Abstract

This article provides a comprehensive analysis of Ukraine’s adoption of four decommunisation laws in April 2015, their implementation and the controversy they generated. The first section analyses changes in Ukrainian memory politics prior to 2014. In 2006, the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance (Ukrainskyi Instytut Natsionalnoi Pamiat—UINP) was established but given meagre resources by President Viktor Yushchenko; pro-Russian political forces were opposed to both the Holodomor recognised as a genocide and official recognition of the Ukrainian resistance movement. The second section provides an analysis of Ukraine’s decommunisation process which was made possible by: the Euromaidan Revolution; collapse of pro-Russian political forces; election of a large pro-European parliamentary coalition; and the impact of Russian military aggression on Ukrainian attitudes to Russia and Ukrainian national identity. Together these four factors reduced opposition and energised those who supported decommunisation. In the third section we argue that six criticisms of Ukraine’s decommunisation raised by Western and Ukrainian scholars were exaggerated and misplaced.

摘要

本文全面分析了乌克兰在 2015 年 4 月通过的四项非共产化法律、它们的实施情况以及它们产生的争议。第一部分分析了 2014 年之前乌克兰记忆政治的变化。2006 年，乌克兰国家纪念研究所 ( Ukrainskyi Instytut Natsionalnoi Pamiat —UINP) 成立，但由总统维克多·尤先科提供的资源微薄；亲俄政治力量反对大饥荒被公认为种族灭绝和对乌克兰抵抗运动的官方承认。第二部分分析了乌克兰的非共产化进程，该进程是由以下因素促成的： Euromaidan 革命；亲俄政治力量瓦解；选举一个大型的亲欧洲议会联盟；以及俄罗斯军事侵略对乌克兰对俄罗斯和乌克兰民族认同的态度的影响。这四个因素共同减少了反对意见，并激励了那些支持去共产化的人。在第三部分，我们认为西方和乌克兰学者对乌克兰去共产化提出的六项批评是夸大的和错位的。