Why does Stus inspire more fear than Bandera?

The name of the outstanding Ukrainian poet and human rights champion Vasyl Stus can well be referred to the cohort of national Heroes of Ukraine. Defying the Soviet regime, he became a symbol of freedom and the example of a very strong personality. His strength was the word which even the Soviet closed system could not resist, so the system chose to destroy him as a human being. In response to his human rights struggle and protests against the repression of Ukrainian intellectuals, Stus was thrown to a prison camp, where he died. But what can never die is the memory of him, the memory of an unbreakable Ukrainian spirit. For Vasyl Stus lived and wrote his poetry in Donbas, one of the Soviet Ukraine’s most Russified regions.

Vasyl Stus has been officially declared Hero of Ukraine in 2005, when the then president Viktor Yushchenko issued a corresponding decree. But does everybody accept him as hero? We all remember that the idea of naming Donetsk National University after Stus provoked fierce resistance from this institution’s administration and most of its students. As a result, the university was never named after the well-known dissident. Nevertheless, Den/The Day still supports this noble initiative.

The city council of Horlivka, Donetsk oblast, recently turned down a proposal to put up the Stus’s bust near the school where he had taught. Out of the 68 councilors present at the session, only 13 voted “for.” Incidentally, neither the municipal nor the state budgets would have borne any expenses to erect the bust. It is the Horlivka cell of the Svoboda party that put forward this proposal and was ready to make all funds available.

“Had it been somebody else, the situation may have been different,” Natalia Bondar, chief of staff at the Horlivka city Party of Regions organization, says to The Day. “In my view, my colleagues did not like very much the fact that this proposal came from Svoboda. It is my personal opinion. As a matter of fact, our faction had not discussed this point before the session, so everybody voted as they pleased. Our councilors did not even speak – those who spoke were the Communists and a European Party member.”

We turned for comment to Ihor Slavhorodsky, leader of the Horlivka Svoboda organization. “I spoke twice to Ms. Natalia on this matter. She said categorically: there will be no monument to Stus in Horlivka. I tried to find the reason why but never received an answer. I even said: if you feel so outraged that the proposal comes from us, please do it yourselves. We only wish the Hero of Ukraine’s bust to be put up. It is not a present-day problem. There is no monument to Stus even in Donetsk, where he lived and studied for five years. The Party of Regions members say there is a Stus museum in Horlivka. That is right, but this museum was established at the Elastomer rubber factory’s expense. This is the factory’s private property which does not belong to the Horlivka community. The factory refused to make the Stus Museum a branch of the Horlivka Local History Museum. We also spoke about the school. There is only one school in Ukraine, where Stus taught – it is our city school No. 23 which has not yet been named after Vasyl Stus. In reality, the problem is in the awareness of these people. For them, Stus is even more frightening than Bandera because Bandera is far away in the west, while Stus is close by. Recognizing Stus is a personal defeat for them. As for knowledge extension, all the Horlivka schools conduct excursions to the Stus Museum and do other things. Naturally, not all one hundred percent of Horlivka residents know who Stus is, but the councilors surely do. All right, as our proposal was rejected, we will take an educational approach. I have turned to the local Prosvita cell, and it has already appealed to the mayor and the city council. We are requesting to organize a roundtable debate on this subject, which will involve councilors, public figures, teachers, etc. We also suggest holding Stus Readings in September. We must honor this person because many have heard about Horlivka thanks not only to coal mines but also to Vasyl Stus,” Slavhorodsky says.

Indeed, “the Soviet bacillus” in human heads and radicalization of Ukrainian society in the past few years has created a situation when people often reject wise and necessary ideas even on the intuitive level, without looking into details of one issue or another. This is why the Svoboda proposal – absolutely correct in content – found no support in the Horlivka City Hall. Incidentally, Svoboda itself is also to blame for this, for it has formed the public image of an “extremist” party with its radical actions.

