80-100 dollars per
month, not 40, in 11 years. We have already written that in the past few
years Ukrainian society has not only gotten older but also wiser. Thus
the people know only too well that under current conditions, when the regime
persistently turns a deaf ear to them, any harmony between them and it
is out of the question. No one in Zlahoda regards the ordinary citizen
as an equal partner. They only want to govern the latter, influence his
consciousness, advise him whom to vote for, and instill in him a sociopolitical
sadomasochism, i.e., love of the government which maltreats him.

So it is quite natural that the people's wisdom and instinct for self-defense
have brought forth an idea to form a People's Solidarity for Social Security
and Mutual Assistance public association.

PEOPLE'S SOLIDARITY AS

A PLATFORM FOR SOCIETAL CONSOLIDATION

This association's key feature is that the initiative to form it came
from below: it consists of not only the elite but also representatives
of the broadest strata of our society, and it was created by the people
to resolve the most pressing problems by a joint effort.

The people know that the current situation cannot continue, and changes
should begin with those in power. This is why they carefully size up and
assess alternative candidates to Leonid Kuchma. They more often than not
set their eyes on Yevhen Marchuk.

The problem of societal consolidation lies in the geopolitical and social
planes. The problems of East-West Ukrainian harmony, as well as the preservation
of social peace, are so acute that we can say: the ability to solve them
accounts for 90% of the success not only at the presidential elections
but also in further activities. In this aspect, it is Mr. Marchuk's candidature
that can unite people of divergent political beliefs from different social
strata and regions of Ukraine. He can do so owing to his political reasonableness
and attitudes to the problems of preserving statehood, forming an effective
system of social security, and establishing order in the country. The latter
is the most complicated task that only Mr. Marchuk can fulfill. His knowledge,
experience and ability to heed other people's opinion are also sufficient
for solving problems in the economic sphere.

This appraisal became possible after Mr. Marchuk met the participants
in the plenary meeting of the Central Committee of the Trade Union of the
National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, where he valiantly withstood a
scathing "intellectual attack" from scientists for two hours. You will
agree this is somewhat different from meeting a carefully selected audience
which asks questions distributed in advance.

The comparative analysis of the two ways of societal consolidation shows
that the former, put forward by the current rulers, is unable to solve
the problems of this country and, in spite of the declarations, is aimed
at retention of power, not consolidation of society. On the other hand,
the way of People's Solidarity, relying on mutual assistance, collective
reason, industriousness and will-power of the people, leads to the harmony
of society's broadest strata, the overcoming of crisis, and the building
of a democratic and developed state, with reforms being carried out for
the people and not at the expense of their further impoverishment.

 

On virtual and real-time ways of uniting society
Rubric: