Ukrainian National Communism: a Challenging History

The aim of this article is to examine the evolution of national communism in Ukraine in the twentieth century. In this paper, national communism in Ukraine is discussed as the only possible legal opposition to the Soviet authority that arose from the contradiction between the interests of the centralized state (in the Soviet Union as a whole) and claims for national self-determination either in cultural, economic or political dimensions (in the union republics). It is argued that national communist opposition was latently presented during all 70 years of Soviet rule; however, certain periods, when national communism succeeded in entering the political scene with clear demands against an anti-national Soviet policy, are distinguished. Each period is discussed with reference to the political situation in the USSR which enabled the activization of the national movement in Ukraine and its further penetration into the local party apparatus. Conclusions on the vitality of national communist ideas in contemporary Ukrainian society are drawn.