![[LITOPYS UPA: Chronicle of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army]](/upa/images/litopys.jpg)
SERIES 1
VOLUME 10 - SUMMARIES
page 34
This appeal can be seen as the most dramatic and moving document of the Ukrainian resistance. It is written in a solemn style and often sounds like a testament addressed from the sworn fighters of resistance to all Ukrainians living in the free world away from Soviet domination. The appeal is signed by twenty-two of the leading figures of the armed resistance. Among them are activists of the Supreme Ukrainian Liberation Council (UHVR) - P. Lozovskyi-Shuprynka, chairman of the General Secretariat, V. Koval, the vice-chairman, and Prof. N. Zelenyi; the head of the underground Ukrainian Catholic Church, Rev. Prof. V. Lavrivskyi; the director of the Ukrainian Red Cross, A. Shybalynska; staff and regional commanders of the UPA, regional OUN leaders and other active participants of the resistance. The appeal is written in the name of "warring Ukraine"; the phrase is used consistently only in this appeal and it sounds very official and solemn. The document is dated October, 1949.
The appeal begins with information about the armed resistance in Ukraine, which is waging its struggle in particularly difficult conditions. The ruthless brutality of the Soviets is described, as well as the determined courage of the insurgents and of the population at large, which supports them. In the name of "warring Ukraine", the authors enjoin Ukrainians in emigration "to represent their nation and its struggle for liberation to the outside world in a worthy and dignified manner." The theme of the appeal is that every Ukrainian living abroad must be "a representative of warring Ukraine in the world". The appeal goes on to explain various points and lay out the tasks of émigré Ukrainians and their groupings.
The forest duty of Ukrainians living abroad is to inform the world of the political ideas of the Ukrainian resistance. Particular stress should be put on the need to dismantle the USSR into its constituent national states, for the Soviet Union is a brutal Russian empire, in which non-Russian nations are faced with the threat of denationalization and physical extermination. The authors of the appeal also ascertain the political program of the Ukrainian resistance, emphasizing the fact that is fights for democracy, a just social order and independent statehood for the captive nations of the USSR. Ukrainians living abroad, they say, should inform those around them of the true conditions within the Soviet Union. There is no socialism in the USSR, and no democracy; on the contrary - there is ruthless exploitation of workers and peasants, equal to the slavery of past ages, and massive police terror, which has wiped out and imprisoned millions of Soviet citizens. The appeal stresses that the USSR is preparing for further conquests, in order to gain sway over the whole world. Thus all the nations of the world stand threatened by Russian imperialism and should oppose it. A most important task of Ukrainians in emigration is to organize an anti-Bolshevik front of immigrants from the captive nations of the Soviet Union. The authors of the appeal are disturbed by the fierce disagreements taking place among Ukrainian political parties in emigration., They call on these parties to join together for serious discussions of existing political problems and energetic action amidst the free nations for the cause of Ukrainian liberation.
The appeal ends with special calls directed at specific groups of Ukrainians living abroad. To factory workers it aligns the task of working activity in labor unions, in order to fight for workers rights and, at the same time, oppose Soviet influences and inform their fellows about the reactionary nature of Russian communism. artists and scholars are reminded that in Ukraine, no free creative of scholarly work is possible, especially in fields of Ukrainian studies, where falsification constantly occurs. The appeal calls on Ukrainian youth to study, learn all that is good from the civilized nations of the world, maintain its moral standards and inform other young people about Ukraine and its struggle for liberation. A separate call aimed at Ukrainian women's organizations asks them to inform the women of the world about the pitiful state of women, children and the family in the USSR. Finally the appeal gives recognition to former UPA soldiers for the raid they carried out into the West and calls on them to inform the world about the struggle of the Ukrainian resistance.
page 47
This document is a letter from Major P, Poltava, director of the Bureau of Information of the Supreme Ukrainian Liberation Council (UHVR) to the American State Department, with some suggestions for improving "Voice of America" radio broadcasts to the Soviet Union. The letter consists of an introduction and four "observations" regarding these broadcasts.
1. It is most important to draw the Soviet citizen out of his felling of apathy, his sense of being alone in the world and defenseless from his fear of MGB police terror, which has been raging for decades and ruthlessly stifles all discontent and opposition. The Soviet citizen's sense of apathy is deepened by indifference towards him on the part of the West, in particular, the united States, which, adhering strictly to the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of other states, fails to defend the oppressed in the USSR. The author urges the United States to revise its position. He points out that the Soviet government, while officially adopting a stand of non-interference, meddles constantly in the internal affairs of other countries organizing upheavals there and even, at times, armed conflicts. American radio broadcasts, Poltava writes, should also come out against the terror and totalitarian actions of the Soviet government and convince the Soviet Union's persecuted citizenry that Americans sympathize with their plight, commiserate with them and are their friends and allies. Such statements would give moral support to Soviet citizens and bring them out of their feelings of apathy and abandonment.
