Internationalism or Russification
A study in the Soviet nationalities problem
by Ivan Dzuyba
Internationalism or Russification? was written in 1965 while there was a wave of political repression in Ukraine. In the book, Dzyuba analyses from a Marxist position the national and cultural policy of the Soviet Union in Ukraine. The book was first sent to the Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine and to the head of the government. Internationalism or Russification? was then distributed as a samizdat, and was first published abroad in 1968. In 1972, Dzyuba was expelled from the Writers’ Union and subsequently arrested and sentenced to five years imprisonment. Ivan Dzyuba died on the 22 February 2022 at the age of 91 on the eve of the invasion of his country by Russia.
In the book, Dzyuba describes how the USSR developed a relationship of Russian great-power chauvinism and oppression towards other republics and in particular Ukraine. Dzyuba calls for a return to the policies towards non-Russian nationalities under Lenin which were granted statehood and self-determination. With the invasion of Ukraine, Putin has carried on the Russian great-power chauvinism of the Tsars and Stalin. This book documents in great detail the oppression of Ukraine and is as relevant today as when it first appeared.
370 pages.
RRP: £17,(print); RRP: £9.99 (e-book)
Already the backsliding begins. ITV news is reporting that the Government has changed one point in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. They have accepted that academies will retain their ‘freedom’ to set their own pay scales for teachers. So the criteria in the School Teachers Pay and Conditions document will only apply to teachers in Local Authority schools. Why have the Government climbed down on this issue? It’s not as if this is a major financial problem for academies. But what will be the next change/climb down by the Government? Will academies be exempt from the National Curriculum? Will Local Authorities be able to build schools according to the needs of their communities or will all new schools, as at present, have to be academies?