People's Movement of Ukraine
Encyclopedia
The People's Movement of Ukraine (Rukh) (Ukrainian
Ukrainian language
Ukrainian is a language of the East Slavic subgroup of the Slavic languages. It is the official state language of Ukraine. Written Ukrainian uses a variant of the Cyrillic alphabet....

: Народний Рух України, Narodnyi Rukh Ukrajiny) is a Ukrainian
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

 center-right political party
Political party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...

. The party is an observer member of the European People's Party
European People's Party
The European People's Party is a pro-European centre-right European political party. The EPP was founded in 1976 by Christian democratic parties, but later it increased its membership to include conservative parties and parties of other centre-right perspectives.The EPP is the most influential of...

 (EPP).

The Party gathers most of its voters and support from western Ukraine.

Public movement

Initially organized as the People's Movement
People's Movement
People's Movement may refer to:* Barbuda People's Movement, Antigua and Barbuda*People's Progressive Movement , Antigua and Barbuda* Feuguino People's Movement, Argentina*Neuquino People's Movement, Argentina...

 of Ukraine for the Reconstruction (perestroika
Perestroika
Perestroika was a political movement within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union during 1980s, widely associated with the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev...

) was founded in 1989 as a civil-political movement as there were no other parties allowed in the Soviet Union but the Communist Party. This being made possible due to Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev is a former Soviet statesman, having served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991, and as the last head of state of the USSR, having served from 1988 until its dissolution in 1991...

's Glasnost
Glasnost
Glasnost was the policy of maximal publicity, openness, and transparency in the activities of all government institutions in the Soviet Union, together with freedom of information, introduced by Mikhail Gorbachev in the second half of the 1980s...

 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 February 16, 1989. The organization takes its roots in Ukrainian dissidents, most notable of them — Vyacheslav Chornovil
Vyacheslav Chornovil
Viacheslav Chornovil was a Ukrainian politician. A prominent Ukrainian dissident to the Soviet policies, he was arrested multiple times in the 1960s and 1970s for his political views...

, yet not excluding the fact that it was accepting various other politically oriented members from the liberal communists to the integralist nationalists. During the 1989 (March - September) numerous constituent party conferences took place across Ukraine. The first Constituent Congress of the "People's Movement of Ukraine for Reconstruction" took place on September 8–10, 1989 in Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....

. The first leader of the movement was elected the Ukrainian poet and screenwriter Ivan Drach
Ivan Drach
Ivan Drach is a Ukrainian poet, screenwriter, literary critic, politician dissident, and political activist....

.

The official Soviet press
Eastern Bloc information dissemination
Eastern Bloc information dissemination was controlled directly by each country's Communist party, which controlled the state media, censorship and propaganda organs...

 and government portrayed members as anti-Semites at first.

The biggest public, political, cultural, and social actions were:
  • Human chain
    Human chain
    A human chain is a form of demonstration in which people link their arms as a show of political solidarity.The number of demonstrators involved in a human chain is often disputed; the organizers of the human chain often report higher numbers than governmental authorities.Notable human chains, in...

     (1990) - a chain of volunteers that has stretched around 350 miles (or 550 km) all the way from the city of Lviv
    Lviv
    Lviv is a city in western Ukraine. The city is regarded as one of the main cultural centres of today's Ukraine and historically has also been a major Polish and Jewish cultural center, as Poles and Jews were the two main ethnicities of the city until the outbreak of World War II and the following...

     to the city of Kiev
    Kiev
    Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....

    , the capitals of the two former Ukrainian states that signed the Act Zluky
    Act Zluky
    The Unification Act was an agreement signed on January 22, 1919 by the Ukrainian People's Republic and the West Ukrainian People's Republic on the St. Sophia Square in Kiev...

     (Unification act) on January 22
    Universal (act)
    Universal is a historic term that means an official proclamation or legal act. In several historic periods Universals were issued by the Polish and Ukrainian authorities. The name originates from Latin litterae universales, meaning universal publication directed to all...

