1990s Donbas Miners' Strikes

Strikes by coal miners in the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine occurred throughout most of the 1990s. Beginning in 1989, coal miners went on strike against poor pay amidst poor economic conditions. Originally part of the 1989 Soviet miners' strikes, the demands of miners in the Donbas also reflected sentiments in favour of Ukrainian nationalism, and they were supported publicly by pro-independence groups such as the People's Movement of Ukraine.

Background and early strikes

By 1989, the Donbas region in the eastern part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was in a state of severe economic decline. As part of the Era of Stagnation, the region's industrial economy had significantly declined. More broadly, the state response to the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, Russification, and the Revolutions of 1989 had generated increased distaste for First Secretary Volodymyr Shcherbytsky's government throughout Ukraine. Additionally, in pursuit of Stakhanovite goals of increased productivity, safety requirements were neglected.

Outside Ukraine, broader Soviet policies and conditions encouraged the emergence of the strikes. The Twelfth Five-Year Plan had originally forecasted 9.2 billion rubles (equivalent to €551.3 billion in 2024) to improving working conditions in the coal industry, but this had been gradually slashed by over a billion over time as a result of budget constraints. The plan called for coal production to be increased by 12.5 million tonnes over the course of the plan; instead, it would decrease by 2.3 million tonnes by the plan's end in 1990. The failures of Perestroika frustrated workers, and widespread shortages for basic necessities like soap led to tensions reaching a boiling point.

1989–1991 strikes

On 10 July 1989, coal miners in the Kuznetsk Basin region went on strike, citing poor pay. Word of the strikes soon spread to coal-mining regions throughout the Soviet Union, particularly the Donbas. Following the Kuzbass workers, miners at Yasynova-Hluboka mine in Makiivka went on strike on 15 July 1989. The first strikes' demands were primarily higher wages and increased social protections. In addition to these economic demands, however, many miners were sympathetic to the cause of Ukrainian independence, viewing it as a means of achieving self-governance from the Soviet Union. Some mines outside the city of Donetsk initially refused to join the strikes out of fear of government retaliation, but were eventually convinced to join.

The response from Shcherbytsky's government was largely negative. State media discredited the miners or avoided discussing the matter outright, and disrupted communications between the 28 mines that first went on strike. This hampered the ability of the strikers to successfully organise strikes at other mines, though they were joined by a pipe plant in Makiivka. Facing increasingly-agitated rhetoric from miners and a Communist Party of the Soviet Union that sought to remove the last vestiges of Brezhnev's rule, Shcherbytsky chose to resign rather than continue governing Ukraine in September 1989. Chair of the Supreme Soviet Valentyna Shevchenko also resigned.

The resignations were celebrated as a victory for the miners, but by that point demands had become more political, demanding Ukraine's economic independence and increased autonomy from the Soviet Union. A two-hour strike on 1 November 1989 protested the rule of Mikhail Gorbachev, demanding an end to the Communist Party's one-party rule and direct elections to the office of President of the Soviet Union. A vote by the regional strike committee to go on strike in all of Donetsk Oblast ended in a 14–14 deadlock. Miners complained that shortages were still widespread, and additionally called for a parliamentary committee on government corruption. Demands for Ukraine to decouple its economic management from the broader Soviet Union was met by the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in August 1990, with the Law on the Ukrainian SSR's Economic Independence.

Among the most serious of the strikes began on 1 March 1991. Supported by the pro-independence People's Movement of Ukraine ( Rukh) organisation, the strikes brought the conflict to a new level, calling for Gorbachev's resignation, the dissolution of the Council of People's Deputies, and recognition of the 1990 Declaration of State Sovereignty of Ukraine. They were supported by miners from the Lviv-Volyn coal basin, who marched to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. The leaders of Rukh met with miners in Donetsk, and in April 1991 miners occupied the main Khreshchatyk street in Kyiv. Following the 1991 Soviet coup attempt and subsequent Declaration of Independence of Ukraine

HOME


Content is Copyleft
Website design, code, and AI is Copyrighted (c) 2014-2017 by Stephen Payne


Consider donating to Wikimedia



As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases