Arts & International Affairs: Volume 2, Number 2 | Page 160

Soviet myths about the Second World War. Most of the post-communist
states abolished the symbols of the totalitarian regime in the early ����s. In
contrast, there were still more than a thousand of Lenin’s monuments in
Ukraine in ����. One provision of de-communization legislation includes
the demolition of the monuments with Soviet-era names and the communist
monuments. As of ����, more than �,��� monuments were taken down and
another ���, mostly located in separatists controlled territories, are still
left to destroy. Another provision mandates the renaming of thousands of
localities and streets named after the leaders of the Communist Party, senior
administration and government officials of the USSR, among others. Since
the legislation was adopted, �,��� cities and towns have been renamed, and
most of them were located eastern or southern Ukraine. �
Although necessary, these laws are likely to aggravate divisions in the
Ukrainian society. Polls show that while ��% of Ukrainians support decommunization,
��% are against it. More educated and younger respondents
tend to support the reform while older and less educated oppose it
significantly. � There are also drastic regional differences showing a direct
relationship between support for de-communization and the share of
Russian-speaking population. This evidence proves that one should be very
careful in deciding about new characters to be shown in monuments and
new names for cities: the goal is to choose common heroes and not create
more division by using the names of the controversial figures who were on
the other side of the front line.
The question remains whether cultural measures should precede economic
reforms in time of war? Opponents of the laws argue that de-communization
should be implemented only after effective economic and political reforms
are achieved. However, experiences of other Eastern European postcommunist
countries demonstrate that establishment of national cultural
policy should take place as quickly as possible along with economic and
political reforms. The sooner we eliminate the symbols of colonial past, the
stronger we are to oppose aggressive propaganda at the time of the present
war.
�
Korolenko B., Ihor Karetnikov, and Maksym Majorov. De-communization of settlements and rayons
in Ukraine: Reasons, Process, and Consequences. City, History and Culture (�): ���-���.
�
Sociological Group “Ranking”. Attitudes towards certain political figures and de-communization
process in Ukraine. Retrieved from: http://ratinggroup.ua/en/research/ukraine/otnoshenie_k_
otdelnym_istoricheskim_lichnostyam_i_processu_dekommunizacii_v_ukraine.html
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