2. Criticism of the Soviet system should be made form the point of view of the non-Russian captive nations in the USSR; the goal presented to the listeners should be the restructuring of the USSR into individual national states. This is the author's next suggestion. he states with some bitterness that the West disregards the multinational character of the Soviet union and underrates the significance of the national question on the USSR, generally considering the country a homogeneous Russian state. But in fact, the Russian Revolution of 1917 awakened the submerged national feelings of the non-Russian people in the empire; all of them at that time declared their wish to become independent. Through treachery and brute force, the Bolsheviks succeeded in subjugating them once more. And the present Soviet policy of terror, denationalization and Russification put a stop to the national development of these peoples and caused them to hide their national feelings. But these nations are now far more developed, educated and aware of their national oppression than they were prior to 1917. That is why radio broadcasts aimed at these nations should be done in a patriotic spirit, appealing to the people's national sentiments.
The author states also that criticism of the Soviet system should not be presented from the point of view of capitalism, Most Soviet people want freedom and a democratic political system, but they are not longing for a return to capitalism. The political and economic program that most appeals to them, says the author, is that put forward by the Ukrainian resistance. Politically, of favors a democratic system; in the economic sphere, it calls for national and co-operative ownership of industry and big business and private ownership agriculture.
4. "Voice of America" radio broadcasts should mention and support any actions taken within the USSR against the regime, in particular, actions taken for the liberation of the Ukrainian people. The author states with regret that the radio broadcasts "almost totally ignore" the liberation struggle of the UPA and the Ukrainian armed underground, although that struggle has been going on for seven years and is being countered by the Soviet in the most barbaric way. objective information about this struggle would not only provide moral support to the insurgents: it would open the eyes of many people of the true nature of the Soviet regime.
In his introduction to the article, the author briefly describes the Ukrainian people's struggle for freedom, which has been taking place in various forms since 1917. During the preceding seven years, it had taken on the form of an armed resistance, which had proved successful within the Soviet police state. The author also discusses the importance for Soviet citizens of receiving objective information. The Soviet citizen lives in an atmosphere of police terror and false government propaganda. That is why "Voice of America" radio broadcasts are very important to him. They objectively inform him about events in the world and in the Soviet Union itself and , at the same time, serve to shape his consciousness and his way of viewing the world.
The date of this document is August, 1950.
page 58
In this chapter we are reprinting those resolutions and announcements of the Supreme Ukrainian Liberation Council (UHVR), which have not appeared in any of the official UHVR publications known in the West. Included among them are the following documents:
The "Announcement" from March, 1950, informs about the death, in battle with the MVD, of Brigadier-General Roman Shukhevych, Chairman of the General Secretarial of the UHVR, Supreme Commander of the UPA and head of the OUN Leadership. Shukhevych was killed on March 5, 1950, in the village of Biloborshcha, near Lviv. The "Announcement": gives a brief biography of the resistance leader, focusing more on his activities in the Ukrainian military Organization, the OUN, the Carpathian "Sich" movement, the UPA and the Ukrainian Supreme Liberation Council. The "announcement" is signed by the UHVR, the UPA Supreme Command and the OUN Leadership in Ukraine.
The following announcement of the Information bureau of UHVR dated July 8, 1950, states that the new chairman of the General Secretariat of the UHVR and Supreme Commander of the UPA is Colonel Vasyl Koval (real name - Vasyl Kuk).
A further 'Announcement", dated December, 1952, informs about the death on battle with the MVD troops of Captain Osyp Diakiv (O. Hornrvyi), Vice-Chairman of the General Secretariat of the UHVR, on November 28, 1950, in the village of Velyke Pole, Ivano-Frankivsk raion, Lviv oblast. Osyp Diakiv is known primarily as a journalist and political theorist. Thus the "Announcement" praises his publicistic writings and includes a biography with data about his political activities in the Ukrainian armed resistance. The "Announcement" is signed by the Supreme Ukrainian Liberation Council, the UPA Supreme Command and the OUN Leadership in Ukraine.
The last announcement reprinted here informs of the death, in the winter of 1951-52, of the Vice-chairman of the General Secretariat of the UHVR, Major P. Poltava, the chief political theorist of the Ukrainian armed resistance. This announcement was published by the UPA Mission, on the basis of information obtained form Ukraine, in Do Zbroi no. 19 (32), June, 1953. The announcement gives a brief biography of Poltava. As a member of the Ukrainian armed underground, he occupied various positions, such as chief of the political Education Section of the UPA Supreme Command and Director of the UHVR - Information Bureau. he also belonged to the OUN Leadership in Ukraine.
page 73
This article was written in Ukraine in March, 1948, by a member of the armed resistance and sent abroad by courier in the fall of that year. it is polemical in nature and is particularly interesting because it gives the reaction of a member of the resistance to statements criticizing the UPA, and particularly the UHVR, made by a number of Ukrainian political activists living in emigration. The author of the article is not identified; however, it is obvious that he comes from OUN circles, for in his analysis he consistently refers to OUN positions on various political issues.
