Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic

Coordinates: 50°27′N 30°30′E / 50.450°N 30.500°E / 50.450; 30.500
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Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic
Українська Радянська Соціалістична Республіка (Ukrainian)
Украинская Советская Социалистическая Республика (Russian)[1]
1919–1991
Flag of Ukrainian SSR
Flag
(1950–1991)
State emblem (1949–1991) of Ukrainian SSR
State emblem
(1949–1991)
Motto: Пролетарі всіх країн, єднайтеся! (
Ukrainian Exarchate)
Greek Catholic Church (illegal)
Sunni Islam
Judaism
Demonym(s)Ukrainian, Soviet
Government1919–1990:
Unitary Marxist–Leninist one-party Soviet socialist republic
1990–1991:
Unitary multi-party parliamentary republic
First Secretary 
• 1918–1919 (first)
Emanuel Kviring
• 1990 (last)[8]
Stanislav Hurenko
Head of state 
• 1919–1938 (first)
Grigory Petrovsky
• 1990–1991 (last)
Leonid Kravchuk
Head of government
 
• 1918–1919 (first)
Georgy Pyatakov
• 1988–1991 (last)
Vitold Fokin
Legislature
Ratification of agreement to dissolve the Soviet Union
10 December 1991
• Dissolution of the Soviet Union (Ukraine's independence formally recognized)
26 December 1991
28 June 1996
Area
• Total
603,700 km2 (233,100 sq mi)
Population
• 
1989 census
51,706,746
HDI (1990)0.725
high
CurrencySoviet ruble (руб) (SUR)
Calling code+7 03/04/05/06
Internet TLD.su
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Ukrainian People's Republic
Makhnovshchina
Second Polish Republic
Kingdom of Romania
Reichskommissariat Ukraine
General Government
Polish People's Republic
Kingdom of Hungary
Crimea in the Soviet Union
Kholodny Yar Republic
Ukraine
  1. Law of Ukraine "About languages of the Ukrainian SSR"

The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (Ukrainian: Українська Радянська Соціалістична Республіка, romanizedUkrainska Radianska Sotsialistychna Respublika;[note 1] Russian: Украинская Советская Социалистическая Республика[note 2]), abbreviated as the Ukrainian SSR, UkSSR, and also known as Soviet Ukraine or just Ukraine,[11][12][13] was one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991.[14] Under the Soviet one-party model, the Ukrainian SSR was governed by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union through its republican branch, the Communist Party of Ukraine.

The first iterations of the Ukrainian SSR were established during the

Soviet-era constitution remained in use until the adoption of the modern Ukrainian constitution in June 1996.[18]

Throughout its 72-year history, the republic's borders changed many times, with a general trend toward acquiring lands with ethnic Ukrainian population majority, and losing lands with other ethnic majorities. A significant portion of what is now western Ukraine was gained via the Soviet-German Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, with the annexation of Eastern Galicia and Volhynia in 1939, significant portions of Romania in 1940, and Carpathian Ruthenia in Czechoslovakia in 1945. From the 1919 establishment of the Ukrainian SSR until 1934, the city of Kharkov served as its capital; however, the republic's seat of government was subsequently relocated in 1934 to the city of Kiev, the historic Ukrainian capital, and remained at Kiev for the remainder of its existence.

Geographically, the Ukrainian SSR was situated in

1989 Soviet census, the republic of Ukraine had a population of 51,706,746 (second after Russia).[19][20]

Name

Its original names in 1919 were both Ukraine

1936 Soviet Constitution, full official names of all Soviet republics were changed, transposing the second (socialist) and third (sovietskaya in Russian or radianska in Ukrainian) words. In accordance, on 5 December 1936, the 8th Extraordinary Congress Soviets in Soviet Union changed the name of the republic to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, which was ratified by the 14th Extraordinary Congress of Soviets in Ukrainian SSR on 31 January 1937.[24]

The name Ukraine (

Latin: Vkraina) is a subject of debate. It is often perceived as being derived from the Slavic word "okraina", meaning "border land". It was first used to define part of the territory of Kievan Rus' (Ruthenia) in the 12th century, at which point Kiev (now Kyiv) was the capital of Rus'. The name has been used in a variety of ways since the twelfth century. For example, Zaporozhian Cossacks called their hetmanate
"Ukraine".

