As previously stated, In the early 1990s, after the fall of the Soviet Union, I worked on federal programs with the goal to help former Soviets learn how to conduct business in a “market economy.” I paired visiting Ukrainian, Russian, and Georgian businessmen/women with businesses in the United States to help them to learn quality control, inventory management, and other necessary functions of production. In 2013, as a non-traditional student at Cornell University’s College of Industrial and Labor Relations, I reflected on my earlier experiences and wondered how my former-Soviet guests handled their employees. Did they have robust Human Resource Management practices, were the workers organized, and since we offered no assistance in the “people management” skills of conducting business, where did they learn this important piece of business management? These were the questions I was seeking to answer when I went to Ukraine at the end of 2013.
On December 2, 2013, the morning following my arrival in Ternopil, the reports started coming in regarding the attacks on the protesters and journalists in Kiev, presumably authorized by Ukrainian President, Viktor Yanukovych’s administration. Throughout the day we all kept a close eye on the TV to follow the unfolding events. Everyone was trying to guess what was going to happen next. We did not have to wait long to find out.
My friend and host, Roman Zavadsky and his family, have a business that produces elaborate light fixtures and is a major importer of Austrian crystals. The firm of artisans produce, by hand, incredible chandeliers, and other fixtures for churches. A tour through the manufacturing process left me in awe. Roman showed me each step of the process as artisans cut, hammered, and polished the intricate pieces of brass that would be put together into magnificent chandeliers. The light fixtures are designed by Luba, Roman’s wife. Both Roman and Luba are engineers and worked together at the same facility when under Soviet rule. My tour of the facility was interrupted by a phone call informing everyone that the schools were closing and that everyone needed to go to Maidan.
Within 15 minutes it had been decided that the firm would close so that employees could gather their families and head to Maidan. All towns/cities have what is known as the “Maidan” or town square. I arrived at the Maidan in Ternopil with one of Roman’s sons, Oleh, and his family. The square was bustling with people of all ages and walks of life. A large stage had been constructed at one end of the square and it was filled with poets, orators, singers, and the like. At this point in the revolution, there was not a designated “leader.” The revolution was being “led” by the people – people who were demanding to be free of the corruption of Yanukovych and his administration. And, free of Russian influence.
Every day more and more people came to Maidan. Nonessential businesses were closed each afternoon which encouraged all people to join the revolution. The sacrifice made by business owners and their employees was not lost on me.
As I analyzed the situation, I knew it was important to look at the big picture. Who has a stake in the outcome of this revolution? I immediately knew that we all had a stake in the Ukrainian revolution. With a literacy rate of 99.7%, the Ukrainian people are bright and capable of bringing their talents to the global stage. Ukraine itself is a vast fertile land that is an asset in producing the much-needed crops to help fulfill the ever-growing need for food around the world.
To help in understanding the Ukrainian point of view of the reasoning behind the revolution, I asked Oleh his thoughts and his written statement reads as follows: “I was born and lived here all my life. Though I might not be a typical representative of the Ternopil community, I know these people. And they are in the city main square and number of other important places almost 24 hours for free. It is not the money; it is freedom that they want to keep. Those guys and girls were born in independent Ukraine don’t really know what kind of a nightmare the Soviet Union was. And they don’t want to know it and let it happen in the future. They’re not just for EU association, not just against political personalities, they are for freedom here!”
Oleh, in his late thirties, grew up under Soviet rule. The scars are still fresh from living under the harsh conditions of the former Soviet Union and even the thought of his children growing up under those conditions is enough to spur him into attending Maidan every day.
On Wednesday of that week I went with Roman to the Carpathian Mountains to deliver fixtures to a monastery tucked into the hillside of a small village. Much like the route I had travelled between the airport in Lviv to arrive at my destination in Ternopil, the roads were in horrendous shape. The distance between Lviv and Ternopil is 79 miles. It took almost 4 hours to drive that distance and the same held true for the trip to deliver the products to the monastery. How can these fledgling businesses compete on the global market if their infrastructure is in shambles? They can’t. Will multi-national corporations invest in a country if they cannot transport their products within the boundaries of that country in a safe and efficient manner? They won’t.
Riding through the small villages along the winding route to the Carpathian Mountains, I noticed people going about their business. On the way back in the afternoon, these small village “Maidans” were filled with people. Apparently, like in Ternopil, businesses were closed in the afternoon to allow people the chance to join the revolution, not just in the big cities, but in their home towns. This is important because the protests were not confined to the larger cities in Ukraine. From the beginning, people from villages all over Ukraine had taken part in the revolution. Equally important is the understanding that since the beginning, the Ukrainian people surrounded government buildings in cities outside of Kyiv too – the media failed to recognize this fact.
My arrival in Lviv, where I wrapped up my Ukrainian visit, gave me yet another insightful look into the Ukrainian view of the situation. My dear friend and host in Lviv, Serhiy Savchenko, a brilliant artist with 3 children, has many of the same concerns as Oleh. Serhiy’s poignant look at the inequality in Ukraine is a problem all around the globe, especially here in the United States. With an average income of $3 a day, Ukrainians are not the ideal market for multi-national corporations looking to pander their products in a new market. The prospect of joining the European Union (EU) was something that most Ukrainian people had been holding onto. Joining the EU provided hope for a decent future, for themselves and their children. President Viktor F. Yanukovych’s refusal to sign the trade agreement with the EU took away the hope of a better future for all Ukrainians, because they knew in 2013 and they know it now – they have no future if they are tethered to Russia.
What did Poland look like after ten (10) years of joining the EU? Ukrainians did not have to go far to see the benefits they would have received as a member of the European Union (EU). Poland, Ukraine’s western neighbor, joined the EU in 2004.
The best article to sum up the first ten years of Poland’s ascension to the EU was written by Remi Adekoya for The Guardian. You can find the article here:
“Of the 10 mostly post-communist countries that joined the European Union exactly a decade ago today, none has benefited more from membership than Poland. First and foremost, there's the cash: the country received £56bn in development funds between 2007 and 2013, money that was used to build hundreds of kilometres of highways and express roads as well as youth sports facilities, modern sewerage systems, kindergartens, and pre-schools.
Add to that the £60bn earmarked for Warsaw in the EU's 2014-20 budget and the country will have enjoyed a windfall equivalent to roughly double the value of the Marshall Plan, calculated in today's dollar figures. And that does not consider the tens of billions of pounds that Polish farmers continue to receive in agricultural subsidies from Brussels. What we are witnessing is, without doubt, one of the largest wealth transfers between nations in modern history.”
This article doesn’t mention the plethora of multi-national corporations who have invested heavily in Poland since it joined the EU. Riding in a taxi from the airport in Warsaw to the historic city center, the entire route was a landscape of new buildings, home to multi-national corporations who have invested heavily in Poland.
The ability for Ukrainians to join the EU and build a new future for themselves and their children was their “Freedom.” Yanukovych took it away.
Next article 4/17/23: Every day the people of Ukraine awaken to the atrocities laid bare by Russia. The nightmares of the past are still vivid for the people of Ukraine too.