The article begins with a look at political life in Ukraine during the period of German occupation and the establishment of the Supreme Ukrainian Liberation Council (UHVR). The Soviets destroyed all political parties in Central Ukraine. In West Ukraine all existing political parties disbanded in 1939, when the territory was occupied by the Soviets. The only political organization that remained active was the underground OUN, which continued its work under both the Soviet and the German occupations. At the end of 1942, the OUN began to organize an armed opposition movement - the Ukrainian Insurgent Army and the armed underground. During 1943 this armed resistance became a massive movement of all Ukrainians. Its ranks were filled not only by OUN members, but by members of other, formerly-active political parties and by non-partisan patriots. Thus the need arose for a non-partisan pan-Ukrainian authority to head the resistance.
The author gives the following arguments regarding the need for a non-partisan leadership of the resistance movement: 1) The OUN was not struggling for a monopoly of power, or to establish a dictatorship; for that reason, it preferred the leadership of the resistance to be in non-partisan hands. 2) A large part of the Ukrainian intelligentsia had not yet, at that time, joined the battle waged by the UPA. This was because they did not share the OUN's political outlook. It was thought that a non-partisan leadership might serve to draw these people into action. 3) The establishment of a non-partisan leadership would neutralize the anti-UPA propaganda being issued in the press by the Ukrainian Aid Committee (UDK). 4) The Ukrainian resistance needed a non-partisan representation in the outside world.
For these reasons, at the end of 1943, the UPA Supreme Command and the OUN leadership began to plan a convention of Ukrainian political activists, with the aim of establishing a non-partisan authority. Planning the convention presented great difficulties, for all preparations had to take place in secret. It was possible to speak only with certain individuals, those who took a positive, or at least neutral, stance toward the armed resistance. Most people approached to take part in the project refused, in the grounds that they feared German reprisals, or were unwilling to enter the underground. Other were difficult to locate or contact because of the war-time conditions, evacuation and so on. That was why the Congress was not as representative as might have been hoped.
The Congress took place in July, 1944. It saw the establishment of the Supreme Ukrainian Liberation Council (UHVR) - an underground parliament and government that was to serve for the period of struggle for a Ukrainian state. According to its constitution, the UHVR would be able to bring in new members during the course of struggle, in order to get better representation from different political groupings or regions. After achieving a Ukrainian state, the UHVR was to hold an election to Constituent Assembly and hand over all power. To have representation abroad, the UHVR established the Foreign Representation of the UHVR. From that time onward, the UHVR became the supreme leadership of the UPA and the whole armed resistance.
Most of the article is a polemic against Ukrainian activists living in emigration, who opposed the UPA, and particularly the UHVR, refusing to recognize it as the supreme leadership of the armed resistance. In his attach the author dies not mention names, but he sharply criticizes those who, during the time of German occupation, refrained and became active again only in emigration. he also makes the argument that the Ukrainian resistance is important political capital for the Ukrainian people. All the nations of Europe are proud of their anti-German resistance movements, which were similar to the UPA. At the end if the article, the author looks at the accusation made by émigré journalists against the UHVR and tries to show that these claims are totally groundless or even absurd.
page 99
This article was written in 1949. The author explains why, in times of peace, the Ukrainian underground has to wage an armed struggle; he also discusses its immediate goals. He begins with the point that in the Soviet police state, no legal political struggle is possible. Only an armed underground resistance, in which the participants can defend themselves against extermination, can have any success.
The author provides a picture of the conditions that arose in Ukraine during the Second World War. In Western Ukraine, a strong underground organization, the OUN, was active; it became the chief organizer of the UPA's armed struggled for the defense of the population against German terror. The UPA was to become the nucleus of the Ukrainian army in the event that the war created conditions favorable to the establishment of the Ukrainian state. In Central Ukraine, the Soviets oppressed Ukrainian national life and its active workers to such an extent that in the short period of German occupation, the population was not capable of organizing a strong resistance movement.
The war did not provide an opportunity fir the re-establishment of an independent Ukrainian state. The Ukrainian underground thus faced the prospect of either capitulating to the Soviets of continuing its armed struggle. Capitulation to the ruthless Soviet Russian regime would mean extermination of not only the active members of the resistance, but of all nationally-conscious Ukrainians in Western Ukraine, as was the case in Central Ukraine in 1920-40. This would have meant the total destruction of the liberation movement in Ukraine. Continuing the armed struggle gave the greatest hope of preserving the gains that had been made to that time, and, if conditions become more favorable in the future, attaining an independent state.