    , 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 to five million.
  • Mass excursions (1990) - festivities near Nikopol and Zaporizhia
    Zaporizhia
    Zaporizhia or Zaporozhye [formerly Alexandrovsk ] is a city in southeastern Ukraine, situated on the banks of the Dnieper River. It is the administrative center of the Zaporizhia Oblast...

     to celebrate the 500 Anniversary of the Zaporizhian Cossacks from September 7 through 12.
  • various activities near Berestechko
    Berestechko
    Berestechko is a city in Volyn Oblast, Ukraine. It is located at around . It is located on the Styr River. As of 2001, its population was 1,904.Berestechko received Magdeburg rights in 1547. In 1651, the Battle of Berestechko took place near the town....

    , Baturyn
    Baturyn
    Baturyn , is a historic town in the Chernihiv Oblast of northern Ukraine. It is located in the Bakhmatskyi Raion of the oblast, on the banks of the Seym River...

    , Lubny
    Lubny
    Lubny is a city in the Poltava Oblast of central Ukraine. Serving as the administrative center of the Lubensky Raion , the city itself is also designated as a separate raion within the oblast...

    , and Khotyn
    Khotyn
    Khotyn is a city in Chernivtsi Oblast of western Ukraine, and is the administrative center of Khotyn Raion within the oblast, and is located south-west of Kamianets-Podilskyi. According to the 2001 Ukrainian census, it has a population of 11,124...

    .


At first the movement aimed at supporting Gorbachev's reforms, later People's Movement of Ukraine was instrumental in conducting an independence referendum in the Ukrainian SSR
Ukrainian SSR
The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic or in short, the Ukrainian SSR was a sovereign Soviet Socialist state and one of the fifteen constituent republics of the Soviet Union lasting from its inception in 1922 to the breakup in 1991...

. This was partially due to the Russification
Russification
Russification is an adoption of the Russian language or some other Russian attributes by non-Russian communities...

 policies of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 when the USSR Supreme Soviet officially announced the Russian language
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...

 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, Хлоптці!).

Political party

The movement initially registered by the Ministry of Justice on February 9, 1990 as the political party. After the creation of the Ukrainian Republican Party (URP) in January 1990 and later Democratic Party of Ukraine
Democratic Party of Ukraine
The Democratic Party of Ukraine is a political party in Ukraine registered in 1991.-History:The Democratic Party of Ukraine is one of the oldest political institutions of Ukraine. DemPU was founded in 1990 by a group of famous Ukrainian dissidents....

 (DemPU), the People's Movement of Ukraine unofficially existed as a coalition of the those two along with numerous other smaller factions. These parties created a group within the Verkhovna Rada
Verkhovna Rada
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine is Ukraine's parliament. The Verkhovna Rada is a unicameral parliament composed of 450 deputies, which is presided over by a chairman...

 called the People's Council
Democratic Bloc
Democratic Bloc was a political alliance and an electoral bloc in Ukraine founded during the election campaign to participate in the parliamentary election held during March 4-18, 1990.-History:...

 which stood in opposition to the so-called Group 239, headed by Oleksandr Moroz
Oleksandr Moroz
Oleksandr Oleksandrovych Moroz is a Ukrainian statesman and politician. He was the Speaker of Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine twice: July 2006 to September 2007, and previously in 1994 through 1998. Moroz is one of the founders and leader of the Socialist Party of Ukraine, which was an influential...

 (For the sovereign Soviet Ukraine) (see Ukrainian parliamentary election, 1990
Ukrainian parliamentary election, 1990
The first relatively free parliamentary election held in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic took place in several stages, from March 4 to March 18, 1990. The elections were held to elect deputies to the republic's parliament, the Verkhovna Rada...

). In October 1990 took place the second Party Congress. During the session it was decided to exclude the word Reconstruction (Perestroika
Perestroika
Perestroika was a political movement within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union during 1980s, widely associated with the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev...

), not to be associated with the Communist movement. The head of the Party was elected once again Ivan Drach, while his deputies became Mykhailo Horyn and Oleksandr Lavrynovych
Oleksandr Lavrynovych
Oleksandr Volodymyrovych Lavrynovych is a Ukrainian politician and deputy in the Ukrainian parliament, the Verkhovna Rada....

. In order to draw closer URP and DemPU was established the Institute of Associative Membership in the Movement. The brittle coalition of the mentioned parties held until the presidential elections in September 1991 when URP and DemPU provided their own candidates as the opposition to Vyacheslav Chornovil
Vyacheslav Chornovil
Viacheslav Chornovil was a Ukrainian politician. A prominent Ukrainian dissident to the Soviet policies, he was arrested multiple times in the 1960s and 1970s for his political views...