“This matter was discussed for quite a long time,” says Yuri Zhuk, Horlivka city councilor and chair of the European Party of Ukraine’s Horlivka city organization. “There were hearings in commissions, and information was posted on websites. There was no overt confrontation in sight – people just did not vote. As it became clear later, if the proposal had come from an organization or an association other than Svoboda, it might have been passed. We are going to hold a roundtable participated by representatives of civic organizations and political parties, where this issue will be put on a wide-scale debate. After this, the proposal to erect a bust will be coming from the community, not from Svoboda. Naturally, Stus deserves to have his bust put up, all the more so that the council will bear no expenses for this. I see no objections to this. Our opponents are saying there are some more deserving people in this respect. Well, let them put up proposals and we will consider them. If the Stus bust is not erected, people will be still ignorant of who he is. This is one of the ways to put information across because the Donetsk region is quite a closed entity, and it is very difficult for Ukrainian values to squeeze their way into it. The ultimate reason is that it is easier to manipulate uneducated and uninformed people. I am sure that, in the course of time – maybe, six moths or even less, – we will get back to this question and get the record straight. But this requires a great knowledge-extension effort. Although there are some meetings, thematic soirees, and exhibits, it is not enough. Stus is little known, which triggers a prejudiced reaction. But this is not the reaction of the whole population of Horlivka – there are quite a few people here, who know what the poet did and read him. Besides, this is not so controversial a matter: Stus was a talented person who lived and worked here.”

To find out what motivated the local “Regionnaires” to vote against, we turned to Vasyl Hrechyn, Horlivka City Council member from the Party of Regions. “We already have the Stus Museum. City councilors believe there are other high-profile people who have done more good to the city than Stus, for example, Pavlo Soltus, a miner and Hero of Ukraine; and Aleksandr Volkov, a cosmonaut and Hero of the USSR. We have a lot of heroes who produced coal, performed heroic exploits, saved the lives of other people, rescued the city, took part in military conflicts, and who deserve to have their busts put up. Unfortunately, we are too cash-strapped to do so. But if Svoboda does have funds, should we get the whole city studded with busts? And later, when a question arises to erect somebody else’s bust, the place will have been taken. It is like in the Soviet Union: there are Lenin busts galore, you cannot remove them, and all places have been occupied. As for Svoboda, it does not matter who showed initiative. This issue does not need to be politicized. If we find that Stus has done something more for our city, we will reconsider our decision with great pleasure and, maybe, accept the proposal. Unfortunately, I first heard about Stus when his museum was opened in Horlivka. I began to read his poetry just on the eve of the City Council session that was going to discuss this matter. I have read all his works in the Internet and will tell you honestly… Were it about Pushkin, I would vote ‘for.’ Undoubtedly, Stus has done very much: he described human sufferings and torments. Now about the lack of knowledge. Unfortunately, our people here really suffer from the lack of information – not because they do not want to know but because they remain misinformed. If you come to Horlivka and do some explanatory work with our people about Stus, we will perhaps understand that he has done much more than it seems to us,” Hrechyn said.

Educational level is of paramount importance in the world of today. It is the main factor that allows one to be competitive in the present-day realities. Ukraine will be losing out as long as it continues to live in the Soviet past – without its own heroes, history, and memory, i.e., without education. The preservation of identity is another factor that allows a country to be competitive, for it is easy to lose independence unless you have a sense of identity. “The Donbas is indeed a land of energetic people, but they are scared because their leadership is ‘zombifying’ them,” Ihor Yukhnovsky, academician, says. “The initiators of Soviet intimidation have been replaced with the current initiators of intimidation. The Donetsk region leadership should be replaced with new – sober-minded and wise – people, the true patriots of Ukraine. Stus has rendered great services to Ukraine, he is a much respected person, but this truth is very little known in Donetsk. And it is not because Donetsk residents refuse to accept this but because this truth is being wrongly delivered. Once, when I ran for the presidency, I was afraid to travel to the east, to Donetsk. But when I finally came there, I saw the extraordinary kindness and probity of the Donbas people. Unfortunately, the leadership is taking advantage of this. The role and importance of Stus for Ukraine is beyond any doubt. But now, before taking any steps, such as naming a school or putting up a bust, one should explain to people who Stus was. And he was an honest person whom other people respected very much. So, sooner or later, his name will be also recognized in the Donbas.”