People's Movement of Ukraine

People's Movement of Ukraine
Народний Рух України
PresidentAndriy Kornat
Founded9 February 1990; 34 years ago (1990-02-09)
HeadquartersKyiv
Youth wingYoung Activists of the Popular Rukh
Membership (2016)35,000[needs update]
Ideology
Political positionCentre-right
Colours Blue, yellow
SloganStatehood, Democracy, Reforms
Verkhovna Rada
0 / 450
Lviv Oblast Council
6 / 84
Website
rukh.team Edit this at Wikidata

The People's Movement of Ukraine (Ukrainian: Народний Рух України, romanizedNarodnyi Rukh Ukrayiny) is a Ukrainian political party and first opposition party in Soviet Ukraine. Often it is simply referred to as the Movement (Ukrainian: Рух, Rukh). The party under the name Rukh was an observer member of the European People's Party (EPP) until 2013. It is considered to have played a key role in Ukraine regaining its independence in 1991.

Rukh gathers most of its voters and support from Western Ukraine. In November 2016, the party had 35,000 members.

History

Public movement

Gathering of People's Movement of Ukraine at the October Revolution Square (now Maidan Nezalezhnosti) during the raising of the Ukrainian flag in Kyiv on 24 July 1990

Initially organized as the People's Movement of Ukraine for Perestroika, Rukh was founded in September 6–8, 1989 as a civil-political movement as there were no other political parties allowed in the Soviet Union but the Communist Party. The founding of Rukh was made possible due to Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev's Glasnost policies. The program and statutes of the movement were proposed by the Writers Association of Ukraine and were published in the journal Literary Ukraine (Literaturna Ukraina) on 16 February 1989. The organization has its roots in Ukrainian dissidents — the most notable of them being Viacheslav Chornovil — yet not excluding the fact that it was accepting various other politically oriented members from liberal communists to integralist nationalists. From March to September 1989 numerous constituent party conferences took place across Ukraine. The first Constituent Congress of the "People's Movement of Ukraine for Reconstruction" took place on 8–10 September 1989 in Kyiv. Elected as the first leader of the movement was the Ukrainian poet and screenwriter Ivan Drach.

Appearance of the organization coincided with dismissal of Volodymyr Shcherbytsky as the First Secretary of Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine and rise of Leonid Kravchuk. On one hand Kravchuk officially promised that "faster he will grow hair on his palm than Rukh will be registered", on the other hand according to author of the book "People's Movement of Ukraine. History" (Ukrainian: Народный рух Украины. История), Hryhoriy Honcharuk, with reference to Ivan Drach, it was Kravchuk who facilitated publishing of the Rukh's program draft in "Literaturna Ukrayina" in February 1989. And according to rumors, he also approved that the rector of KPI Talanchuk would grant the Politech's Assembly Hall to hold the Rukh's constituent congress.

The official Soviet press and government portrayed members as anti-Semites at first.

The movement's biggest public, political, cultural, and social actions were:

  • Human chain (1990) – a chain of volunteers that stretched around 550 kilometres (340 mi) all the way from the city of Lviv to the city of Kyiv, the capitals of the two former Ukrainian states that signed the Act Zluky (Unification act) on 22 January 1919. According to the Department of Internal Affairs (Ukrainian SSR) there were only 450,000 participants, while the organizers claimed that there were between four and five million.
  • Mass excursions (1990) – festivities near Nikopol and Zaporizhzhia to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Zaporozhian Sich from 7 September through 12.
  • Various activities near Berestechko, Baturyn, Lubny, and Khotyn.

At first the movement aimed at supporting Gorbachev's reforms, later the People's Movement of Ukraine was instrumental in conducting an independence referendum in the Ukrainian SSR. This was partially due to the Russification policies of the Soviet Union when the USSR Supreme Soviet officially announced the Russian language as the singular official state language of the country in 1989. During Rukh's existence within the Soviet Union, its members were threatened and intimidated. In the western oblasts "Rukh" became colloquially known as an abbreviation for the call Save Ukraine, fellows! (Рятуйте Україну, Хлопці!).