.

On February 28 - March 1, 1992 took place the third Party Congress during which it was avoid the schism within the Party by reelecting a leadership triad of Ivan Drach, Mykhailo Horyn, and Vyacheslav Chornovil. The new deputies were M.Boychyshyn, O.Burakovsky, V.Burlakov, and O.Lavrynovych
Oleksandr Lavrynovych
Oleksandr Volodymyrovych Lavrynovych is a Ukrainian politician and deputy in the Ukrainian parliament, the Verkhovna Rada....

. The coalition formally was recognized as dissolved due to both URP and DemPU declared themselves the presidential supporters. The People's Movement of Ukraine declared its opposition and in January 1992 re-registered due to substantial changes of its statues. Soon Ivan Drach has left the party, followed by the acquittance of Mykhailo Horyn in June 1992 together with V.Burlakov. Horyn was soon elected the head of the Ukrainian Republican Party. In December 1992 took place the IV Party Congress which once again revised its statute and the party goals. The party leader was elected Vyacheslav Chornovil, the rest party leadership was left without major changes. During the Congress the 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 February 1, 1993.
At the parliamentary elections
Ukrainian parliamentary election, 1998
The second Ukrainian parliamentary election after the collapse of the Soviet Union took place on 29 March 1998. In comparison to the first parliamentary election, this time half of 450 parliament seats were filled by single-seat majority winners in 225 electoral regions , and the other half were...

 on 29 March 1998, the party received 9,4% of the vote and 46 seats. At the parliamentary elections
Ukrainian parliamentary election, 2002
Ukrainian parliamentary election of 2002 took place on March 31. Half of the deputies to Verkhovna Rada were elected on proportional basis, while the other half were elected by popular vote in single-mandate constituencies...

 on 30 March 2002, the party was part of the Viktor Yushchenko
Viktor Yushchenko
Viktor Andriyovych Yushchenko is a former President of Ukraine. He took office on January 23, 2005, following a period of popular unrest known as the Orange Revolution...

 Bloc Our Ukraine. Currently, Rukh was a part of the Our Ukraine
Our Ukraine
The Our Ukraine–People's Self-Defense Bloc is an electoral alliance active in Ukraine, associated with former President Viktor Yushchenko. Since 2005, the bloc has been dominated by a core consisting of the People's Union "Our Ukraine" party and five smaller partner parties.The Our Ukraine Bloc is...

 Bloc, where it represents the right wing of Union's party spectrum. At the parliamentary elections
Ukrainian parliamentary election, 2006
The Ukrainian parliamentary election took place on March 26, 2006. Election campaigning officially began on July 7, 2005. Between November 26 and December 31, 2005 party lists of candidates were formed....

 on 26 March 2006, the party was part of the Our Ukraine
Our Ukraine
The Our Ukraine–People's Self-Defense Bloc is an electoral alliance active in Ukraine, associated with former President Viktor Yushchenko. Since 2005, the bloc has been dominated by a core consisting of the People's Union "Our Ukraine" party and five smaller partner parties.The Our Ukraine Bloc is...

 alliance, and the party's members secured 13 seats in the parliament. At the 2007 parliamentary elections
Ukrainian parliamentary election, 2007
Early parliamentary elections in Ukraine took place on 30 September 2007. The date of the election was determined following agreement between the President Viktor Yushchenko, the Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych and the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Oleksandr Moroz on 27 May 2007, in an attempt...

 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
Lviv Oblast
Lviv Oblast is an oblast in western Ukraine. The administrative center of the oblast is the city of Lviv.-History:The oblast was created as part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic on December 4, 1939...

, 3 representative in the regional parliament of Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast
Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast
Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast is an oblast in western Ukraine. Its administrative center is the city of Ivano-Frankivsk. As is the case with most other oblasts of Ukraine this region has the same name as its administrative center – which was renamed by the Soviets after the Ukrainian writer, nationalist...

, 1 in Kherson Oblast
Kherson Oblast
Kherson Oblast is an oblast in southern Ukraine, just north of Crimea. Its administrative center is Kherson. The area of the region is 29000 km², its population is 1.12 million.Important cities in the oblast include:...

