The State Anthem of the Ukrainian SSR was the Soviet republican anthem of the

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

when it was one of the

republics of the Soviet Union The Republics of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or the Union Republics ( rus, Сою́зные Респу́блики, r=Soyúznye Respúbliki) were National delimitation in the Soviet Union, national-based administrative units of ...

Background

The

Ukrainian People's Republic The Ukrainian People's Republic (UPR), or Ukrainian National Republic (UNR), was a country in Eastern Europe that existed between 1917 and 1920. It was declared following the February Revolution in Russia by the First Universal. In March 1 ...

had instituted "

Shche ne vmerla Ukrainy i slava, i volia "" ( uk, Ще не вмерла України і слава, і воля, , lit=The glory and freedom of Ukraine has not yet perished), also known by its official title of "State Anthem of Ukraine" (, ') or by its shortened form "" (, ), is the ...

" as its anthem in 1917. It was banned when the Russian and Ukrainian Bolsheviks took control Ukraine in 1920 and created the USSR in 1922. But they didn't see any need for a Ukrainian anthem until the 1940s. The idea of creating the anthem arose in context with introduction of the

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

to the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoni ...

organization, the creation of which was discussed at the 1943

Teheran Conference The Tehran Conference ( codenamed Eureka) was a strategy meeting of Joseph Stalin, Franklin Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill from 28 November to 1 December 1943, after the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran. It was held in the Soviet Union's embassy ...

.Vladyslav and Liudmyla Hrynevych.
The state anthems of the Soviet Union and the Ukrainian SSR: what ideological heritage we are renouncing (ДЕРЖАВНІ ГІМНИ СРСР ТА УРСР: ВІД ЯКОЇ ІДЕОЛОГІЧНОЇ СПАДЩИНИ МИ ВІДМОВЛЯЄМОСЯ)
'.

Mirror Weekly ''Dzerkalo Tyzhnia'' ( ua, Дзеркало тижня), usually referred to in English as the ''Mirror Weekly'', was one of Ukraine's most influential analytical weekly-publisher newspapers, founded in 1994.ГОСУДАРСТВЕННЫЕ ГИМНЫ СССР И УССР: ОТ КАКОГО ИДЕОЛОГИЧЕСКОГО НАСЛЕДИЯ МЫ ОТКАЗЫВАЕМСЯ
In order to receive extra votes in the

, Stalin came up with the idea to add two union republics – Ukraine and Belarus – which had to be portrayed as fully sovereign republics. In relation to that about a month later on 28 January – 1 February 1944 in Moscow was convened the 10th session of the

Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union The Supreme Soviet of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ( rus, Верховный Совет Союза Советских Социалистических Республик, r=Verkhovnyy Sovet Soyuza Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respubl ...

which adapted laws about creation of key people's commissariats (ministries) in union republics such as defense and foreign affairs. Already on 3 February 1944 the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet issued its

Ukase In Imperial Russia, a ukase () or ukaz (russian: указ ) was a proclamation of the tsar, government, or a religious leader ( patriarch) that had the force of law. "Edict" and " decree" are adequate translations using the terminology and concep ...

"About state anthems of Soviet republics", according to which all

union republics The Republics of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or the Union Republics ( rus, Сою́зные Респу́блики, r=Soyúznye Respúbliki) were National delimitation in the Soviet Union, national-based administrative units of ...

were obligated to adopt own anthems. In spring of 1944 in Kiev was established a commission in preparation of anthem draft, which was headed by director of the Agitation and Propaganda section of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (b) of Ukraine Konstantin Litvin. The Ukrainian poets who participated in contest were given quite responsible and "delicate" task to create such "main song of Ukraine" that in all and completely would "fit" into the politically ideological context of the All-Union anthem ("

State Anthem of the Soviet Union The "State Anthem of the Soviet Union" was the national anthem of the Soviet Union and the regional anthem of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic from 1944 to 1991, replacing "The Internationale". Its original lyrics were written b ...

