Echoes of Empire: The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (1919-1991)

📜 Evolution of the Official Name

In 1919, the entity was known as both "Ukraine" and the "Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic" (Ukrainian: Українська Соціалістична Радянська Республіка, abbreviated УСРР). Following the ratification of the 1936 Soviet Constitution, a standardized naming convention was applied across all Soviet republics. Consequently, on December 5, 1936, the republic's name was formally changed to the "Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic," a designation ratified on January 31, 1937.

🗣️ The Etymology of "Ukraine"

The name "Ukraine" (Latin: *Vkraina*) is a subject of ongoing academic discourse. It is frequently understood to be derived from the Slavic term "okraina," signifying "border land." Its earliest documented use dates back to the 12th century, referring to a portion of Kievan Rus', with Kyiv then serving as the capital of Rus'. Over centuries, the term has been applied in various contexts; for instance, the Zaporozhian Cossacks referred to their hetmanate as "Ukraine." Within the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, "Ukraine" held an unofficial status for a significant part of the Kiev Voivodeship.

🚫 The Definite Article Debate

Historically, "The Ukraine" was a common usage in English. However, since Ukraine's Declaration of Independence, this form has become less prevalent in the English-speaking world, with many style guides advising against its use in professional discourse. The prevailing sentiment, articulated by figures such as U.S. ambassador William Taylor, is that "The Ukraine" implicitly disregards the nation's sovereignty. The official Ukrainian position asserts that the use of the definite article is grammatically and politically incorrect.

🗣️ Ukrainization Policies

During the 1920s, the Ukrainian SSR implemented a policy of Ukrainization, aligning with the broader Soviet *korenization* initiative. This policy aimed to elevate the status and usage of the Ukrainian language and promote ethnic Ukrainians to leadership positions within the republic. This period represented a brief cultural and linguistic resurgence for Ukraine within the Soviet framework.

🌾 The Holodomor Tragedy

The 1930s witnessed a profound national catastrophe for the Ukrainian nation: the Holodomor. Joseph Stalin's aggressive agricultural policies, including compulsory grain requisitions, forced collectivization, dekulakization, and Russification, led to a devastating famine in 1932. Estimates of human life lost range from 2.6 million to 10 million. While some scholars and international bodies assert this was an act of genocide, the International Commission of Inquiry Into the 1932–1933 Famine in Ukraine concluded in 1990 that it was caused by a combination of Soviet policies and environmental factors, without finding evidence of a preconceived plan to starve Ukrainians. However, several nations have individually recognized it as genocide.

🏭 Industrialization Drive

Despite the immense human cost of agricultural policies, Ukraine experienced a significant surge in industrial production within a decade. This growth, primarily concentrated in the Donets Basin and central Ukrainian cities like Mykolaiv, saw the republic's industrial output quintuple. This rapid industrialization was a cornerstone of Stalin's economic strategy, transforming Ukraine into a key industrial hub within the Soviet Union.

🛠️ Reconstruction and Reestablishment

Following the expulsion of German forces in October 1944, the immediate priority for Soviet authorities was to reestablish political control over the Ukrainian SSR, which had been entirely lost during the war. This was a monumental undertaking given the extensive human and material devastation. The post-war period saw intensive efforts to rebuild the republic's infrastructure and economy, aiming to restore pre-war levels of production and social order.

🌐 International Presence

Despite remaining an integral part of the Soviet Union, the Ukrainian SSR gained a unique international standing after World War II. Amendments to its constitution allowed it to act as a separate subject of international law in certain contexts. This enabled the Ukrainian SSR to become one of the founding members of the United Nations (UN) on October 24, 1945, alongside the Soviet Union and the Byelorussian SSR. This arrangement provided the Soviet Union with additional votes in the General Assembly. In its capacity as a UN member, the Ukrainian SSR served as an elected member of the United Nations Security Council in 1948–1949 and again in 1984–1985.

📈 Territorial Expansion and Demographic Shifts

The war's conclusion solidified Ukraine's territorial expansion. Its border was extended to the Curzon Line, and additional southern territories near Izmail, previously part of Romania, were incorporated. An agreement with Czechoslovakia also transferred Carpathian Ruthenia to Ukraine. These territorial gains significantly increased the republic's landmass and population, reshaping its demographic and geopolitical landscape within the Soviet sphere.