, 5 in the Supreme Council of Crimea and 3 seats in the city counsels of Lviv
Lviv
Lviv is a city in western Ukraine. The city is regarded as one of the main cultural centres of today's Ukraine and historically has also been a major Polish and Jewish cultural center, as Poles and Jews were the two main ethnicities of the city until the outbreak of World War II and the following...

 and Simferopol
Simferopol
-Russian Empire and Civil War:The city was renamed Simferopol in 1784 after the annexation of the Crimean Khanate to the Russian Empire by Catherine II of Russia. The name Simferopol is derived from the Greek, Συμφερόπολις , translated as "the city of usefulness." In 1802, Simferopol became the...

.

Political Platform

Directly out of the official website:
  • Further strengthening and development of the democratic roots of Ukrainian national statehood;
  • Implementing the ideas of democracy, pluralism, social solidarity, and open society;
  • Rebuilding the national economy on the principles of a freely competitive market system
    Market system
    A market system is any systematic process enabling many market players to bid and ask: helping bidders and sellers interact and make deals. It is not just the price mechanism but the entire system of regulation, qualification, credentials, reputations and clearing that surrounds that mechanism and...

    ;
  • Facilitating the development of private entrepreneurship
    Entrepreneurship
    Entrepreneurship is the act of being an entrepreneur, which can be defined as "one who undertakes innovations, finance and business acumen in an effort to transform innovations into economic goods". This may result in new organizations or may be part of revitalizing mature organizations in response...

    ;
  • Systemic agrarian reform
    Agrarian reform
    Agrarian reform can refer either, narrowly, to government-initiated or government-backed redistribution of agricultural land or, broadly, to an overall redirection of the agrarian system of the country, which often includes land reform measures. Agrarian reform can include credit measures,...

    ;
  • Ensuring social security
    Social security
    Social security is primarily a social insurance program providing social protection or protection against socially recognized conditions, including poverty, old age, disability, unemployment and others. Social security may refer to:...

    for every citizen, social assistance for those in need;
  • Pension reform;
  • The cultural revival of Ukrainian society, of the Ukrainian people's national identity
    National identity
    National identity is the person's identity and sense of belonging to one state or to one nation, a feeling one shares with a group of people, regardless of one's citizenship status....

    , of the Ukrainian language
    Official language
    An official language is a language that is given a special legal status in a particular country, state, or other jurisdiction. Typically a nation's official language will be the one used in that nation's courts, parliament and administration. However, official status can also be used to give a...

     in all spheres of public life;
  • Integration
    Internationalism (politics)
    Internationalism is a political movement which advocates a greater economic and political cooperation among nations for the theoretical benefit of all...

    into the EU and NATO as a vital cornerstone of Ukraine's foreign policy.

Elections history

Presidential since 1991
(year links to election page)
Year Candidate Votes % Place
1991
Ukrainian presidential election, 1991
The Ukrainian presidential election, 1991 was the first presidential election held in Ukraine following independence from the Soviet Union. The election was contested on December 1, 1991, with all six candidates campaigning in support of Ukrainian independence...

Vyacheslav Chornovil
Vyacheslav Chornovil
Viacheslav Chornovil was a Ukrainian politician. A prominent Ukrainian dissident to the Soviet policies, he was arrested multiple times in the 1960s and 1970s for his political views...

7,420,727
23.27
2
1994
Ukrainian presidential election, 1994
The Ukrainian presidential election, 1994 was held on June 26, 1994 and July 10, 1994. The presidential election was ahead of schedule, following a political compromise between the President and Parliament...

Volodymyr Lanovy
(supported)
2,483,986
9.55
4
1999
Ukrainian presidential election, 1999
The Ukrainian presidential election, 1999 was a presidential election held in 1999 in Ukraine.There were 15 candidates originally with two withdrawing prior to election ....

Hennadiy Udovenko
Hennadiy Udovenko
Hennadiy Yosypovych Udovenko is a Ukrainian politician and diplomat. He has served as Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, has been the 52nd President of the United Nations General Assembly and Member of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine . He is from Dnipropetrovsk Oblast...