Political party

The movement initially registered by the Ministry of Justice on 9 February 1990 as the political party. After the creation of the Ukrainian Republican Party (URP) in January 1990 and later the Democratic Party of Ukraine (DemPU), the People's Movement of Ukraine unofficially existed as a coalition of those two along with numerous other smaller factions. These parties created a group within the Verkhovna Rada called the "Democratic Bloc" which stood in opposition to "Group 239", which was led by Oleksandr Moroz ("For the sovereign Soviet Ukraine") (see 1990 Ukrainian parliamentary election).

In the March 1990 Ukrainian local elections Rukh won majorities in the elections of the city councils of Lviv and Kiev and was successful in western Ukraine.

In October 1990 Rukh's second Party Congress took place. During the session it was decided to exclude the word "Reconstruction" (Perestroika), not to be associated with the Communist movement. Ivan Drach was re-elected as leader, while his deputies became Mykhailo Horyn and Oleksandr Lavrynovych. In order to draw the URP and DemPU closer to Rukh, the "Institute of Associative Membership in the Movement" was established. The brittle coalition of the mentioned parties held until the presidential elections in September 1991 when URP and DemPU provided their own candidates in opposition to Vyacheslav Chornovil.

From 28 February – 1 March 1992 the third Party Congress took place during which a schism within Rukh was avoided by electing a leadership triad of Ivan Drach, Mykhailo Horyn, and Vyacheslav Chornovil. The new deputy leaders were M. Boychyshyn, O. Burakovsky, V. Burlakov, and O. Lavrynovych. The "Institute of Associative Membership in the Movement" was formally recognized as dissolved due to both the URP and DemPU declaring themselves as supporters of state president Leonid Kravchuk. The People's Movement of Ukraine declared its parliamentary opposition to the government and in January 1992 re-registered due to substantial changes in its statutes. Soon Ivan Drach left the party, followed by the resignation of Mykhailo Horyn in June 1992 together with V. Burlakov. Horyn was soon elected as leader of the Ukrainian Republican Party. In December 1992 Rukh's IV Party Congress took place which once again revised its statute and the party's goals. Vyacheslav Chornovil was elected leader, the rest of the party's leadership was left without major changes. During the Congress some party delegates in opposition to Chornovil created the All-National Movement of Ukraine (VNRU), headed by Larysa Skoryk.

The People's Movement of Ukraine was registered by the Ukrainian Ministry of Justice as a political party on 1 February 1993. Rukh's parliamentary faction split up into 2 different factions in the spring of 1999 (the breakaway faction was led by Hennadiy Udovenko with its highest Rada membership of 19 dwindling to 14; the "other" faction ended with 23; meaning that 10 elected People's Movement of Ukraine deputies did not represent any segment of the party anymore by June 2002). Right before the 1999 presidential elections another major schism took place within the party. Yuriy Kostenko openly protested against the election of Viacheslav Chornovil as the party leader and established another party, People's Movement of Ukraine (Kostenko), where Kostenko became the leader of the party. Despite the split a followed party congress elected Vyacheslav Chornovil as party leader. The congress also adopted the signing of an agreement between People's Movement of Ukraine and the Reforms and Order Party for a political bloc supporting Hennadiy Udovenko as a single presidential candidate for the next elections. At the parliamentary elections on 29 March 1998, the party received 9.4% of the vote and 46 seats. At the parliamentary elections on 30 March 2002, the party was part of the Viktor Yushchenko Bloc–Our Ukraine. Currently, Rukh was a part of the Our Ukraine Bloc, where it represented the right wing of the Union's party spectrum. At the parliamentary elections on 26 March 2006, the party was part of the Our Ukraine alliance, and the party's members secured 13 seats in the parliament. At the 2007 parliamentary elections the party was again part of the Our Ukraine–People's Self-Defense Bloc alliance, that won 72 out of 450 seats.

In the 2010 local elections the party won 8 representative in the regional parliament of the Lviv Oblast, 3 representative in the regional parliament of Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, 1 in Kherson Oblast, 5 in the Verkhovna Rada of Crimea and 3 seats in the city councils of Lviv and Simferopol.