Within the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the name carried unofficial status for larger part of Kiev Voivodeship.

"The Ukraine" used to be the usual form in English,

William Taylor, "The Ukraine" now implies disregard for the country's sovereignty.[28] The Ukrainian position is that the usage of "'The Ukraine' is incorrect both grammatically and politically."[29]

History

After the abdication of Tsar

Petrograd, many people in Ukraine wished to establish an autonomous Ukrainian Republic. During a period of the Russian Civil War from 1917 to 1923, many factions claiming themselves governments of the newly born republic were formed, each with supporters and opponents. The two most prominent of them were an independent government in Kiev called the Ukrainian People's Republic (UNR) and a Soviet Russia-aligned government in Kharkov called the Ukrainian Soviet Republic (USR). The Kiev-based UNR was internationally recognized and supported by the Central Powers following the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, whereas the Kharkov-based USR was solely supported by the Soviet Russian forces, while neither the UNR nor the USR were explicitly supported by the White Russian forces that remained, although there were attempts to establish cooperation during the closing stages of the war with the former.[citation needed
]

The conflict between the two competing governments, known as the Ukrainian–Soviet War, was part of the ongoing Russian Civil War, as well as a struggle for national independence (known as the Ukrainian War of Independence), which ended with the territory of pro-independence Ukrainian People's Republic being annexed into a new Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic, western Ukraine being annexed into the Second Polish Republic, and the newly stable Ukrainian SSR becoming a founding member of the Soviet Union.

The government of the Ukrainian Soviet Republic was founded on 24–25 December 1917. In its publications, it named itself either the Republic of Soviets of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' Deputies[30] or the Ukrainian People's Republic of Soviets.[24] The 1917 republic was only recognised by another non-recognised country, the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic. With the signing of the Brest-Litovsk Treaty by Russia, it was ultimately defeated by mid-1918 and eventually dissolved. The last session of the government took place in the Russian city of Taganrog.

In July 1918, the former members of the government formed the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Ukraine, the constituent assembly of which took place in Moscow. With the defeat of the Central Powers in World War I, the Bolsheviks resumed its hostilities towards the Ukrainian People's Republic fighting for Ukrainian independence and organised another Soviet Ukrainian government. On 10 March 1919, the Third All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets ratified the constitution of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.[31]

Founding: 1917–1922

After the Russian Revolution of 1917, several factions sought to create an independent Ukrainian state, alternately cooperating and struggling against each other. Numerous more or less socialist-oriented factions participated in the formation of the Ukrainian People's Republic among which were Bolsheviks, Mensheviks, Socialists-Revolutionaries and many others. The most popular faction was initially the local Socialist Revolutionary Party that composed the local government together with Federalists and Mensheviks.

Immediately after the

Central Rada and its supporters outlaws that need to be eradicated. Warfare ensued against the Ukrainian People's Republic for the installation of the Soviet regime in the country, and with the direct support from Soviet Russia the Ukrainian National forces were practically overrun. The government of Ukraine appealed to foreign capitals, finding support in the face of the Central Powers as the others refused to recognise it. After the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, the Russian SFSR yielded all the captured Ukrainian territory as the Bolsheviks were forced out of Ukraine. The government of Soviet Ukraine was dissolved after its last session on 20 November 1918.[citation needed
]

After re-taking Kharkov in February 1919, a second Soviet Ukrainian government was formed. The government enforced Russian policies that did not adhere to local needs. A group of three thousand workers were dispatched from Russia to take grain from local farms to feed Russian cities and were met with resistance. The Ukrainian language was also censured from administrative and educational use. Eventually fighting both White forces in the east and Ukrainian forces in the west, Lenin ordered the liquidation of the second Soviet Ukrainian government in August 1919.[32]