The author gives most of his attention to an analysis of the national rebirth that took place in Western Ukraine. The rebirth was the result of tireless, dedicated work by several generations of Ukrianian patriots; of the revolutionary events that occurred after the First World Ware and of the efforts of underground organizations. The OUN in particular encompassed almost all of Western Ukraine in its underground network; to organized the army of revolutionaries and trained the leading activists. The anti-German opposition movement and the UPA's armed struggle raised the revolutionary consciousness of the population and strengthened the resistance organization. The battle waged by the underground gave the movement a great deal of political currency among the people. The major task of the resistance now is to protect and conserve the gains it has made.
The author refers to Western Ukraine as the base for the liberation struggle in the whole of Ukraine. On one-quarter of Ukraine's territory, among the eight-to-ten million population of Western Ukraine, the resistance movement has taken its stand. From there it directs its political and propaganda work to the rest of the country. The author writes of the difficult conditions in which the battle is being waged and the enormous losses being sustained. But he is convinced that these efforts will bring about the liberation of the Ukrainian people.
page 114
From 1946 onward, the Ukrainian resistance began to change the nature of its activities, moving gradually from the wide open struggle to more restricted underground forms of resistance. This change in tactics was taking place throughout 1947 and 1948. UPA units were disbanded and UPA soldiers were assigned to cadres of the armed underground, which were doing their work in total secrecy. Instead of fighting for control of territory, the main emphasis of the resistance shifted to organizational and political activity. P. Poltava sets out the main plans and goals of the armed resistance in the year 1950.
The main task of the Ukrainian resistance, he writes, if to preserve and extend their own underground organization on Ukrainian territory. In the absence of such an organization, liberation would be impossible event under the most favorable circumstances, such as, for example, total revolution in the USSR. Only a strong organization could take advantage of such situation, organize an uprising and lead the people. For the work of the organization to be successful, it must be strong, have a good platform and be known to the people. Ukrainians living abroad can do nothing more than assist, for even in the event of war, they could only be members of foreign armies, and thus their role would be determined by the policies of those foreign states. And experience has shown that the policies of outside powers are rarely favorable to the liberation of captive nations. The strength of a nation lies in its own political organization. For that reason, the Ukrainian organization must be maintained and preserved, even if this be at a great cost.
The second task of the resistance is to carry on political and propaganda work among both the Ukrainian people and other peoples of the USSR. The Ukrainian people and other peoples of the USSR. The Ukrainian resistance has a gook platform: it aims at the destruction of the totalitarian Soviet empire and the creation of independent democratic states of the constituent nations of the USSR. In Ukraine, it stands for democracy and a just social and economic order. However, not everyone is familiar with the platform of the resistance. Even in Ukraine, there are many who know nothing about the resistance movement, or who accept the propaganda of the Soviets. That is why work on the political from is so important, to make the political program of the Ukrainian resistance known to all.
Another task of the resistance is the shape the political consciousness of the people, and organize resistance against the Soviet regime in Ukraine, and throughout the USSR. The internal policies of the Russian Soviet government go against the interests of the people and are thus generally met with resistance. However, to be more successful, this resistance should be well-organized and directed. As examples of the people's resistance, the author cites resistance to collectivization and to organization of the Komsomol and of special anti-underground man hunting units in Western Ukraine. Such resistance also serves to prepare the people for liberation, we are told, for it rocks the totalitarian system and imparts on the nation a sense if involvement, solidarity, active patriotism and faith in its own powers, without which qualities liberation is not possible.
The last point the author looks at is the importance of the underground's military activities. Armed action serves above all al a means of self-defense for members of the resistance. Further, it is a way of punishing the most active enemies of the nation and their most dedicated collaborators. In many cases, members of the enemy administration keep their behavior in check only because they fear the insurgent bullet. Armed action also has great propaganda value, for news of armed encounters circulates around the USSR more quickly that any other type of information. Finally armed action serves an educational function; to keeps the spirit of resistance alive in the nation and sets an example of struggle for one's right.
The implementation of the plans of the resistance depends, according to the author, on the support of the population at large. The underground needs new members, more places of cover, and material support.
It particularly requires educated young people, who can serve with knowledge and dedication. The author also encourages those who are not members of the underground to do political educational work among people they can trust within their own circles.
page 137
The aim of this brochure is to explain in a popular way the basic watchword of the Ukrainian resistance, which is encapsulated in the phrase an "Independent United Ukrainian State". The author discusses the concepts embodied in this phrase and explains the meaning of each individual word.