") and at the same time reflect the Ukrainian national characteristics. The

leitmotif A leitmotif or leitmotiv () is a "short, recurring musical phrase" associated with a particular person, place, or idea. It is closely related to the musical concepts of ''idée fixe'' or ''motto-theme''. The spelling ''leitmotif'' is an anglic ...

or motto-theme of practically all variants of the Ukrainian anthem lyrics submitted at the contest became glorification of the "older brother – the Great Russian people" and the "

Vozhd Vozhd (russian: Вождь, lit=leader, guide) or Vožd ( sr-Cyrl, Вожд), is a Russian and Serbian Church Slavonic loanword derived from the verb ''vesti'' (вести, meaning "to lead", "to guide"). History In Serbia, that title was giv ...

of all nations

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet Union, Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as Ge ...

". Among such variants were examples that began with the following leading lines: * "In fraternal unity of Slavic nations our first brother is the people of Russia" * "Russia is our freedom and glory that united our nation and our land bloomed" * "Be glorious in the heart of Ukraine, the great friend, our Russian brother" The authors were offering to implement into the anthem lines that would call Ukrainians "to live under the sun of the Kremlin and Moscow", "follow the freedom road under the stars of friendship, the stars of Moscow", to glorify "in the heart of Ukraine, the great friend, our Russian brother" and so on. In regards to

, the creative fantasy of anthem writers had no limits indeed. The

was named as the Sun, the Dawn, the Father of Ukraine (e.g. "Two suns you have one in the Kremlin, another burns in the blue sky"). There were numerous versions that were submitted, but never adopted during the still ongoing

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

. Finally in 1949 due to certain awkwardness in the

, there arose the issue to make changes to the Ukrainian state symbols, so there was finally adopted the new State Emblem and State Flag of the Ukrainian SSR. The authors of lyrics of the State Anthem of the Ukrainian SSR became prominent Soviet Ukrainian poets

Pavlo Tychyna Pavlo Hryhorovych Tychyna ( uk, Павло Григорович Тичина; – September 16, 1967) was a major Ukrainian poet, translator, publicist, public activist, academician, and statesman. He composed the lyrics to the Anthem of the Ukra ...

and Mykola Bazhan, while the music was written by a creative team led by Soviet composer Anton Lebedynets. The text body of the "main Ukrainian patriotic song", completely "fitted" into the ideological context of the All-Union anthem by glorifying the Soviet Union, in which the united Ukraine "found its happiness", "as a flower has blossomed", the Russian people who "in struggle for the fate of our nation was always our friend and brother", as well as the vozhdes like Lenin who "illuminated us the path to freedom" and Stalin who "leads us to the illustrious heights". When Stalin died in 1953, during the De-Stalinization, the State Anthems were muted by Nikita Khrushchev along with the Ukrainian SSR. In 1977, the Soviet Union adopted a new constitution and lyrics of the National Anthem, all its Socialist Republics followed the same path. The fact that in the Soviet Ukrainian anthem the manifestation of national patriotic sentiments was transmitted through demonstration of loyalty to another nation undoubtedly could be considered the most fascinating paradox of the Soviet Ukrainian authorship of anthem. However that paradox was completely natural as the anthem of the UkrSSR was a real

visiting card A visiting card, also known as a calling card, is a small card used for social purposes. Before the 18th century, visitors making social calls left handwritten notes at the home of friends who were not at home. By the 1760s, the upper classes in ...

of the Ukrainian Soviet puppet

statehood A state is a centralized political organization that imposes and enforces rules over a population within a territory. There is no undisputed definition of a state. One widely used definition comes from the German sociologist Max Weber: a "st ...

. Such it remained and after the implemented respective corrections in it in 1958 following the All-Union parenting model. The music was composed by Anton Dmytrovych Lebedynets, and the words were written by

. In 1958, the second stanza of the lyrics was changed by Mykola Bazhan to remove mentions of

; the new third stanza omitted reference to the “people’s sword of righteous anger” and added a new reference to “Lenin’s party” (the

Communist Party of the Soviet Union " Hymn of the Bolshevik Party" , headquarters = 4 Staraya Square, Moscow , general_secretary = Vladimir Lenin (first) Mikhail Gorbachev (last) , founded = , banned = , founder = Vladimir Lenin , newspape ...

