This week in history

December 7: 1934. The Council of People’s Commissars adopted a resolution on canceling the rationing of bread, flour, and cereals. 1987. The USSR and the USA signed an agreement on the elimination of intermediate and short-range ballistic missiles.

December 8: 1868. The Prosvita cultural and educational organization was founded in Lviv. 1991. Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus signed in Brest the agreement on the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

December 9: 1918. The Directory resolved to restore the Ukrainian People’s Republic law on the eight hour workday. 1972. The 300,000 kilowatt power unit of Europe’s largest Vuhlehirsk thermal power station, Donetsk oblast, generated its first current.

December 10: 1815. The first Russian steamship was built at the Petersburg Berge plant. 1932. The Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (bolshevik) resolved to suspend admission to the Party and carry out a purge.

December 11: 1917. A rump First All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets was opened in Kharkiv, which set up a Soviet government in Ukraine. 1991. The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine resolved to establish diplomatic relations with the new states, former USSR republics.

December 12: 1801. A Tsarist decree was made public, whereby merchants, urban residents, and free peasants were allowed to buy land. 1988. The An-225 (Mriya) cargo aircraft made its maiden test flight.

December 13: Day of Apostle St. Andrew. 1918. An uprising broke out in Kyiv against the Hetman’s power. 1941. The Germans began to arrest in Kyiv representatives of the Ukrainian intelligentsia who were active in the Melnyk wing of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists.