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The First Experiment of National Communism in Ukraine in the 1920s and 1930s

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Michael Palij
Michael Palij*
Affiliation:
University of Kansas
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Extract

The genesis of “National Communism” is often traced to the Yugoslav dictator Tito, but in reality the only novel aspect about Titoism is that it has succeeded. The ideology of National Communism was manifested in Ukraine in the early 1920's and its pre-eminent leader was Mykola O. Skrypnyk. It was a reaction to the strong centrist policies of the Bolshevik Party, which had many leaders who were committed to a belief in Russian superiority, a belief which was carried over from the Tsarist regime. At the Eighth Party Congress in 1919, Lenin remarked: “Scratch many a Communist and you will find a Great Russian chauvinist.” The traditionalist utterances made by several highly placed Bolsheviks during the first years of the Revolution were certainly indiscrete. Thus did George Piatakov, a Russian Communist, tell a meeting of the Party held in Kyiv on June 17, 1917:

Type
Articles
Information
Nationalities Papers , Volume 12 , Issue 1 , Spring 1984 , pp. 85 - 106
Copyright
Copyright © 1984 Association for the Study of Nationalities 

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References

Notes

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