The party competed as one single party under the "umbrella" party "Fatherland", together with several other parties, during the 2012 parliamentary elections During the election this list won 62 seats (25.55% of the votes) under the proportional party-list system and another 39 by winning 39 simple-majority constituencies; a total of 101 seats in Parliament. The party independently unsuccessfully participated in 2 constituencies.

In 2013, the party split in two parts. The party merged with Ukrainian People's Party in May 2013. While its former chairman Borys Tarasyuk and others assimilated into "Fatherland" in June 2013. The bulk of the party organisation and ordinary members remained loyal to the party.

In the 2014 Ukrainian presidential election party leader Vasyl Kuybida received 0.06% of the vote.

In the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election the party participated in 3 constituencies; but its candidates lost in all of them and thus the party won no parliamentary seats. However, after being expelled from (the political party) Self Reliance the lawmakers Pavlo Kyshkar and Viktor Kryvenko joined the party in April 2016 (in parliament they both joined the faction of the Petro Poroshenko Bloc in March 2016 before leaving it in December 2017).

In the 2015 Ukrainian local elections the party was able to gain seats in 270 local councils (0.17% of all local councils).

On 10 January 2019 Viktor Kryvenko was chosen the People's Movement of Ukraine candidate in the 2019 Ukrainian presidential election and their chairman. In the election he received 0.04% of the vote.

In the 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election the party had 18 candidates in constituencies, but none of them won a parliamentary seat.

In the 2020 Ukrainian local elections the party gained 209 deputies (0.47% of all available mandates).

Political platform

We do not impose on Russia how to interpret its own history. Why did Russia try and continues to try to impose on us the use of the Russian language? Why do Russians want to make us forget our own history and our heroes? Ukrainians must know their history and live accordingly, instead of living by the stereotypes spun by tsarist and Soviet ideologists.

— Party-leader Borys Tarasyuk on Echo of Moscow Radio (February 5, 2011)

Directly out of the official website:

Associated organizations

  • Shevchenko Society of Ukrainian language (Ukrainian: Товариство української мови імені Тараса Шевченка)
  • Lion's Society (Ukrainian: Товариство Лева)
  • Committee in support of Lithuania (1990)
  • Qurultay of the Crimean Tatar People
  • Students' Fraternity of Lviv
  • Ukrainian Student League

Elections history

Supreme Council of Ukraine
Year Party-list Constituency /total Overall seats won Seat change Government
Popular vote % Seats /total
1990 no party list voting 15/450
15 / 450
Increase 15 opposition
1994 20/450
20 / 450
Increase 5 opposition
1998 2,498,262 9.7% 32/225 14/225
46 / 450
Increase 26 minority support
2002 Yushchenko Bloc Our Ukraine 15/225 3/225
18 / 450
Decrease 8 opposition
2006 Bloc Our Ukraine 10/450 N/A
10 / 450
Decrease 8 opposition
2007 Our Ukraine–People's Self-Defense Bloc 6/450 N/A
6 / 450
Decrease 4 coalition government
2012 Fatherland-United Opposition N/A Decrease 6 opposition
2014 unsuccessfully participated in 4 constituencies.
2019 unsuccessfully participated in 18 constituencies.
Presidency of Ukraine
Election year Candidate First Round Place Second Round
# of
overall votes
% of
overall vote
# of
overall votes
% of
overall vote
1991 Viacheslav Chornovil 7,420,727 23.3 2
1994 Volodymyr Lanovyi 2,483,986 9.6 4
1999 Hennadiy Udovenko 319,778 1.2 7
2004 none fully supported Viktor Yushchenko
2010 none supported Yulia Tymoshenko in second round
2014 Vasyl Kuybida 12,392 0.1 17
Date Party leader Remarks
1989–1992 Ivan Drach
1992–1999 Viacheslav Chornovil
1999–2003 Hennadiy Udovenko
2003–2012 Borys Tarasyuk
2012–2017 Vasyl Kuybida
2017–present Viktor Kryvenko

Notable politicians


This page was last updated at 2024-02-27 03:43 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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