🚧 Gorbachev's Reforms and Ukrainian Resistance

Mikhail Gorbachev's policies of *perestroika* (restructuring) and *glasnost* (openness) were slow to take root in Ukraine, largely due to the conservative influence of Volodymyr Shcherbytsky, the First Secretary of the Ukrainian Communist Party. The 1986 Chernobyl disaster, coupled with persistent Russification policies and evident social and economic stagnation, fueled growing opposition to Soviet rule among Ukrainians. The lack of practical implementation of *perestroika*—with 95 percent of industry and agriculture still state-owned in 1990—created widespread disillusionment, which ultimately transformed into direct opposition to the Soviet state itself. *Glasnost*, by ending state censorship, allowed the Ukrainian diaspora to reconnect with their homeland, revitalized religious practices, and fostered the emergence of opposition media.

independence Declaration and Referendum

Following the failed August Coup in Moscow (August 19–21, 1991), the Supreme Soviet of Ukraine declared independence on August 24, 1991, officially renaming the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic as "Ukraine." A pivotal referendum on independence was held on December 1, 1991, where an overwhelming 92.3% of voters nationwide supported independence. This included strong support from Crimea (54% for independence) and Eastern Ukraine (over 80% for independence), demonstrating a broad national consensus.

🔚 End of the Soviet Union

On the same day as the independence referendum, the 1991 Ukrainian presidential election saw Leonid Kravchuk, then chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, elected with 62% of the vote. All presidential candidates campaigned in favor of independence. Ukraine's economic and political significance within the Soviet Union, second only to Russia, meant its secession effectively ended any realistic prospect of the USSR remaining intact. On December 8, 1991, Kravchuk, along with his Russian and Belarusian counterparts, signed the Belovezh Accords, declaring the Soviet Union's effective cessation and establishing the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The Alma-Ata Protocol, signed by most former Soviet republics on December 21, further affirmed the USSR's functional demise. The Soviet Union formally dissolved on December 26, 1991.

🤝 Limited Foreign Autonomy

Despite being a constituent republic, the Ukrainian SSR, like other Soviet republics, had minimal direct influence over its own foreign affairs. However, a significant amendment in 1944 permitted the Ukrainian SSR to establish bilateral relations with other countries and maintain its own standing army, though the latter was never fully realized, with defense matters remaining under Soviet Armed Forces control. This clause was instrumental in allowing the Ukrainian SSR, along with the Byelorussian SSR, to become a founding member of the United Nations.

🗣️ A Voice in the United Nations

As a founding member of the UN on October 24, 1945, the Ukrainian SSR's presence effectively provided the Soviet Union with an additional two votes in the General Assembly, balancing the Western Bloc's influence. The Ukrainian SSR actively participated in various UN bodies, including the UN Economic and Social Council, UNICEF, International Labour Organization, Universal Postal Union, World Health Organization, UNESCO, International Telecommunication Union, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, World Intellectual Property Organization and the International Atomic Energy Agency. It also served as an elected member of the United Nations Security Council in 1948–1949 and 1984–1985.

🚪 The Right to Secede

A theoretical right to secede from the Soviet Union was codified in each Soviet constitution, including Article 69 of the Ukrainian SSR's constitution, which stated: "The Ukrainian SSR retains the right to willfully secede from the USSR." However, this right was largely symbolic and practically impossible to exercise until Mikhail Gorbachev's *perestroika* reforms began to weaken central Soviet control. Upon independence, Ukraine asserted its status as the legal successor of the Ukrainian SSR, claiming rights and duties from international agreements of the USSR that aligned with its new constitution and national interests. It also retained its UN seat, held since 1945, and pursued claims against the Russian Federation for its share of former Soviet foreign property.

🌾 Pre-War Agriculture and Famine

At its inception, Soviet Ukraine's economy, having largely inherited conditions from the Tsarist Empire (one of the biggest exporters of wheat in the world), was predominantly agricultural, with over 90% of the workforce being peasants. The initial agenda, War Communism, which prescribed total communisation and appropriation per quota of food from the people by force, led to further economic damage and a famine in 1921–1923, claiming up to one million lives. With the New Economic Policy and the partial introduction of free markets, an economic recovery followed. After the death of Lenin and the consolidation of his power, Stalin was determined to industrialization and reversed policy again. As heavy industry and wheat exports boomed, common people in rural areas were bearing a cost. Gradually escalating measures, from raised taxes, dispossession of property, and forced deportations into Siberia culminated in extremely high grain delivery quotas. Even though there is no evidence that agricultural yield could not feed the population at the time, four million Ukrainians were starved to death while Moscow exported over a million tonnes of grain to the West, decimating the population.

