Internationalism or Russification?; A Study in the Soviet Nationalities Problem
London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1968. Presumed First U.K. Edition, First printing. Hardcover. xix, [1], 240 pages. Footnotes Notes. Index. DJ has some wear and soiling. RARE SIGNED/INSCRIBED COPY. Several line inscription from 1989 by the author in either Ukrainian or Russian on the title page. Business card in Ukrainian taped on page facing title page. Contents include Preface by Peter Archer; The Author and his book; Abbreviations; Letter to P. Y. Shelest and V. V. Shcherbyts'ky; Introduction, fourteen number and titled chapters, Conclusions. Ivan Mykhailovych Dziuba (26 July 1931 – 22 February 2022) was a Ukrainian literary critic, social activist, dissident, Hero of Ukraine, academic of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, the second Minister of Culture of Ukraine (1992—1994), and head of the Committee for Shevchenko National Prize (1999–2001). He was the Co-Chief of Editorial Board of the Encyclopaedia of Modern Ukraine. He graduated from Donetsk Pedagogical Institute, and pursued postgraduate studies in the Shevchenko Institute of Literature. His work was first published in 1959. In the 1970s, he was subjected to political persecutions for the views he expressed in some publications. After the change of political situation in the Soviet Union and transition to the independent Ukraine Dziuba became popular. He became co-founder of the People's Movement of Ukraine. From 1991 Dziuba was the head publisher of the Suchasnist Magazine. Laureate of the Shevchenko Prize, O. Biletsky Prize, Antonovich Fund International Prize, Volodymyr Vernadsky Prize. In the end of 1965 Dziuba wrote his work Internationalism or Russification? (London, 1968, and "Motherland" magazine, 1990, No. 5-7), dealing with the problems threatening national relations in socialist society, which he sent to the Communist authorities. A special commission of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine inspected the text and decided that it was "lampoons on the Soviet reality, the national policy of the CPSU and the practice of communist construction in the USSR." Authorities accused Dziuba of undermining Soviet friendship of peoples, and fueling hatred between the Ukrainian and Russian peoples. In 1972 he was sentenced to 5 years in prison and 5 years in exile. Later he asked for pardon and after 18 months in prison Dziuba was pardoned and hired to work at the newspaper of Antonov Serial Production Plant. Dziuba’s significance for Ukraine is immeasurable. Dissident, statesman, one of the main architects of Ukrainian Independence, co-founder of the People’s Movement of Ukraine, the second Minister of Culture of Ukraine, prolific writer and publicist, Dziuba initially gained notoriety with Internationalism or Russification? The controversial book quickly gained popularity and was translated into Russian, English, French, Italian, and Chinese. In his work, Dziuba analyzed the national and cultural policy of the Soviet government in Ukraine from a Marxist standpoint. He argued that the Communist Party had taken the position of Russian great-power chauvinism under Stalin, while falsely presenting its political philosophy as internationalism. Dziuba himself explained in the afterword to the 1990 edition of the book: The work Internationalism or Russification? came from the pen, not of some special “dissident” (I do not like the word!), but from the pen of a man who was (and in part, perhaps, remains) a product of the system … organically grew out of it … has come a long and difficult way to a critical reassessment of this system, and yet never felt like its enemy, just wanting to bring it in line with the “ideal.” Dziuba argued that Stalinist and subsequent Soviet politics did not actually lead to “internationalization” but to “denationalization,” which in reality meant Russification. Moreover, Dziuba showed that in fact denationalization and Russification contradict — not only the interests of nations that were part of the Soviet Union — but the interests of Russians themselves. He developed the idea for the sake of socialism, not against it. In my early student years, I was one of the countless people who “didn’t care” what language they spoke and what nation they belonged to, and who were proud of their “indifference” as a standard of internationalism and universal values. And then I began to think: if it really does not matter, why are all those in Ukraine who are supposedly indifferent, not really indifferent (and sometimes hostile, consciously or unconsciously) only to the Ukrainian language, Ukrainian culture, and Ukraine in general? And where does their “indifference” and “international” impartiality vanish when it comes to the prestige of their acquired “Russianness?” Who and why need whole nations to cease to be themselves and not create something new, but simply merge into another nation, depriving it of its own face? Is this the path to equality and universal solidarity? Condition: Very good / Good.
Keywords: Russia, Shelest, Shcherbyts'ky, Nationalities, Communism, Dziuba, Soviet Union, Ukrainian Nationalism, Ethnic Minorities, Ukrainophobia, Russian Chauvinism, Equality, Repression, Denationalization, Ethnic Groups, Human Rights, Assimilation, Annexatio
ISBN: 0297176137
[Book #83943]
Price: $1,000.00