Ramzenko differentiates between natural states and those created by force of arms. National states are the most just, for they best ensure the spiritual, cultural and economic development of the people organized in them. the Ukrainian resistance is fighting for the establishment of just such a natural state, a voluntary organization of people living on their own territory. In a state of this sort, the people freely establish the representative institutions and the central government, with a view of ensuring free development of individuals and of the nation as a whole, an order in the country and a proper external representation and defense of the state. The whole world now recognizes the natural right of even the smallest nations to states of their own, although many nations, even large ones like the Ukrainian nation, do not have independent states.
The author stresses the fact that the Ukrainian state envisaged by the resistance will have a Ukrainian character. He lists various institutions - the parliament, government institutions, armed forces, courts, scientific institutions, industry and business - and notes enthusiastically that they will be staffed by Ukrainian, who will use the Ukrainian language and look after the interests of the Ukrainian people. The author contrasts this vision to the present situation in the Ukrainian SSR, where the Soviet Russian authorities impose brutal Russification, destroy Ukrainian culture and exploit the country's riches. Naturally, the author also stresses the fact that national minorities in Ukraine will be given the right to foster their own languages and national cultures.
The word "independent" in the watchword of the resistance indicates that the Ukrainian state must be fully independent form all other countries. Ukrainians had bad experience in the past with alliances and unions with other countries, including Lithuania, Poland and Russia. Ukrainians suffered most of all when they became part of Russia, for all Russian rulers, from Ivan III to Stalin, were tyrants and imperialists. They all tried to wipe out the non-Russian peoples and dissolve them in the larger Russian sea. The author looks in some detail at existing conditions in the USSR; he gives a pointed and detailed analysis of Soviet policy towards the captive nations. In addition, he constantly stresses that only within independent national states are true freedom and full development of a given nation possible.
In discussing the meaning of the word "united", the author stresses that Ukrainians have no desire to take foreign territory, but are striving to unite within the Ukrainian state all territories on which Ukrainian constitute the majority of the population. The present Ukrainian SSR does not include all Ukrainian territory, for some small areas populated by Ukrainians are still part of Czechoslovakia, Poland and the Belorussian SSR, and certain large areas (Slobozhanshchyna, Don and Kuban regions ) are in the Russian SSR. The Ukrainian resistance wants to unite these areas to the Ukrainian state.
The author maintains that the Ukrainian people's desire for their own independent, united state is both rightful and natural. He points, as proof of this, to the laws of nature and of history. All living things, he says, want to live freely. Nations, too, have an instinctive love of freedom and independence and an aversion to oppression, slavery and humiliation. the Irish, for example, spent more than seven hundred year trying to win their statehood, although they went through some periods of decline, when they seemed to resign themselves to being conquered. The same can be said of other nations which had known lack of freedom - the Czechs, Poles, Jews, Balkan nations, Hindus and others. The Ukrainians had a strong state of their own one thousand years ago; then, as a result of Mongol invasions, they went into decline. Under hetman Khmelnytsky, they again won their statehood. But recent times brought another decline. During Shevchenko's era there were only a few individuals working to arouse the nation's natural desire for independence. Now the nation has awakened; thousands of people are fighting and sacrificing their lives for freedom. And that guarantees that liberation will come.
The author's real name in not known. All that is known is that earlier, in 19045, he had published political essays in "Shliakh Peremohy" ("Path of Victory"), the journal of the Carpathian UPA military Region "Hoverlia".
page 186
The whole of this large issue of the UHVR bulletin consists of brief accounts of battle actions of the UPA, members of the armed resistance and the civilian population during the last four months of 1947, from the beginning of September to the end of December. These accounts were prepared by the UHVR Information Bureau on the basis of local reports received from members of the Ukrainian underground. The accounts are arranged in chronological order and occurred, place (specified as to oblast and district), name of the Ukrainian group involved and of the opponent, the character of the encounter and its outcome. The accounts are brief, usually from two to ten lines of print; only a few of the more major events are described in greater detail. The intent of the editors was to provide at least some brief information about the battle actions of the armed resistance. The bulletin's subtitle speaks of "incomplete summaries". At the beginning of the issue is some covering the period from January to August, 1947.
A short introduction to this issue describes the general situation in Ukraine. With the end of the war, the soviet government was able to send large forces of MGB and MVD troops, party members and armed members of the administration to the territories in which the UPA was active. The Soviet forces were given a free hand to use the most brutal methods in their fight against the Ukrainian resistance. The great strength of their opponent and large losses suffered by the Ukrainians forced the resistance to change its tactics and move form overt mass armed struggle to covert underground activity. By 1947, large UPA units were still active only in geographically-favorable areas (in mountains and thick forests), mainly in the Carpathian Mountains. In other area, UPA units were disbanded and replaced by small underground groups, which worked under cover, in underground hideouts and among the population. Their task was to continue Their organizational, political and battle activities, Thus in 1947, battle actions consisted mainly of minor armed clashed - some, aimed at punishing the most active and brutal supporters of the Soviet regime, others, waged in self-defense.
