COMMUNISM ON THE WAY OUT IN UKRAINE?

The daily Kiev Post (November 27) reported an incident in relation to a Lenin statue in the Ukrainian capital. Heirs of Ukrainian freedom fighters threw red paint on a restored Soviet era monument of the Communist dictator Vladimir I. Lenin. For some reason the Communist party in Ukraine is not outlawed as it is in Russia.

One of the most important aspects of the downfall of Marxism-Leninism was the widespread Soviet genocide. Ukraine’s Soviet-era archives have been opened by courageous President Viktor Yushchenko to give access of proof of the Holodomor (death or genocide of hunger). These archives point to a death-toll of 3 to 7 million men, women and children. Most of them died in the country’s central and eastern regions in 1932 to 1933. But the figure could be as high as 10 million.

In the case of the genocide in Ukraine it was a way for Stalin to break the spirit of the Ukrainian people. A rich agricultural country, Ukraine produced much food during the Holodomor. The regime in Moscow, however, exported the bumper crops and very little was left to those who had produced the food. They were left to starve.

A non-profit foundation, Ukraine 3000, has been founded by President Yushchenko. This organization has sponsored books and films on the genocide.

In 2006 Ukraine’s rada recognized the Holodomor as genocide. Thirteen countries including Canada, Poland and Australia have followed suit.

President Obama has joined in condemning the crime:

Ukrainians could have fed themselves and saved millions of lives, had they been allowed to do so…We pay respect to the victims of the man-made catastrophe of Holodomor…[It] provides us with an opportunity to reflect on the plight of all those who have suffered the consequences of extremism and tyranny around the world.

Valentin Nalyvaichnko, the head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has been a major force in the work to have the documents declassified. They are also digitized. SBU is searching for those responsible to make court proceedings possible. Prosecutors may be ready to send the first criminal cases to court by year’s end. No statute of limitation exists concerning the Holodomor crimes. Over 2 million victims of the Soviet death by hunger has been restored, around 14,000 villages affected have been identified. Furthermore 4,000 locations of mass graves are now available.

There is no road back now in Ukraine. It is important to stress that this is no finger-pointing at Russia. It is a matter of the Soviet past and the actions of the local Communist Party in Ukraine. Today’s communists in Ukraine ought to admit the responsibility for the crimes of their predecessors.