Despite decommunization, Shcherbitsky’s anniversary was solemnly celebrated in Kyiv

Kiev celebrated the 100th anniversary of the birth of Vladimir Shcherbitsky, who served as First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Ukrainian SSR from 1972 to 1989.

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The ceremonial meeting dedicated to the anniversary was held at the International Exhibition Center on the Left Bank, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.

During the event there was also a presentation of the book “VV.Shcherbitsky. A political portrait against the backdrop of the era”, the team of authors of which was headed by the famous Ukrainian scientist, President of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Boris Paton.

The book contains about 400 documents and about 200 photographs.

The event was hosted by the famous Ukrainian archaeologist, historian, academician Petr Tolochko, who noted that Shcherbitsky’s merits in the development of Ukraine are difficult to overestimate.

“Ukraine has never been the same as under Shcherbitsky,” Tolochko emphasized.

The ceremonial meeting was attended by a number of famous politicians: ex-Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Vladimir Lytvyn, former Prime Minister Valery Pustovoitenko, ex-Ombudsman Nina Karpacheva, as well as leaders of various ranks from Soviet times.

Deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of previous convocations Georgy Kryuchkov, who worked under Shcherbitsky in the apparatus of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine, drew attention to the achievements of Ukraine of that period.

Under Shcherbitsky, Ukraine’s economic potential grew fourfold, industrial potential grew fivefold, and in industries such as energy and mechanical engineering grew 12-fold, and the volume of agricultural output doubled. Today I simply cannot believe that this could have been achieved. They’ve been doing this for 27 years and can’t finish it,” said Kryuchkov.

Legendary Dynamo Kyiv football players Andrey Biba and Vladimir Muntyan came to pay tribute to Shcherbitsky, according to whom, it was under Shcherbitsky that football in Ukraine “became a social phenomenon.” They also told how much the head of the Ukrainian SSR personally did for the development of this sport.

One of the leaders of the “Opposition Bloc”, Verkhovna Rada deputy Alexander Vilkul recalled that vandals destroyed memorial plaques erected in memory of Shcherbitsky.

“But the best monument to Shcherbitsky remains Ukraine, which he left behind. Until now, the absolute majority of industrial products are produced at enterprises built in those days,” Vilkul said.

The former head of the Accounts Chamber of Ukraine, Valentin Simonenko, who headed the Odessa City Executive Committee in Soviet times, said that in 1985, the Ukrainian SSR, according to UN estimates, entered the “five” highly developed countries.

“Today, according to World Bank analysts, Ukraine is turning and has already turned into a degrading agricultural and raw materials appendix of the world economy,” said the former head of the Accounts Chamber. - That's the difference that exists today. Indeed, those methods and approach that Shcherbitsky demonstrated in his work, due to our current circumstances, need to be promoted and shown while there is a chance to put everything in its place,”

But the leader of the current Communist Party of Ukraine, Pyotr Symonenko, drew attention to the fact that Ukraine has adopted a law on decommunization, which actually prohibits honoring leaders of the Soviet era.

“In fact, all of us were recognized as criminals, since modern Ukraine forbade us to talk about Vladimir Vasilyevich. The legislative act considers that this is an era of crimes, villainous actions, the destruction of Ukraine,” said Symonenko, thanking for the courage of all those who were not afraid to come to the solemn meeting.

At the same time, the organizers of the event told reporters that a number of famous people were simply afraid to come.

Among those present was Kiev journalist Dmitry Gordon, who previously actively supported Maidan, but has recently turned into an ardent critic of the authorities and Ukrainian nationalists, declared him an agent of Moscow.