The fourth issue of the UHVR bulletin was sent abroad in typewritten form. It consisted of 25 closely-typed pages. Whether it ever appeared in print in Ukraine in unknown.
page 240
Like the fourth issue, this issue of the UHVR bulletin is given over totally to summaries of battle actions waged by the UPA and members of the Ukrainian armed resistance. The accounts of these actions are brief, usually two to ten lines of type, occasionally somewhat longer. All provide the following basic information: date of each action, place where it occurred (oblast and district), nature of the operation and its outcome. The more major encounters are described in greater detail. The period covered by the summaries is the first half of 1948, from January to June. This issue of the bulletin, like the previous one, came out in typed issue states: "printed by the OUN (or UHVR) printer ... (name of the printing house) in the month (month given), 1950". This is a suggestion to local underground printing establishments that they reprint the bulletin.
A short introduction to the issue provides information about the general situation in Ukraine and about the actions waged by the Ukrainian resistance in 1948. In spite of the enormous strength of the Soviet police forces, states the introduction, an active struggle is still being waged in Ukraine for separation from Russia and the establishment of an independent state. The vanguard of this struggle is the UPA and the armed underground, but millions of Ukrainian citizens are also playing their role, providing support for the armed struggle and resisting the Soviet occupation in every possible way. Thus, on large areas of Ukrainian territory, the influence of the Soviets is very limited and is being extended only with the aid of terror. The resistance movement is led and organized by the UHVR. The armed struggle of the Ukrainian resistance has the following aims: a) to defend the population against the terror and subversion of the Soviets and to punish the most active enemies of the people; b) to prevent the Soviets form consolidating their power; c) to maintain and extend the resistance movement's own organization and ideology; d) to prepare the ground for an anti-Soviet resistance movement in the whole USSR.
page 295
Like the two previous bulletins, number 4 and 5, this issue of the UHVR bulletin is totally given over to brief summaries of battle actions of the UPA and the armed Ukrainian resistance. The accounts published here are brief, two to ten lined of type. They are based on local reports submitted by members of the Ukrainian resistance and cover the period from July to December, 1948. Outside of Ukraine, the only known version of the bulletin is a typed edition, consisting of 31 pages of close type.
A brief introduction to the issue gives a general description of the activities of the Ukrainian armed resistance. The resistance is active on one-third of the territory of Ukraine. Almost daily skirmishes and encounters take place between the insurgents and the Soviet police and administration; The armed actions are directed against the most loyal members of the occupying administration. Members of the UPA and the underground also carry out sabotage actions against the transpiration and communication system and administrative and economic institutions. At the same time, the resistance is spreading its political propaganda. It gives out tens of thousands of brochures and hundreds of thousands of leaflets and poster, organizes meetings and spreads its message by word of mouth. The introduction to the issue also includes a discussion about the need for armed struggle. it states that no other form of struggle is possible in a police system like that of the USSR. Regardless of the ruthless terror applied by the occupying power, the people of Ukraine support the insurgents in every way, putting at risk their possessions and even their lives. The whole resistance struggle is directed by the UHVR.
page 332
This issue of the bulletin also published brief accounts of armed actions of the UPA. In includes, as well. two resolutions of the UHVR and an article by P. Poltava, the vice-chairman of the General Secretariat of the UHVR and chief of the UHVR Information Bureau. The article is entitled: "The Policy of the Moscowite Bolshevik Government and its Ukrainian Agents Has Nothing in Common with the True Will of the Ukrainian People". Two editions of the Bulletin are known to us. The first is a typed version, dated March, 1950. It consists of 18 closely-typed pages. At the end of the edition of the bulletin is a suggested printer's note for reprinting of the issue. The other edition of the bulletin was produced in March, 1951, by the UHVR's Printing House named after General R. Shukhevych - T. Chuprynka. it consists of 16 pages of print. At the end of this edition is an excerpt from the "Platform of the Supreme Ukrainian Liberation Council", which is entitled "Goals and Tasks of the UHVR".
The first "UHVR Resolution", dated August 23, 1948, announces that crosses of merit have been awarded to 17 UPA soldiers, members of the armed underground and civilians. The second "UHVR Resolution", dated may 4, 1949, announces award for four more UPA soldiers.