Eventually, after the creation of the

Peace of Riga. On 30 December 1922, along with the Russian, Byelorussian and Transcaucasian republics, the Ukrainian SSR became one of the founding members of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).[33]

  • Bolshevik commissars in Ukraine (1919).
    Bolshevik commissars in Ukraine (1919).
  • Territories claimed by the Ukrainian People's Republic (1917–1920).
    Territories claimed by the Ukrainian People's Republic (1917–1920).
  • Boundaries of the Ukrainian SSR (1922).
    Boundaries of the Ukrainian SSR (1922).
  • Soviet Russia in Europe.
    Soviet Russia in Europe.
  • Draft constitution of the Soviet Union (1937).
    Draft constitution of the Soviet Union (1937).

Interwar years: 1922–1939

During the 1920s, a policy of

korenization policy; this involved promoting the use and the social status of the Ukrainian language and the elevation of ethnic Ukrainians to leadership positions (see Ukrainization – early years of Soviet Ukraine
for more details).

In 1932, the aggressive agricultural policies of Joseph Stalin's regime resulted in one of the largest national catastrophes in the modern history for the Ukrainian nation. A famine known as the Holodomor caused a direct loss of human life estimated between 2.6 million[34][35] to 10 million.[36] Some scholars and the World Congress of Free Ukrainians assert that this was an act of genocide.[citation needed] The International Commission of Inquiry Into the 1932–1933 Famine in Ukraine found no evidence that the famine was part of a preconceived plan to starve Ukrainians, and concluded in 1990 that the famine was caused by a combination of factors, including Soviet policies of compulsory grain requisitions, forced collectivization, dekulakization, and Russification.[37] The General Assembly of the UN has stopped shy of recognizing the Holodomor as genocide, calling it a "great tragedy" as a compromise between tense positions of United Kingdom, United States, Russia, and Ukraine on the matter, while some nations went on to individually categorize it as genocide, including France, Germany, and the United States after the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

World War II: 1939–1945

Soviet soldiers preparing rafts to cross the Dnieper during the Battle of the Dnieper (1943). The sign in Russian reads: "Let's get Kiev!"
Front page of the Zakarpattia Ukraine newspaper (1944) with the manifest of unification with Soviet Ukraine (not the Ukrainian SSR)

In September 1939, the

Moldavian SSR. In 1945, these lands were permanently annexed, and the Transcarpathia region was added as well, by treaty with the post-war administration of Czechoslovakia. Following eastward Soviet retreat in 1941, Ufa became the wartime seat of the Soviet Ukrainian government.[citation needed
]

Post-war years: 1945–1953

While World War II (called the Great Patriotic War by the Soviet government) did not end before May 1945, the Germans were driven out of Ukraine between February 1943 and October 1944. The first task of the Soviet authorities was to reestablish political control over the republic which had been entirely lost during the war. This was an immense task, considering the widespread human and material losses. During World War II the Soviet Union lost about 8.6 million combatants and around 18 million civilians, of these, 6.8 million were Ukrainian civilians and military personnel. Also, an estimated 3.9 million Ukrainians were evacuated to the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic during the war, and 2.2 million Ukrainians were sent to forced labour camps by the Germans.[citation needed]

The material devastation was huge;

scorched-earth policy in 1941, meant Ukraine lay in ruins. These two policies led to the destruction of more than 28,000 villages and 714 cities and towns. 85 percent of Kiev's city centre was destroyed, as was 70 percent of the city centre of the second-largest city in Ukraine, Kharkov. Because of this, 19 million people were left homeless after the war.[38] The republic's industrial base, as so much else, was destroyed.[39] The Soviet government had managed to evacuate 544 industrial enterprises between July and November 1941, but the rapid German advance led to the destruction or the partial destruction of 16,150 enterprises. 27,910 collective farms, 1,300 machine tractor stations and 872 state farms were destroyed by the Germans.[40]

The Curzon Line expanded the territory of the Ukrainian SSR to include western Ukraine, previously controlled by Poland.