319,778
1.22
7
2004
Ukrainian presidential election, 2004
The Ukrainian presidential election, 2004 was held on October 31, November 21 and December 26, 2004. The election was the fourth presidential election to take place in Ukraine following independence from the Soviet Union...

Viktor Yushchenko
Viktor Yushchenko
Viktor Andriyovych Yushchenko is a former President of Ukraine. He took office on January 23, 2005, following a period of popular unrest known as the Orange Revolution...


(supported)
11,188,675
14,222,289
15,115,712
39.90
46.61
51.99
1
2
1
2010
Ukrainian presidential election, 2010
The Ukrainian presidential election of 2010 is Ukraine's fifth presidential election since declaring independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. The first round was held on January 17, 2010...

I Round - none
II Round - Yulia Tymoshenko
Yulia Tymoshenko
Yulia Volodymyrivna Tymoshenko , née Grigyan , born 27 November 1960, is a Ukrainian politician. She was the Prime Minister of Ukraine from 24 January to 8 September 2005, and again from 18 December 2007 to 4 March 2010. She placed third in Forbes Magazine's List of The World's 100 Most Powerful...

 
(supported)
N/A
11,593,357
N/A
45.47
N/A
2

Parliamentary since 1990
(year links to election page)
Year Block Votes % Mandates
1990
Ukrainian parliamentary election, 1990
The first relatively free parliamentary election held in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic took place in several stages, from March 4 to March 18, 1990. The elections were held to elect deputies to the republic's parliament, the Verkhovna Rada...

Democratic Bloc
Democratic Bloc
Democratic Bloc was a political alliance and an electoral bloc in Ukraine founded during the election campaign to participate in the parliamentary election held during March 4-18, 1990.-History:...

111(15)
1994
Ukrainian parliamentary election, 1994
The first parliamentary election in independent Ukraine took place in 1994. The elections were conducted for the second convocation of the Parliament regarding the previous one as temporary and transitional....

independent
1,491,164
20
1998
Ukrainian parliamentary election, 1998
The second Ukrainian parliamentary election after the collapse of the Soviet Union took place on 29 March 1998. In comparison to the first parliamentary election, this time half of 450 parliament seats were filled by single-seat majority winners in 225 electoral regions , and the other half were...

independent
2,498,262
9.4
46
2002
Ukrainian parliamentary election, 2002
Ukrainian parliamentary election of 2002 took place on March 31. Half of the deputies to Verkhovna Rada were elected on proportional basis, while the other half were elected by popular vote in single-mandate constituencies...

Our Ukraine
6,108,088
23.57
112(13)
2006
Ukrainian parliamentary election, 2006
The Ukrainian parliamentary election took place on March 26, 2006. Election campaigning officially began on July 7, 2005. Between November 26 and December 31, 2005 party lists of candidates were formed....

Our Ukraine
3,539,140
13.95
81(13)
2007
Ukrainian parliamentary election, 2007
Early parliamentary elections in Ukraine took place on 30 September 2007. The date of the election was determined following agreement between the President Viktor Yushchenko, the Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych and the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Oleksandr Moroz on 27 May 2007, in an attempt...

Our Ukraine
3,301,282
14.15
72(6)
2012

Date Party leader Remarks
1989–1992 Ivan Drach
Ivan Drach
Ivan Drach is a Ukrainian poet, screenwriter, literary critic, politician dissident, and political activist....

 
1992–1999 Vyacheslav Chornovil
Vyacheslav Chornovil
Viacheslav Chornovil was a Ukrainian politician. A prominent Ukrainian dissident to the Soviet policies, he was arrested multiple times in the 1960s and 1970s for his political views...

 
1999–2003 Hennadiy Udovenko
Hennadiy Udovenko
Hennadiy Yosypovych Udovenko is a Ukrainian politician and diplomat. He has served as Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, has been the 52nd President of the United Nations General Assembly and Member of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine . He is from Dnipropetrovsk Oblast...

 
2003-present Borys Tarasyuk
Borys Tarasyuk
Borys Ivanovych Tarasyuk is a Ukrainian politician. He has twice served as the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine. He is from Zhytomyr Oblast. Tarasyuk studied international relations and international law at National Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv, and graduated in 1975...

 



External links

Movement's history from the official website
  • Alexander F. Tsvirkun History of political and legal Teachings of Ukraine. Kharkov., 2008
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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