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Public Celebrations in Soviet Ukraine Under Stalin (Kiev, 1943-1953) Author(S): Serhy Yekelchyk Source: Jahrbücher Für Geschichte Osteuropas, Neue Folge, Bd

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Public Celebrations in Soviet Ukraine Under Stalin (Kiev, 1943-1953) Author(S): Serhy Yekelchyk Source: Jahrbücher Für Geschichte Osteuropas, Neue Folge, Bd The Leader, the Victory, and the Nation: Public Celebrations in Soviet Ukraine under Stalin (Kiev, 1943-1953) Author(s): Serhy Yekelchyk Source: Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas, Neue Folge, Bd. 54, H. 1, Themenschwerpunkt: Gespaltene Geschichtskulturen? Zweiter Weltkrieg und kollektive Erinnerungskulturen in der Ukraine (2006), pp. 3-19 Published by: Franz Steiner Verlag Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41051580 . Accessed: 25/05/2014 06:02 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Franz Steiner Verlag is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 208.67.143.49 on Sun, 25 May 2014 06:02:30 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions ABHANDLUNGEN Serhy Yekelchyk,Victoria/Canada The Leader, theVictory, and theNation: Public Celebrationsin SovietUkraine under Stalin (Kiev, 1943-1953)* Soviet troopsentered Kiev in the earlymorning hours of 6 November 1943. The residents were waiting forthe firstSoviet soldiers whom they welcomed, in the words of one early report,with tears in theireyes, but also with "cigarettes,home-made tobacco blend, wine, home-madeliqueur, and patties."1This descriptionreads more naturallythan a more formal contemporaryreport about the Kievans "expressingtheir profound gratitude to the Leader, Comrade Stalin,for his wise guidance of the Red Armyin the liberationof Kiev,"2 but I am not suggestingthat the latterinformation was false. In fact,these could be two different - descriptionsof the same event one emphasizingthe spontaneityof popular sentimentand anothernarrating the liberationin properpolitical language. But even if both partyofficials were being completelytruthful, Kievans themselveswere accustomed to expressing even genuine sentimentin language appropriateto the moment,or as StephenKotkin would say, "speaking Bolshevik."3 In any case, with Nazi collaborators,Ukrainian nationalists,and otherswho had reason to expect repressionhaving gone west, the majorityof the remaining populationwas favorablydisposed towardthe Soviet power. The descriptionsof these firstencounters between the populace and the Soviet authori- ties, however, reveal bureaucrats' concern over the appropriatecelebration of the city's liberation.When political officersand partyorganizers recorded (or invented)the details of the people's welcome and expressionsof gratitudeto Stalin,they framed the various events of theirchaotic firsthours in Kiev into a coherentnarrative of a "popular celebration." In subsequent years, the Ukrainian authoritiesapplied enormous effortstoward organizing various holiday celebrationsin theircapital, but the events of November 1943 encapsulated the difficultiesof theirendeavor. Old revolutionaryholidays were intertwinedwith libera- tion dates, occasions specificto Ukraine conflictedwith ail-Union festivals,and spontaneity had to be replaced by orderliness. Under Stalin,the state saw public celebrationsas importantpolitical ritualsallowing the citizenryto demonstrateits supportfor the Soviet cause. The affirmationof allegiance in- creasinglytook the formof thankingStalin forhis "gift"of freedom,prosperity, and happi- * Earlierversions of thispaper were presented at theinternational conference on "DividedHistorical Cultures?The Impactof WorldWar II on the Shapingof NationalSymbols and CollectiveMemory Culturesin East CentralEurope" (30 May-1 June2003, Lviv University)and at theworkshop on "Citi- zenship,Nationality, and theState in Russianand SovietHistory" (Harvard University, 26-28 March 2004). I wouldlike to thankthe organizers and participantsof theseconferences for their helpful com- ments,and MartaD. Olynykfor her assistance with the stylistic editing of thispaper. My researchon politicalrituals in postwarUkraine has beensupported by a grantfrom the Social Sciencesand Humani- tiesResearch Council of Canada 1 Derzhavnyiarkhiv Kyivskoi oblasti (hereafter DAKO), fond1, opys 3, sprava5, ark.28. "Ibidemark. 53. 