While the war brought to Ukraine an enormous physical destruction, victory also led to territorial expansion. As a victor, the Soviet Union gained new prestige and more land. The Ukrainian border was expanded to the Curzon Line. Ukraine was also expanded southwards, near the area Izmail, previously part of Romania.[40] An agreement was signed by the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia whereby Carpathian Ruthenia was handed over to Ukraine.[41] The territory of Ukraine expanded by 167,000 square kilometres (64,500 sq mi) and increased its population by an estimated 11 million.[42]

After World War II, amendments to the Constitution of the Ukrainian SSR were accepted, which allowed it to act as a separate subject of international law in some cases and to a certain extent, remaining a part of the Soviet Union at the same time. In particular, these amendments allowed the Ukrainian SSR to become one of the founding members of the United Nations (UN) together with the Soviet Union and the Byelorussian SSR. This was part of a deal with the United States to ensure a degree of balance in the General Assembly, which, the USSR opined, was unbalanced in favor of the Western Bloc. In its capacity as a member of the UN, the Ukrainian SSR was an elected member of the United Nations Security Council in 1948–1949 and 1984–1985.[citation needed]

Khrushchev and Brezhnev: 1953–1985

Soviet propaganda postal stamp, 1954, in honour of the 300th anniversary of Ukraine re-unification with Russia (Soviet name for the Pereiaslav Agreement), Russian: 300-летие Воссоединения Украины с Россией).
Three Soviet general secretaries were either born or raised in Ukraine: Nikita Khrushchev and Leonid Brezhnev (depicted here together), and Konstantin Chernenko.[citation needed]

When Stalin died on 5 March 1953, the

Odessa was hijacked by a fleet of Republic of China Navy in the high sea of 19°35′N, 120°39′E, west of Balintang Channel near Philippines, whereas the 49 Ukrainian, Russian and Moldovan crew were detained by the Kuomintang regime in various terms up to 34 years in captivity with 3 deaths.[46][47][48]

The

Ukrainisation also led to a cultural thaw within Ukraine.[45]

Location of the Ukrainian SSR (yellow) within the Soviet Union in 1954–1991

In October 1964, Khrushchev was deposed by a joint Central Committee and Politburo plenum and succeeded by another collective leadership, this time led by

final stage of communism, also the final stage of human development. Some all-Union Soviet officials were calling for the abolition of the "pseudosovereign" Soviet republics, and the establishment of one nationality. Instead of introducing the ideologic concept of the Soviet Nation, Brezhnev at the 24th Party Congress talked about "a new historical community of people – the Soviet people",[51] and introduced the ideological tenant of Developed socialism, which postponed communism.[52] When Brezhnev died in 1982, his position of General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was succeeded by Yuri Andropov, who died quickly after taking power. Andropov was succeeded by Konstantin Chernenko, who ruled for little more than a year. Chernenko was succeeded by Mikhail Gorbachev in 1985.[53]

Gorbachev and dissolution: 1985–1991

The 1991 Ukrainian presidential election. Former dissident Viacheslav Chornovil gained 23.3 percent of the vote, compared to 61.6 percent for then Acting President Leonid Kravchuk.

Gorbachev's policies of perestroika and glasnost (English: restructuring and openness) failed to reach Ukraine as early as other Soviet republics because of Volodymyr Shcherbytsky, a conservative communist appointed by Brezhnev and the First Secretary of the Ukrainian Communist Party, who resigned from his post in 1989.[54] The Chernobyl disaster of 1986, the russification policies, and the apparent social and economic stagnation led several Ukrainians to oppose Soviet rule. Gorbachev's policy of perestroika was also never introduced into practice, 95 percent of industry and agriculture was still owned by the Soviet state in 1990. The talk of reform, but the lack of introducing reform into practice, led to confusion which in turn evolved into opposition to the Soviet state itself.[55] The policy of glasnost, which ended state censorship, led the Ukrainian diaspora to reconnect with their compatriots in Ukraine, the revitalisation of religious practices by destroying the monopoly of the Russian Orthodox Church and led to the establishment of several opposition pamphlets, journals and newspapers.[56]

