OPINION: January 22 – The Date in 1918 When Ukraine First Declared Independence

Today, on Jan. 22, we remember two very important events in Ukraine’s modern history: the 105^th anniversary of the declaration of Ukraine’s independence in Kyiv by the country’s parliament of that time, the Central Rada, and the 104th anniversary of the Act of Union agreed on by the Ukrainian People’s Republic and the West Ukrainian Peoples Republic

While the first of them is certainly acknowledged, unfortunately it is still not recognized officially as befits its significance, especially, given Russia’s current war to destroy Ukrainian statehood and identity, and Putin’s absurd claims that the Ukrainian state was created as a result of Lenin’s erroneous policies.

Undoubtedly, Jan. 22, 1918, remains the key date associated with the establishment of a modern independent Ukrainian state. It should therefore be the main date on which Ukrainian independence is celebrated.

In 1918-20 Ukrainians fought bravely to secure their independence against Russian “White” and Red” forces and were eventually defeated by the Bolsheviks and their Red Army. Soviet rule was imposed on most of Ukraine for the next 70 years or so. Although the country was nominally an independent Soviet republic which had “voluntarily” become part of the “Soviet” – read Russian-dominated –  communist federation – the USSR, it remained in essence a Russian colony.

However, when the Soviet system was collapsing, for various – mostly political – reasons the significance of Jan. 22, 1918 was deliberately obscured by the communist majority in the Soviet Ukrainian parliament. When forced on Aug. 24, 1991, to proclaim Ukraine’s independence, it did not want to acknowledge the fact that Ukraine was reaffirming the independence that had been declared by its democratic and non-communist Ukrainian parliament in 1918. Instead, of emphasizing the elements of continuity, renewal and restoration, the communist deputies wanted to maintain the fiction that they themselves had created an independent Ukrainian state for the first time.

Consequently, for over 30 years in independent Ukraine, August 24 was celebrated as the country’s Day of Independence

The importance of what had occurred on Jan. 22, 1918 was obscured by focusing on what had happened exactly a year later. On Jan. 22, 1919, the union of central and western Ukraine was proclaimed by the representatives of their respective independent republics even as they were fighting the Russian in the east and the Poles in the west.    

Of course, this too is an important historic date.  But the celebration of the “Day of Unity,” was fostered under presidents as diverse as Kravchuk, Kuchma, Yushchenko, Yanukovych and Poroshenko in such a way that it continued to overshadow the significance of the declaration of independence in early 1918. 

Even in 2018, on the centenary of Ukraine’s declaration of independence, the then president, Petro Poroshenko, failed to play up its significance. This year, President Zelensky also seems to have have neglected to emphasize that independence was declared by Ukraine in early 1918 and the attempt to unite western and central Ukraine in one sovereign state followed logically a year later.

This “forgetful,” and in essence irresponsible, approach has been a very regrettable concession to forces that have sought to revise and distort Ukraine’s modern history – a mistake that needs to be rectified.

Russia’s war against Ukraine, buttressed by the absurd imperialist arguments – revived by Putin and his chauvinist ideologues and propagandists – that Ukrainians don’t exist as a distinct nation and have no right to self-determination, statehood, their own language, culture or history, or identification with the rest of Europe, should force us to review the approach to Ukraine’s modern history by its own leadership.

Breaking free from Russia’s imperialistic stranglehold necessitates confronting and purging Ukraine of Russian historical and cultural narratives that have been imposed for centuries and thwarted the development of Ukraine’s self-identification and proper understanding of it abroad.

In 1918, the Ukrainians opted for independence and democracy – Western-style. Russia chose totalitarian Bolshevism and aggressive anti-democratic communism. For Ukrainians, this should serve as an important source of pride and inspiration. 

In short, without detracting from the importance of Aug. 24, 1991, in Ukraine’s history, Jan. 22 should also be observed as a state and public holiday – as the date on which modern independent Ukraine was born.

From the editors: this opinion piece draws from an earlier article written in cooperation with the author by Daryna Kolomiiets and published in Kyiv Post on July 28, 2022.