The introduction to the accounts of armed actions waged by the UPA and the armed underground includes a valuable explanation of the organizational and political goals of the Ukrainian resistance. These are: 1) to maintain and extend an armed underground organization in Ukraine; 2) to foster and propagate the philosophy and ideas of the Ukrainian independence movement through political action and be including the population in the active struggle; 3) to spread the idea of an anti-Soviet revolution throughout the whole USSR; 4) to demonstrate through active struggle the Ukrainians' thirst for independence to all the freedom-loving people of the world. Each of these goals is discussed in some detail. In the Soviet police state, no independent political activity is possible, except for armed underground resistance. For that reason, the Ukrainian resistance must take on the form of armed underground movement. Through its actions and its ideas, it is preparing the ground for the eventual overthrow of the Soviet totalitarian system, both in Ukraine and in the whole of the Soviet Union. The Ukrainian resistance is fighting for an independent Ukrainian state "with a just social, economic and political order (a democratic and classless society)" and for the restructuring of the USSR into independent national states of all the captive peoples.
The account of actions waged by the UPA and the armed underground cover the first half of t1949, that is, the period from January to the end of June. Like the earlier issues of the UHVR Information Bureau bulletin , this issue consists of brief accounts (each two to six lives of type) of battles and armed encounters, taken by the editors of the bulletin from local underground reports. The intent was to publish at least some basic information about each action of the resistance. In the introduction to the issue, the editor speak of the significance of these actions. First of all, they say, the armed actions are a means for the Ukrainian resistance to preserve itself and continue its political work. Second, they are a way of punishing the most active supporters of the occupying regime and thus help to protect the population at large from the regime's terror and economic plunder. Third, these actions prevent the occupying administration from consolidation itself. And finally, they serve to revolutionize the populations of the different nations inside the USSR. The introduction goes on to say that in 1949 the Ukrainian armed resistance was active on about one-third of the territory of Ukraine and had wide support from the population. Underground cells of the resistance and insurgent groups were closely linked to each other and worked under the same leadership in each region; The regional leadership was, in turn, subordinated to the UHVR. In 1949, UPA units were still active only in the region of the Carpathian Mountains.
This article is written in response to the statements made by the British UN representative, McNeil, to the UN General Assembly session of November 17, 1949. McNeil came out with an unexpectedly sharp criticism of Soviet foreign policy, but his remarks showed a complete ignorance of the internal conditions of the USSR. The underground author is incensed by the fact that McNeil treated the USSR as a homogeneous Russian state, and the Soviet government, as a legal government, chosen by the people. furthermore, McNeil ignored the fact that within the USSR there are many non-Russian nations, which were conquered by force and which, particularly the Ukrainians, are waging a struggle for independence. Poltava points out that what he says could apply not only to McNeil, but to almost all the politicians of the West. For that reason, he gives a brief exposition of the political history of the USSR and in particular, of Ukraine.
The Russian Bolsheviks usurped power in Russia in October, 1917, annulling by force the democratic Constituent Assembly. In time, they conquered the non-Russian countries of former Russian Empire, deposed their democratic governments and established regimes based on single-party dictatorship and police terror. The ensuing political history of the USSR is one of mass arrests and imprisonment of people in fails and concentration camps. In those prisons and camps millions of Soviet citizens, especially non-Russians, are living out their lives. These millions of prisoners, concludes Poltava, are living proof that the nations of the USSR are struggling for freedom and want nothing to do with the Soviet totalitarian regime.
Poltava focuses more closely on the situation existing in Ukraine. In 1918-20 the Russian Bolshevik seized the Ukrainian national Republic by force of arms. having conquered Ukraine, they first banned all organized activity, them began to eliminate all political, cultural and religious activists, including independent-minded communists. The general population was terrorized by mass arrests of workers and peasants, the exile of entire families to Siberia and most particularly, the artificial famine of 1932-33. The Ukrainian people always resisted the Soviets (the author lists a number of organizations that came into being under Soviet occupation). The most recent form of opposition to the regime had been the Ukrainian resistance movement which, during the German occupation of 1942-43, took on the form of armed struggle by the UPA. The author gives a brief history of the UPA struggle against the Germans and Soviets. In 1945-46 the Soviets turned a large police force against the UPA. While battles took place between the UPA and the Soviets, whole villages and forests were often blockaded. But the Ukrainian resistance survived these blockades, reorganized itself and adopted the tactics of an armed underground that caries out its work in small armed groups. When conditions become more favorable, these fighters hope to establish an independent Ukrainian state that has a true democratic order.
The article begins with a description of a partisan bunker, in which members of the Ukrainian resistance are listening to foreign radio broadcasts. They hope to hear some expressions of support for the Ukrainian liberation struggle and reports of criticism by Western politicians of the Soviet system and its genocidal policies. However, the broadcasts make no mention of the Ukrainian resistance or of the captive nations of the USSR. The author attributes this to a lack of information in the West. He cites the American ambassador to the Soviet Union, Smith, who once stated, "When it comes to the Soviet Union, there are no experts; there are only different degrees of ignorance:. And that is why the author chose to write his article - to express his bitterness at that state of affairs and to inform the politicians of the west about the Ukrainian struggle for freedom.