🚜 Post-War Agricultural Challenges

In 1945, agricultural production stood at only 40 percent of the 1940 level, even though the republic's territorial expansion had "increased the amount of arable land." In contrast to the remarkable growth in the industrial sector, agriculture continued in Ukraine, as in the rest of the Soviet Union, to function as the economy's Achilles heel. Despite the human toll of collectivisation of agriculture in the Soviet Union, especially in Ukraine, Soviet planners still believed in the effectiveness of collective farming. The old system was reestablished; the numbers of collective farms in Ukraine increased from 28 thousand in 1940 to 33 thousand in 1949, comprising 45 million hectares; the numbers of state farms barely increased, standing at 935 in 1950, comprising 12.1 million hectares. By the end of the Fourth Five-Year Plan (in 1950) and the Fifth Five-Year Plan (in 1955), agricultural output still stood far lower than the 1940 level. The slow changes in agriculture can be explained by the low productivity in collective farms, and by bad weather-conditions, which the Soviet planning system could not effectively respond to. Grain for human consumption in the post-war years decreased, this in turn led to frequent and severe food shortages. The increase of Soviet agricultural production was tremendous, however, the Soviet-Ukrainians still experienced food shortages due to the inefficiencies of a highly centralised economy. During the peak of Soviet-Ukrainian agriculture output in the 1950s and early-to-mid-1960s, human consumption in Ukraine, and in the rest of the Soviet Union, actually experienced short intervals of decrease. There are many reasons for this inefficiency, but its origins can be traced back to the single-purchaser and -producer market system set up by Joseph Stalin. Khrushchev tried to improve the agricultural situation in the Soviet Union by expanding the total crop size – for instance, in the Ukrainian SSR alone "the amount of land planted with corn grew by 600 percent." At the height of this policy, between 1959 and 1963, one-third of Ukrainian arable land grew this crop. This policy decreased the total production of wheat and rye; Khrushchev had anticipated this, and the production of wheat and rye moved to Soviet Central Asia as part of the Virgin Lands Campaign. Khrushchev's agricultural policy failed, and in 1963 the Soviet Union had to import food from abroad. The total level of agricultural productivity in Ukraine decreased sharply during this period, but recovered in the 1970s and 1980s during Leonid Brezhnev's rule.

⚙️ Industrial Resurgence and Stagnation

During the post-war years, Ukraine's industrial productivity doubled its pre-war level. In 1945 industrial output totaled only 26 percent of the 1940 level. The Soviet Union introduced the Fourth Five-Year Plan in 1946. The Fourth Five-Year Plan would prove to be a remarkable success, and can be likened to the "wonders of West German and Japanese reconstruction," but without foreign capital; the Soviet reconstruction is historically an impressive achievement. In 1950 industrial gross output had already surpassed 1940-levels. While the Soviet régime still emphasised heavy industry over light industry, the light-industry sector also grew. The increase in capital investment and the expansion of the labour force also benefited Ukraine's economic recovery. In the prewar years, 15.9 percent of the Soviet budget went to Ukraine, in 1950, during the Fourth Five-Year Plan this had increased to 19.3 percent. The workforce had increased from 1.2 million in 1945 to 2.9 million in 1955; an increase of 33.2 percent over the 1940-level. The result of this remarkable growth was that by 1955 Ukraine was producing 2.2 times more than in 1940, and the republic had become one of the leading producers of certain commodities in Europe. Ukraine was the largest per-capita producer in Europe of pig iron and sugar, and the second-largest per-capita producer of steel and of iron ore, and was the third largest per-capita producer of coal in Europe. From 1965 until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, industrial growth in Ukraine decreased, and by the 1970s it started to stagnate. Significant economic decline did not become apparent before the 1970s. During the Fifth Five-Year Plan (1951–1955), industrial development in Ukraine grew by 13.5 percent, while during the Eleventh Five-Year Plan (1981–1985) industry grew by a relatively modest 3.5 percent. The double-digit growth seen in all branches of the economy in the post-war years had disappeared by the 1980s, entirely replaced by low growth-figures. An ongoing problem throughout the republic's existence was the planners' emphasis on heavy industry over consumer goods. The urbanisation of Ukrainian society in the post-war years led to an increase in energy consumption. Between 1956 and 1972, to meet this increasing demand, the government built five water reservoirs along the Dnieper River. Aside from improving Soviet-Ukrainian water transport, the reservoirs became the sites for new power stations, and hydroelectric energy flourished in Ukraine in consequence. The natural-gas industry flourished as well, and Ukraine became the site of the first post-war production of gas in the Soviet Union; by the 1960s Ukraine's biggest gas field was producing 30 percent of the USSR's total gas production. The government was not able to meet the people's ever-increasing demand for energy consumption, but by the 1970s, the Soviet government had conceived an intensive nuclear power program.

📜 References