"Leninopad": how is the process of de-communization in Ukraine?

In Zaporozhye, the monument to Lenin is being demolished. March, 2016 of the year. Photo: 061.ua

The governor of one of the western regions of Ukraine, himself with a memorable surname Moskal, decided to rename Lenin Street into Lennon Street in one of the villages. This is how the law “On the prohibition of the propaganda of communism and Nazism”, adopted by the country's parliament, is being implemented, according to which about a thousand Soviet names of cities and villages should become history.

The process of “de-communization” was launched by the public spontaneously during the times of protests on Euromaidan, when protesters threw off a monument to Lenin in the center of Kiev from the pedestal (by the way, the one that was presented by the USSR at the World Exhibition in New York last century).

Police tried to protect the monument to Lenin in Kiev. December 2013 of the year. Photo by Victoria Butenko

Further, the “Leninopad” spread throughout almost the whole country - in the next two weeks several dozens of monuments to the leader of the world proletariat and his associates were dropped from their pedestals.

Subsequently, the dismantling of the monuments of the Soviet era took on an official character. In 2015, several laws came into force, condemning the communist and Nazi regimes, which opened free access to the archives of the Soviet special services, as well as recognizing the soldiers of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army and other related organizations as fighters for the independence of Ukraine.

According to them, now in Ukraine, flags and coats of arms of the USSR, images of a sickle and hammer, a five-pointed star, as well as a coat of arms, a flag, images and inscriptions dedicated to the actions of the National Socialist German Workers Party are prohibited. Quoting Hitler and Goebbels is also impossible. Monuments to Lenin, Dzerzhinsky and the rest of the communist era are supposed to be demolished, they can only be left in cemeteries. In addition, the Ukrainian regional authorities are required to replace all toponyms, named after the name or pseudonym of the leaders of the Communist Party.

For propaganda of communism and Nazism, as well as for the use of any of their symbols, you can get a prison sentence (up to 5 years with confiscation), it can also cause the media to close down or remove a political party from the elections. Based on the new legislation, the Ukrainian Ministry of Justice filed a lawsuit banning the Communist Party of Ukraine.

Almost instant reaction to the adoption of laws on decommunization was demonstrated by souvenir sellers on the legendary Andriyivsky Descent in Kiev. Literally the morning after the law came into force, all the budenovki, sailors, pennants, T-shirts with the words USSR and Oktyabryatskie stars disappeared overnight from the main souvenir street of the country in Kiev.

Demolition of monuments and replacement of toponyms are given to Ukraine much more difficult. The scandals that arise between supporters and opponents of communism often lead to verbal wrangling, and sometimes to bodily harm.

In Zaporozhye, a monument to Lenin was demolished with scandal. Photo: 061.ua

So, one of the discussions around the demolition of the monument to Lenin in Zaporozhye, ended with throwing eggs at the supporters of the communist era, as well as sprinkling them with flour.

A little later, the local authorities still “overthrew” Zaporizhzhya Ilyich.

This monument to Lenin was the last of those located in regional centers in the territory controlled by Ukraine, and the largest in the country.

At the same time, the monument to the Soviet revolutionary Sergei Kirov did not cause much excitement among the residents of the same city. Within a few hours, it was carefully and unimpededly removed from the pedestal and taken out in an unknown direction.

And residents of the Zaporozhye region decided to turn the process of de-communization into a favorable course and put up for auction the monument to Kirov to be demolished, installed in the village of the same name. The starting price was 1 thousand hryvnia (about 40 dollars - Ed.). According to the initiators of the auction, the proceeds will be transferred to residents of the village serving in the ranks of the Ukrainian army in the Donbass. Dismantling and transportation of the monument to Kirov is obliged to pay the new owner of the monument.

A curious situation arose in the Kherson region, where villagers decided to remake the monument to Lenin into a monument to the world famous Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko - by replacing the head of the monument. “Firstly, it never occurred to the leader here to dismantle and move the sculptural composition: the law on decommunization was simply not implemented. And secondly, local residents say that “our Lenin doesn’t even look like Lenin.” And therefore, why not, instead of demolishing it, “re-register” it as Shevchenko,” journalist Oleg Baturin explained the villagers’ initiative on Facebook.