Following the failed

August Coup in Moscow on 19–21 August 1991, the Supreme Soviet of Ukraine declared independence on 24 August 1991, which renamed the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic to Ukraine. The result of the 1991 independence referendum held on 1 December 1991 proved to be a surprise. An overwhelming majority, 92.3%, voted for independence. The referendum carried in the majority of all oblasts. Notably, the Crimea, which had originally been a territory of the RSFSR until 1954, supported the referendum by a 54 percent majority. Over 80 percent of the population of Eastern Ukraine voted for independence. Ukraine's independence was almost immediately recognized by the international community. Ukraine's new-found independence was the first time in the 20th century that Ukrainian independence had been attempted without either foreign intervention or civil war. In the 1991 Ukrainian presidential election 62 percent of Ukrainians voted for Leonid Kravchuk, who had been vested with presidential powers since the Supreme Soviet's declaration of independence.[57]
The secession of the second most powerful republic in the Soviet Union ended any realistic chance of the Soviet Union staying together even on a limited scale.

A week after Kravchuk's victory, on 8 December, he and his Russian and Belarusian counterparts signed the

Belovezh Accords, which declared that the Soviet Union had effectively ceased to exist and forming the Commonwealth of Independent States as a replacement. They were joined by eight of the remaining 12 republics (all except Georgia)[clarification needed] on 21 December in signing the Alma-Ata Protocol
, which reiterated that the Soviet Union had ceased to exist. The Soviet Union formally dissolved on 26 December.

Politics and government

The Ukrainian SSR's system of government was based on a

communist system ruled by the Communist Party of Ukraine, a branch of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (KPSS). The republic was one of 15 constituent republics composing the Soviet Union from its entry into the union in 1922 until its dissolution in 1991. All of the political power and authority in the USSR was in the hands of Communist Party authorities, with little real power being concentrated in official government bodies and organs. In such a system, lower-level authorities directly reported to higher level authorities and so on, with the bulk of the power being held at the highest echelons of the Communist Party.[58]

The Declaration of Independence, as printed on the ballot for the referendum on 1 December 1991

Originally, the legislative authority was vested in the

Stalinist constitution, the Congress of Soviets was transformed into the Supreme Soviet (and the Central Executive Committee into its Presidium), which consisted of 450 deputies.[note 3] The Supreme Soviet had the authority to enact legislation, amend the constitution, adopt new administrative and territorial boundaries, adopt the budget, and establish political and economic development plans.[59] In addition, parliament also had to authority to elect the republic's executive branch, the Council of Ministers as well as the power to appoint judges to the Supreme Court. Legislative sessions were short and were conducted for only a few weeks out of the year. In spite of this, the Supreme Soviet elected the Presidium, the Chairman, 3 deputy chairmen, a secretary, and couple of other government members to carry out the official functions and duties in between legislative sessions.[59] Chairman of the Presidium was a powerful position in the republic's higher echelons of power, and could nominally be considered the equivalent of head of state,[59] although most executive authority would be concentrated in the Communist Party's politburo and its First Secretary
.

Full

of a symbolic nature, elections to the Supreme Soviet were contested every five years. Nominees from electoral districts from around the republic, typically consisting of an average of 110,000 inhabitants, were directly chosen by party authorities,[59]
providing little opportunity for political change, since all political authority was directly subordinate to the higher level above it.

With the beginning of Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev's perestroika reforms towards the mid-late 1980s, electoral reform laws were passed in 1989, liberalising the nominating procedures and allowing multiple candidates to stand for election in a district. Accordingly, the first relatively free elections[60] in the Ukrainian SSR were contested in March 1990. 111 deputies from the Democratic Bloc, a loose association of small pro-Ukrainian and pro-sovereignty parties and the instrumental People's Movement of Ukraine (colloquially known as Rukh in Ukrainian) were elected to the parliament.[61] Although the Communist Party retained its majority with 331 deputies, large support for the Democratic Bloc demonstrated the people's distrust of the Communist authorities, which would eventually boil down to Ukrainian independence in 1991.