) while retaining the one to

Communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, ...

itself. The anthem of the USSR was also played during nearly all official events in Ukraine. On 15 January 1992, the

Presidium A presidium or praesidium is a council of executive officers in some political assemblies that collectively administers its business, either alongside an individual president or in place of one. Communist states In Communist states the presid ...

Verkhovna Rada The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine ( uk, Верхо́вна Ра́да Украї́ни, translit=, Verkhovna Rada Ukrainy, translation=Supreme Council of Ukraine, Ukrainian abbreviation ''ВРУ''), often simply Verkhovna Rada or just Rada, is the ...

issue its

ukase In Imperial Russia, a ukase () or ukaz (russian: указ ) was a proclamation of the tsar, government, or a religious leader ( patriarch) that had the force of law. "Edict" and " decree" are adequate translations using the terminology and concep ...

stating that the Anthem of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic loses its status and starting with 16 January 1992 it is replaced with the earlier anthem "

". In 2002 there was an attempt to reintroduce the Ukrainian Soviet anthem with a changed text edited by Mykhailo Tush.Wordless independence (Бессловесная независимость)

Ukrayinska Pravda ''Ukrainska Pravda'' ( uk, Українська правда, lit=Ukrainian Truth) is a Ukrainian online newspaper founded by Georgiy Gongadze on 16 April 2000 (the day of the Ukrainian constitutional referendum). Published mainly in Ukrai ...

. 22 August 2002. Previously, the Soviet anthems were already revived in the

Russian Federation Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

and

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

. Another attempt took place in 2010, in which the

Luhansk Luhansk (, ; uk, Луганськ, ), also known as Lugansk (, ; russian: Луганск, ), is a city in what is internationally recognised as Ukraine, although it is administered by Russia as capital of the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR). A ...

wing of the

Communist Party of Ukraine The Communist Party of Ukraine, Abbreviation: KPU, from Ukrainian and Russian "" is a banned political party in Ukraine. It was founded in 1993 as the successor to the Soviet-era Communist Party of Ukraine which was banned in 1991 (accord ...

held a competition for new lyrics, which was won by Igor Ortsev from Luhansk. Since 2015, performance of this song is prohibited in

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 inva ...

and offenders may be subject to up to five years imprisonment for ''"Propaganda of the Soviet and Communist symbols"''.

Lyrics

1949–1978 Version

1978–1992 Version

Lyrics proposed in 2010

The following are the lyrics by Igor Ortsev chosen in the competition held by the Luhansk wing of the Communist Party of Ukraine in 2010.

Notes

References

External links

* Ukase of the Presidium № 3178-IX.
About the State Anthem of the Ukrainian SSR (Про Державний гімн Української РСР)
'.

of the Ukrainian SSR. 22 March 1978. * Ukase of the Presidium № 2042-XII.
About the State Anthem of Ukraine (Про Державний гімн України)
'.

of Ukraine. 15 January 1992.
Why Soviet Ukraine was only a façade of the Soviet Russian occupation of Ukraine (Чому радянська Україна була лише фасадом російсько-радянської окупації України)
''

The Ukrainian Week ''The Ukrainian Week'' ( uk, Український Тиждень, translit=Ukrainskyi Tyzhden) is an illustrated weekly magazine covering politics, economics and the arts and aimed at the socially engaged Ukrainian-language reader. It provides ...

''. 13 December 2012.
Instrumental recording in MP3 format (Full version)

Instrumental recording in MP3 format (Short version)

MIDI-like mp3 file

Vocal recording in MP3 format

nationalanthems.info
(1949 version)
{{Authority control

Ukrainian music Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic Propaganda in the Soviet Union Communist Party of Ukraine (Soviet Union) 1949 establishments in the Soviet Union 1992 disestablishments in Ukraine