The process of renaming toponyms also takes place with some creak. According to the Institute of National Memory of Ukraine, the new names, as a result, should receive 941 settlement, including two regional centers - Kirovograd and Dnepropetrovsk. As of March 2016, more than 300 villages and towns across the country have been renamed. For example, only Liman remained in the name of Krasny Liman, the village of Chapaevka became Malinovka, Karlo-Marksovskoye became Happy, and the settlement of the October Revolution became more modest and Joyful.

Oddly enough, residents of patriotic Dnepropetrovsk, which received its current name in 1926, in honor of Grigory Petrovsky, one of the organizers of the Holodomor in Ukraine, had an ambivalent attitude towards the upcoming renaming of their city.

The initiative of the mayor of the city, Boris Filatov, to rename Dnipropetrovsk to the Dnieper, became the cause of a wide discussion, despite the fact that the name “Dnepr” has long become a popular one.

Meanwhile, city streets are also getting new names. Mainly - the names of Ukrainian and international figures of history and culture, as well as the ATO heroes in the East of Ukraine who died in the war in Donbass.

The first place in the implementation of this part of the legislation, traditionally, is Lviv. Even before the laws were passed by the Verkhovna Rada, by decision of local authorities, the streets of the head of the Chechen Republic Dzhokhar Dudayev, the head of the UPA Stepan Bandera and the lead singer of the Beatles group John Lennon appeared in the city.

The license plate of the house on Lennon Street in Lviv. Photos of the site of the Ukrainian community Beatles

According to the decision of the head of the Transcarpathian region, Gennady Moskal, Lennon Street appeared instead of Lenin in a remote Transcarpathian village. In this way, the official, in his words, wanted to make amends for his personal guilt before everyone’s favorite group: “In the 70s, at the height of the Beatlemania period, I worked as a police officer. We were often forced to be on duty at local discos and send young people home after the last “white dance”. Then I had the opportunity to drive Beatlemaniacs around all the outskirts, and therefore I feel some guilt before this group. The current renaming of the street. Lenin in st. Lennon is the moral compensation of the Beatles for my then police zeal... As for Lenin, he has already experienced popular love. So forgive me, Vovochka, and goodbye!” Moskal sneered on his Facebook page.

The Transcarpathian governor noted that this name seemed to him to be the best among the pages offered by readers in social networks, because, among other things, Facebook users suggested that the head of the region should rename Lenin Street to Pale Spirokheta Street, Dirty Pantalon, Smelly Socks, Budar or Sunset (both last words in Transcarpathian dialect denotes a toilet - Ed.).

And the most loyal, besides Lennon, was the proposal to name the street after the Last Moskal - the initiator was ironic, at the same time, both at the name of the governor and at the “Russian brothers” (“Muscovites” is the disdainful name Ukrainians call Russians - ed.).

An example of the Ukrainians' self-irony was the proposal to rename Lenin Street to Transcarpathian Smugglers Street, given the well-known Ukraine’s craving for residents of the Transcarpathian region to smuggle across the border with the European Union of cigarettes, alcohol and consumer goods.

Place intact during the demolition of monuments in Kiev decided in a specially designated place. The city authorities are looking for a place for the park, where all the remaining monuments to the leaders of the Soviet Union will be displayed.

But what to do with the frescoes in the style of social realism in the Kiev subway, have not yet decided. Experts argue that this is a work of art that cannot be de-cognized, but the creators of the law did not expect such a turn of events, so no decision has yet been made.

Among the trademarks can be noted the clumsy attempt of the Kiev factory of sparkling wines to rename "Soviet champagne". The creative workers of the plant, wishing to preserve the brand, added two letters to the name of the famous sparkling drink in Ukraine, which made the champagne “Soviet”, but the meaning and taste did not change much.

This is what the former “Soviet” champagne looks like now. Photo from Sergei Andrushko's Twitter

With curiosities and disputes, the process of parting Ukraine’s communist past, according to the law, should be completed next year.

See also:

Why Ukraine refused to "Soviet champagne"

In Odessa, a monument to Lenin turned into Darth Vader

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