Anti-Soviet protesters with Ukrainian flags in Zaporizhzhia in 1990

Ukraine is the legal successor of the Ukrainian SSR and it stated to fulfill "those rights and duties pursuant to international agreements of Union SSR which do not contradict the

Ukrainian independence the Ukrainian SSR's parliament was changed from Supreme Soviet to its current name Verkhovna Rada, the Verkhovna Rada is still Ukraine's parliament.[10][63] Ukraine also has refused to recognize exclusive Russian claims to succession of the Soviet Union and claimed such status for Ukraine as well, which was stated in Articles 7 and 8 of On Legal Succession of Ukraine, issued in 1991. Following independence, Ukraine has continued to pursue claims against the Russian Federation in foreign courts, seeking to recover its share of the foreign property that was owned by the Soviet Union. It also retained its seat in the United Nations
, held since 1945.

Foreign relations

On the international front, the Ukrainian SSR, along with the rest of the 15 republics, had virtually no say in their own foreign affairs. It is, however, important to note that in 1944 the Ukrainian SSR was permitted to establish bilateral relations with countries and maintain its own standing army.[58] This clause was used to permit the republic's membership in the United Nations, alongside the Byelorussian SSR. Accordingly, representatives from the "Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic" and 50 other states founded the UN on 24 October 1945. In effect, this provided the Soviet Union (a permanent Security Council member with veto powers) with another two votes in the General Assembly.[note 4] The latter aspect of the 1944 clauses, however, was never fulfilled and the republic's defense matters were managed by the Soviet Armed Forces and the Defense Ministry. Another right that was granted but never used until 1991 was the right of the Soviet republics to secede from the union,[64] which was codified in each of the Soviet constitutions. Accordingly, Article 69 of the Constitution of the Ukrainian SSR stated: "The Ukrainian SSR retains the right to willfully secede from the USSR."[65] However, a republic's theoretical secession from the union was virtually impossible and unrealistic[58] in many ways until after Gorbachev's perestroika reforms.

The Ukrainian SSR was a member of 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 was not separately a member of the Warsaw Pact, Comecon, the World Federation of Trade Unions and the World Federation of Democratic Youth, and since 1949, the International Olympic Committee.

Administrative divisions

Central Kharkov in 1981

Legally, the Soviet Union and its fifteen union republics constituted a

federal system, but the country was functionally a highly centralised state, with all major decision-making taking place in the Kremlin, the capital and seat of government of the country. The constituent republics were essentially unitary states
, with lower levels of power being directly subordinate to higher ones. Throughout its 72-year existence, the administrative divisions of the Ukrainian SSR changed numerous times, often incorporating regional reorganisation and annexation on the part of Soviet authorities during World War II.

The most common administrative division was the oblast (province), of which there were 25 upon the republic's independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Provinces were further subdivided into raions (districts) which numbered 490. The rest of the administrative division within the provinces consisted of cities, urban-type settlements, and villages. Cities in the Ukrainian SSR were a separate exception, which could either be subordinate to either the provincial authorities themselves or the district authorities of which they were the administrative center. Two cities, the capital Kiev, and Sevastopol (which hosted a large Soviet Navy base in Crimea), were uniquely designated "cities with special status." This meant that they were directly subordinate to the central Ukrainian SSR authorities and not the provincial authorities surrounding them.

Historical formation

Crimea would be transferred in 1954 and the Drohobych and Izmail oblasts would be absorbed by, respectively, the Lvov and Odessa
oblasts.

However, the history of administrative divisions in the republic was not so clear cut. At the end of

Soviet regime.[66] Kharkov was also the city where the first Soviet Ukrainian government was created in 1917 with strong support from Russian SFSR authorities. However, in 1934, the capital was moved from Kharkov to Kiev
, which remains the capital of Ukraine today.

