The International Movement of Donbass (russian: Интернациональное движение Донбасса, Internatsional'noye dvizheniye Donbassa, IDD; uk, Інтернаціональний рух Донбасу, Internatsionalʹnyy rukh Donbasu, IRD), or just Intermovement (russian: Интердвижение; uk, Інтеррух), also called the Interfront of the Donbass (russian: Интерфронт Донбасса; uk, Інтерфронт Донбасу) was a political movement in the late

Ukrainian SSR The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic ( uk, Украї́нська Радя́нська Соціалісти́чна Респу́бліка, ; russian: Украи́нская Сове́тская Социалисти́ческая Респ ...

and the first decade of independent

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

. It was founded in 1990 by the members of the intelligentsia in the Donbas region in

Eastern Ukraine Eastern Ukraine or east Ukraine ( uk, Східна Україна, Skhidna Ukrayina; russian: Восточная Украина, Vostochnaya Ukraina) is primarily the territory of Ukraine east of the Dnipro (or Dnieper) river, particularly Khar ...

. It was founded in opposition to the

People's Movement of Ukraine The People's Movement of Ukraine ( uk, Народний Рух України, Narodnyi Rukh Ukrayiny) is a Ukrainian political party and first opposition party in Soviet Ukraine. Often it is simply referred to as the Movement ( uk, Рух, R ...

, which favored Ukrainian independence from the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

. Similar

Interfront Interfront was a pro-communist political movement that aimed to preserve the Soviet Union as a unified Marxist–Leninist state and strongly opposed the pro-independence movements in the republics. It had branches in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, ...

pro-Soviet movements existed in the Latvian SSR,

Moldovan SSR The Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic ( ro, Republica Sovietică Socialistă Moldovenească, Moldovan Cyrillic: ) was one of the 15 republics of the Soviet Union which existed from 1940 to 1991. The republic was formed on 2 August 1940 ...

and other republics. In 1992, it grew stronger as miners and local elites opposed the perceived economic mismanagement of the central government in

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the seventh-most populous city in Europe. Kyi ...

and alleged

Ukrainization Ukrainization (also spelled Ukrainisation), sometimes referred to as Ukrainianization (or Ukrainianisation) is a policy or practice of increasing the usage and facilitating the development of the Ukrainian language and promoting other elements of ...

. In 1993, the Interfront participated in a rally in

Donetsk Donetsk ( , ; uk, Донецьк, translit=Donets'k ; russian: Донецк ), formerly known as Aleksandrovka, Yuzivka (or Hughesovka), Stalin and Stalino (see also: cities' alternative names), is an industrial city in eastern Ukraine loca ...

against the economic policy of

Leonid Kravchuk Leonid Makarovych Kravchuk ( uk, Леонід Макарович Кравчук; 10 January 1934 – 10 May 2022) was a Ukrainian politician and the first president of Ukraine, serving from 5 December 1991 until 19 July 1994. In 1992, he signed ...

. The rally was co-sponsored by the

Socialist Party of Ukraine The Socialist Party of Ukraine ( uk, Соціалістична Партія України, translit=Sotsialistychna Partiia Ukrayiny, SPU) was a social democratic and democratic socialist political party in Ukraine. It was one of the oldest par ...

. In a publication from 1993, the Interfront emphasized the multinational character of the Donbas. In 1993 and 1994, the chairman of the Intermovement was Dmitriy Kornilov. In 1993, members of the Interfront participated in the foundation of the Civil Congress of Ukraine. Kornilov became the ideological leader of the Civic Congress. The Congress turned into the Slavic Party in 1998. In 1997, Kornilov said that Donetsk is "beyond doubt"

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

. Two years later, he repeated that the Donetsk region "orients itself towards

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

". Dmitriy Kornilov died in 2002. His brother, Vladimir Kornilov continued his work and later became a citizen of the Donetsk People's Republic. Some observers see the small Donetsk Republic political party as the successor movement to the Interfront of the Donbas. The flag of the Donetsk People's Republic is claimed by the separatist authorities to be based on the flag of the

Donetsk–Krivoy Rog Soviet Republic The Donetsk–Krivoy Rog Soviet Republic or Donetsk–Kryvyi Rih Soviet Republic (russian: Донецко-Криворожская советская республика , translit = Donetsko-Krivorozhskaya sovyetskaya respublika, ) was a se ...

, whom they consider the "People's Republic's" predecessor. However, there is no evidence of any such flag in 1918, and it is most likely based on the flag of the ''International Movement of Donbass'', an anti-separatist pro-Soviet organisation started at Donetsk University in August 1989 with the goal of opposing Ukraine's independence.James Ivan Clem: ''The Life of the Parties: Party Activism in Lʹviv and Donetsk, Ukraine'', Ann Arbor (MA): University of Michigan Press 1995, p. 52.

Literature

Andrew Wilson: ''The Donbas between Ukraine and Russia: The Use of History in Political Disputes'', in: Journal of Contemporary History, Vol. 30 (1995), No. 2, pp. 265–289.

References

{{Reflist Political organizations based in Ukraine 1990 establishments in Ukraine Nationalism in the Soviet Union Neo-Sovietism Russian irredentism Politics of the Soviet Union Organizations established in 1990 Russian political parties in Ukraine

See also

Literature

References