In the late 1980s, the USSR plunged into a deep crisis and found itself on the verge of collapse. The policy of "restructuring, glasnost and acceleration" of the then Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev did not save the economy, but it opened the way for national movements. This led to a "parade of sovereignties" in 1990 — first in the Baltic republics, and later in other republics, in particular in Ukraine.
In March 1990, the first fairly free parliamentary elections were held in the Ukrainian SSR during the period of the communist regime. National-democratic candidates won almost a quarter of the mandates. They formed the opposition group "Peopleʼs Council" in the parliament, headed by Ihor Yukhnovsky, which included 125 deputies. However, the majority was held by communists from the group "For Sovereign Soviet Ukraine" led by Oleksandr Moroz.
But even under such conditions, the Verkhovna Rada of the Ukrainian SSR adopted the Declaration on the State Sovereignty of Ukraine in July 1990. It prescribed broad political and economic autonomy, but not complete independence. Trying to somehow preserve the USSR, Gorbachev agreed to reformat it into a confederation of sovereign states. Therefore, the final clause of the Ukrainian declaration referred to the conclusion of a corresponding "union agreement".
Deputies of the "Peopleʼs Council" after the adoption of the Declaration on State Sovereignty of Ukraine, July 16, 1990. Among them are Levko Lukyanenko, Vyacheslav Chornovil, Stepan Khmara, Bohdan Horyn.
The Communists viewed this declaration as a temporary concession. Because it was a general trend in the then USSR. Similar documents were adopted by the parliaments of other Union republics, including the Russian one. Even within the communist majority itself, disagreements were already brewing. A conservative group headed by the then First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine Stanislav Hurenko advocated the preservation of the "united and indivisible USSR." And the so-called sovereign communists, among whom was the then chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Leonid Kravchuk were not against sovereignty. Because in this way they could get more powers and no longer depend so much on the allied center in Moscow.
Unlike them, the National Democrats saw the declaration of sovereignty as the first step on the way to true independence. They organized actions where they called on Ukraine to leave the USSR. The largest was the march of almost 300 000 people in the center of Kyiv on September 30, 1990 under the slogan "No to the new Union Treaty!". Among other demands were the dissolution of the Communist Party of Ukraine, the dismantling of the Lenin monument in Kyiv, the resignation of the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of the Ukrainian SSR Leonid Kravchuk and the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Ukrainian SSR Vitaliy Masola, the government, etc. This rally was organized by the Peopleʼs Movement of Ukraine for Reconstruction.
Participants of the rally in Kyiv go to the Verkhovna Rada on Kirov (now Hrushevsky) Street, September 30, 1990. Participants of the rally in Kyiv near the Republican Stadium (now NSC Olimpiyskiy), September 30, 1990. Participants of the rally in Kyiv, September 30, 1990.
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Student youth from Kyivʼs "Ukrainian Student Union" and "Student Fraternity of Lviv region" also planned their own pro-Ukrainian action. It was carefully prepared for almost six months. Chosen leaders, agreed on forms, methods and requirements. However, it was not without discussions.
Kyiv residents put forward three demands. The main one is the re-election of the Verkhovna Rada no later than the spring of 1991. They also demanded to nationalize the property of the Communist Party of Ukraine and to refuse to sign a new "union treaty". The people of Lviv came with two other demands — to return to Ukraine the soldiers who served abroad, and to dismiss the chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Ukrainian SSR Vitaliy Masola. The last demand was considered impractical by the people of Kyiv, because in the event of re-elections of the parliament, the government had to resign as well. But the people of Lviv explained the resignation of the prime minister as a significant demonstrative sacrifice from the authorities, which would testify to the victory of the protest. In the end, they reached a compromise and combined the demands into five points. Not everyone supported the hunger strike as a form of protest, but they agreed to it as well.
A poster with the demands of the Revolution on Granite participants from the 2012 exhibition.
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The organizers were sure that the first participants of the action would be dispersed and detained by law enforcement officers. But they expected that such actions by the authorities would lead to an all-Ukrainian student strike. At first everything went very well. The police were waiting for the protesters in the Mariinsky Park near the Verkhovna Rada building. But on the morning of October 2, 1990, students in small groups of two or three came to the square of the October Revolution (todayʼs Maidan Nezalezhnosti) declared a hunger strike and put forward demands.
The authorities made an unexpected move. On the same day, the Kyiv City Council allowed events to be held, including on October Revolution Square, without prior agreement. Therefore, the police did not touch the protesters, even when they started to build a tent camp in the evening.
The first participants of the student rally on October Revolution Square, October 2, 1990. Participants of the student rally are setting up a tent camp on October Revolution Square, October 2, 1990.
Архів «Суспільне братство» / «Бабель»; Getty Images / «Babel'»
In the early days, this government tactic seemed to work. Nobody seemed to pay attention to the hunger strikers, there was no nationwide student strike. Negotiations between the protesters and the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Leonid Kravchu, ended in nothing. Somewhere on the seventh or tenth day, some of the participants of the action became discouraged and stopped the hunger strike.
Participant of the Revolution on Granite, October 1990. Student hunger strike during the Granite Revolution, October 1990.
Getty Images / «Babel'»; Архів «Суспільне братство» / «Бабель»
Gradually, students of Kyiv and other higher education institutions joined the protestors, they were supported by factory and factory workers and even some members of the Rada. Radio equipment appeared in the tent camp, the speeches of protesters and negotiations with the authorities were broadcast on television and radio. In the press, the action was called "Revolution on Granite".
Now the authoritiesʼ "liberal" decision not to touch the students began to work against her. The participants of the action recalled how KGB employees tried to intimidate them and promised to suppress the protest with tanks, as they did in China in 1989. But it was already late. October 15, 1990 was a turning point. Then Kyiv students declared a general strike and began occupying the premises of universities, in particular the red building of the Taras Shevchenko Kyiv University. Approximately one hundred thousand people gathered on October Revolution Square and marched to the Verkhovna Rada. The next day, October 16, a second tent camp appeared under the parliament building.
The student rally during the Granite Revolution, October 1990. The tent camp under the Verkhovna Rada building, October 16, 1990.
Архів «Суспільне братство» / «Бабель»
On the same day, a conciliation commission was created in the Verkhovna Rada to consider the demands of the protesters. And already on October 17, the parliament showed that it is ready to partially satisfy the studentsʼ demands. In particular, on October 23, he dismissed the chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Ukrainian SSR Vitaliy Masola.
The leaders of the student protest declared victory and ended the hunger strike on October 17, 1990. But the main demand — early re-elections of the Verkhovna Rada — was never met. Except that the parliamentarians promised to hold a referendum on the issue of confidence in the Verkhovna Rada in 1991, and in the end this composition of the parliament worked until the first elections of the Verkhovna Rada already in independent Ukraine in 1994. Although even Leonid Kravchuk later admitted that if re-elections had been held then, Ukraine could have followed a completely different path.
The tent camp of the participants of the Revolution on the granite on the October Revolution Square (now Maidan Nezalezhnosti) in Kyiv, October 1990.
Getty Images / «Babel'»
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