During the 1930s, there were significant numbers of ethnic minorities living within the Ukrainian SSR. National Districts were formed as separate territorial-administrative units within higher-level provincial authorities. Districts were established for the republic's three largest minority groups, which were the Jews,

Upon signing of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, Nazi Germany and Soviet Union partitioned Poland and its Eastern Borderlands were secured by the Soviet buffer republics with Ukraine securing the territory of Eastern Galicia. The Soviet September Polish campaign in Soviet propaganda was portrayed as the Golden September for Ukrainians, given the unification of Ukrainian lands on both banks of Zbruch River, until then the border between the Soviet Union and the Polish communities inhabited by Ukrainian speaking families.

Economy

Pavilion of Ukraine at the All-Soviet Exhibition Centre in Moscow

Before 1945

After 1945

Agriculture

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

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.[71]

The increase of

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.[49]

Industry

During the post-war years, Ukraine's industrial productivity doubled its pre-war level.[73] In 1945 industrial output totalled 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.[69] 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.[69] 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.[71]

From 1965 until 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.[73]

The urbanisation of Ukrainian society in the post-war years led to an increase in

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. According to the Eleventh Five-Year Plan, the Soviet government would build 8 nuclear power plants in Ukraine by 1989. As a result of these efforts, Ukraine became highly diversified in energy consumption.[74]

Religion

Many churches and synagogues were destroyed during the existence of the Ukrainian SSR.[75]

Urbanization

Microdistricts, such as this one in Mykolaiv, became common sights throughout the Ukrainian SSR's cities.

Urbanisation in post-Stalin Ukraine grew quickly; in 1959 only 25 cities in Ukraine had populations over one hundred thousand, by 1979 the number had grown to 49. During the same period, the growth of cities with a population over one million increased from one to five; Kiev alone nearly doubled its population, from 1.1 million in 1959 to 2.1 million in 1979. This proved a turning point in Ukrainian society: for the first time in Ukraine's history, the majority of ethnic Ukrainians lived in urban areas; 53 percent of the ethnic Ukrainian population did so in 1979. The majority worked in the non-agricultural sector, in 1970 31 percent of Ukrainians engaged in agriculture, in contrast, 63 percent of Ukrainians were industrial workers and white-collar staff. In 1959, 37 percent of Ukrainians lived in urban areas, in 1989 the proportion had increased to 60 percent.[76]

Notes

  1. ^ Ukrainian-language acronym: УРСР, URSR
  2. ^ Russian-language acronym: УССР
  3. ^ The number of Supreme Soviet deputies varied from 435 in 1955, to 650 in 1977, then finally down to 450 by 1990.
  4. United Nations Charter
    , although not being independent until 1991.

References

Citations

  1. ^ Historical names:
    • 1919–1936: Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic (Українська Соціалістична Радянська Республіка; Украинская Социалистическая Советская Республика)
  2. Kharkov Oblast Government Administration. Archived
    from the original on 7 January 2019. Retrieved 16 April 2011.
  3. ^ Soviet encyclopedia of the History of Ukraine (in Ukrainian). Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR. 1969–1972.
  4. from the original on 22 September 2023. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
  5. ^ a b Mariya Kapinos. Honest History: Where, why Ukrainians speak Russian language (and how Kremlin uses it to stoke conflict in Ukraine) Archived 9 November 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Kyiv Post. 6 April 2018
  6. ^ "Constitution of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic adopted in 1978" (in Ukrainian). Archived from the original on 7 April 2022. Retrieved 20 May 2022.
  7. ^ Law of Ukraine "About languages of the Ukrainian SSR"
  8. ^ On 24 October 1990, article 6 on the monopoly of the Communist Party of Ukraine on power was excluded from the Constitution of the Ukrainian SSR
  9. ^ All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets in the Ukrainian Soviet Encyclopedia
  10. ^ a b Magocsi 2010, p. 722.
  11. ^ "Українська радянська енциклопедія : [в 12 т.] / голов. редкол.: М. П. Бажан (голов. ред.) [та ін.]. - Київ : Голов. ред. УРЕ, 1977 - 1985". Archived from the original on 29 August 2023. Retrieved 28 August 2023.
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Sources

Further reading

External links

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