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This issue of the bulletin appeared in 1951, that is, after the outbreak of war in Korea, on June 25, 1950. The entry of numerous countries into the Korean War, and the failure of attempts to resolve the conflict peacefully seemed to indicate that the conflict could develop into the Third World War. For that reason, the bulletin published an article by P. Poltava, which gives his reaction to the prospect of world war and lays out the tasks of the Ukrainian people in such an event. The article also includes an appeal from the Supreme Command of the UPA to soldiers of the Soviet Army and note of thanks from the UHVR to the Ukrainian Congress Committee in the United States for its financial support of the resistance. The bulletin consists of twenty-five pages of print.
The Ukrainian resistance opposes in principle all forms of imperialism, that is, the policy of stronger nations enslaving weaker ones, or making them dependent upon themselves, for the purpose of gaining territorial, strategic, economic or political advantage. Through the ages, imperialism has harmed not only the conquered nations, but the conquerors as well. it has been the main source of wars, which have caused the death or mutilation of millions of people and the destruction of the material and spiritual achievements of generations. Thus the Ukrainian resistance stands in principle for dividing empires into independent states of their constituent nations and for peaceful settlement of disputes between states. Such a peaceful co-existence among the nations of the world would be a great achievement for humanity and would result in unprecedented progress.
In the present circumstances peace is impossible, for the law "might is right" rules over international relations, particularly within the great multinational empires. The worst offender of all is the totalitarian Soviet Russian empire, which after the Second World War took over the Baltic states, all of Eastern Europe and large parts of Asia. This empire is ruled by a clique of Russian Bolsheviks who keep themselves in power with the aid of a state police apparatus that has wiped out or imprisoned millions of people. The remaining population is deprived of all rights and lives in extreme poverty. under the guise of socialism, slavery has been revived. The largest number of the regime's victims come from within the captive nations, which in many cases stand on the brink of total annihilation. The forty-million-strong Ukrainian nation also stands threatened with destruction; since the inception of Soviet rule it has lost millions of people. The captive nations of the USSR do not have any legal possibility of defending their rights; all that remains for them is to wage armed battle. The Ukrainian resistance is conducting an armed struggle for the liberation of the Ukrainian people. Other nations living in similar conditions are also obliged to wage battled of liberation.
The author points out the difference that exists between wars that are just and those that are unjust. The category of just wars includes, above all, liberation battles waged by conquered nations, for example, the Indonesians or the Ukrainians. Also in the "just" category are wars being waged for independence by countries that are temporarily occupied or ruled by dictatorial regimes. Unjust are wars fought to conquer other nations. Hitler's war was unjust and criminal, for its aim was to destroy or enslave non-German nations. Similar to Hitler's aims will be those of the Soviets in the imminent world war: to gain not only new territories, but control over the whole world.
The author points out that, as the great powers of the West are concerned, the Third World War will probably have an anti-liberation character. he is troubled by the fact that most political theorists from the United States, Great Britain and other countries are enamored of large conglomerate states and fear to see the world split up into smaller national states. In the cast of the USSR, they favor a change to a democratic regime and a return to private ownership, but want to maintain the territorial integrity of the state. Official circles in the United States support émigré Russian groups that take this position (Kerensky, Miliukov, the "Vlasovites"). The author rejects this approach as unrealistic, being based as it is on the American political reality. Inside the Soviet Union, he points out, relations among nations are very strained, for the non-Russian nations have suffered great losses and now face the prospect of complete annihilation. At the end of the article, the author expresses the hope that the impending war will sooner or later bring the issue of dismembering the USSR to the fore, for even Western countries are mortally threatened by Russian imperialism.
At the close of this discussion, the author speaks of the tasks faced by the Ukrainian people if they are to determine their own destiny. Above all, they must keep in mind their prime goal of the liberation of Ukraine and other captive nations and avoid giving in to imperialist propaganda, especially that emanating from the Soviet union. At the same time, they must work to build up and strengthen their own forces of liberation, particularly the armed resistance led by the UHVR, for this is the main element of Ukrainian independence policy. Even now they should resist the Soviet regime at every possible turn and sabotage its every effort, in order to undermine its preparations for war. They should do what they can counteract Soviet propaganda. Although the main burden of the struggle for liberation rests on the shoulders of the armed resistance and its leadership in the UHVR, at the moment of decision all Ukrainians will have to play their part-workers, collective farmers and intellectuals. The death blow to the Soviet empire will be dealt by former soldiers of the Soviet Army. The author has faith in the Ukrainian people's love of freedom and is convinced they will pass the historic test that will face them.
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