Politics of the past: the use and abuse of history - Socialists ...

Introduction by the Editors
In 2008, the European Parliament adopted a resolution about the
artificially created famine in Ukraine in the thirties of the last century,
called Holodomor. There can be no doubt that this terrible event
cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian farmers and
was the result of a decision of the Stalinist regime to eradicate
those opposing the implementation of its agrarian policies. The
Socialist Group in the European Parliament was very hesitant to
support a parliamentary initiative on this issue, not wanting to make
official political interpretations of historical events. In the end its
parliamentarians voted for the resolution out of sympathy for the
people of Ukraine and because wordings like ‘genocide’ were
avoided in the final text. The Ukrainian embassy in Brussels was
very active in promoting the parliamentary debate with the argument
that the terrible episode of Ukraine’s history was important
enough to be internationally recognized. For many Ukrainians it happens
to be an element of the reconstruction of the country’s history
after it became independent.
The Russian embassy reacted with a long letter explaining why the
Parliament had acted wrong. In Moscow, the Ukrainian lobby for
the recognition of Stalin’s cruel legacy was explained as an anti-
Russian campaign. And maybe it was, since many Ukrainians, especially
from the western part of the country, try to define a new
national identity by creating a contrast with the former ‘oppressor’.
There is in that country also indignation about official attempts by
the Russian authorities to create a more positive historical picture
of Stalin as the man who saved the country and kept it together. The
Russian president Medvedev refused in November 2008 to attend
an official commemoration of Holodomor in Kiev; an indication of a
further deterioration of the relations between the two governments.
In this case caused by history!
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