3 See StephenKotkin Magnetic Mountain: Stalinism as a Civilization.Berkeley 1995. Jahrbücherfür Geschichte Osteuropas 54 (2006) H. 1 O FranzSteiner Verlag Wiesbaden GmbH, Sitz Stuttgart/Germany This content downloaded from 208.67.143.49 on Sun, 25 May 2014 06:02:30 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 4 SerhyYekelchyk ness.4 Althoughideologues carefullystaged such mass celebrations,they wished to believe thatat rallies and parades people were expressingtheir objective political identities.Cultural historians,however, have viewed public ceremoniesas symbolicrepresentations of the ideal social order.5In the field of Russian history,Karen Pétronehas writtenabout prewar Soviet festivalsas representationsof ideal Soviet society, complete with its social, national, and gender hierarchies.6Building upon Petrone's interpretation,in this paper I will attemptto expand on this analysis of Stalinist festivalsby analyzing them as political and cultural practices establishingindividuals' symbolicrelationship to the state. Since political rituals - did not express stable identities nor were state policies fixed - symbolic interactionsin public space remained fluid. Hence the unending concern of authoritiesover the proper organizationof celebrations. Officialholidays and commemorationsinstitutionalize a nation's collective memoryinto a series of cyclical rituals.In the wake of a greatwar and major territorialchanges, the So- viet Ukrainiancalendar of holidays was undergoingmajor changes to take into account the new political and ideological realities.It assimilatedwith greatdifficulty new holidays that had been created duringthe war and the celebrationsspecific to the Ukrainianrepublic. In the long run,the authoritiesdowngraded war-related festivals, while absorbing some holi- days specific to Ukraine into the Soviet canon. This evolution reflectedlarger ideological processes duringHigh Stalinism,just as the critiqueof "spontaneity"during festive events mirroredcontemporary efforts to restorestrict ideological control.In the end, though,the partyapparatus was able to ensure attendance,rather than a desired symbolic interaction duringparades and meetings.Increased food deliveries duringthe holidays served as the state's implicitrecognition that the citizenrydid not celebrateSoviet holidays merelyout of innerconviction. Yet, Stalinistideologues remainedunperturbed by the interferenceof ma- terialstimuli in the symbolic interactionbetween the authoritiesand the people. During the last years of Stalin's regime, the Bolshevik revolutionarydream of transformingpeople's identitiesossified intoa systemof politicalrituals, mere participationin which markedone's belongingto the Soviet politicalworld. Celebratingthe Liberation Upon theirarrival, the Soviet authoritiesimmediately showed greatconcern forthe sym- bolic reclaimingof Kiev. Even beforeremoving Nazi posters and streetname plates, party officials attemptedto organize festive meetings to mark the anniversaryof the October Revolution,which were to symbolizethe restorationof Soviet political life. The date of the liberationwas not accidental,as the militarywanted to hand over Kiev to Stalin as a kind of Revolution Day present.Yet, celebratingthe anniversaryin the city itselfproved difficult. On 7 November the authoritiesin Petrovsky(Podil) districtmanaged to gatherin a movie theateraround 1,000 people, or "almost everyone"they could find.7Other districtsmissed 4 On theStalinist "moral economy" of gratitude,see JeffreyBrooks ThankYou, ComradeStalin! SovietPublic Culture from Revolution to Cold War.Princeton 2000. See notablyMary Ryan The AmericanParade: Representations of the Nineteenth-Century Social Order,in: Lynn Hunt (ed.) TheNew CulturalHistory. Berkeley 1989, pp. 131-153. Karen Pétrone Life Has BecomeMore Joyous,Comrades: Celebrations in the Time of Stalin. Bloomington2000. DAKO 1/3/23,ark. 91. Justbefore the Red Army'sfinal attack, the German military administration orderedall civiliansto leavethe city, but many did not oblige and went into hiding in the city. Those who This content downloaded from 208.67.143.49 on Sun, 25 May 2014 06:02:30 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions PublicCelebrations in SovietUkraine under Stalin (Kiev, 1943-1953) 5 theanniversary date. On 8 November,party organizers in Kirovsky(Pechersk) district suc- ceededin assemblingsome 600 remainingworkers for a meetingat the city's largest factory, thefamous Arsenal.8 Similar smaller meetings took place at thefew functioning enterprises, suchas theshoe factory,water pumping station, and drivingschool.9 No celebrations,how- ever,took place in Stalinskydistrict, where on 8 Novemberresidents were assembledin- steadfor the screening of a new Sovietfilm, The Battle at Orel,which was followedby a lectureon theinternational situation.10 Other districts simply did notreport on whetherthey hadheld festive meetings. The aim of thoseearly Revolution Day gatheringswas to markKiev's symbolicre- admittanceto theSoviet Union, but there remained the task of celebratingthe liberation of Kiev itself,the largest
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