Sixtiers

The Sixtiers (Russian: Шестидесятники, romanized: Shestydesiatnyky, Ukrainian: Шістдесятники, romanized: Shistdesiatnyky; "people of the 60s") were а new generation of young intellectuals who reawakened literature and a sense of Ukrainian nationalism^[1] within the Soviet intelligentsia. The Sixtiers entered the cultural and political life in Ukraine during the USSR era of late 1950s and 1960s and expressed elements of humanism, embracing Western literature, while stressing universal socialism by returning to values of Leninsism.^[2]

The Sixtiers arose after the Khrushchev Thaw.^[3] Born in Ukraine between 1925 and 1945, their worldviews were formed by a series of tragedies and persecutions including the Holodomor, Stalin's Purges and World War II during childhood. This was followed by political and historical events while many were attending University.^[4]

The Sixtiers are often seen as a "group of friends"^[5] who had a reawakening of Ukrainian nationalism.^[1] They emerged after a period of russification during Stalin and used Khrushchchev's thaw to explore ideals of nationalism and universal socialism.^[6] They included writers, literary critics, poets, painters, fashion designers and translators. Sixtiers drew on romantic and realist influences while stressing universal socialism by returning to Lenin's values.^[1] After 1964, many of Sixtiers faced persecution and arrest and work was smuggled out through Samvydav or lost until after the fall of the Soviet Union.

Background

The Sixtiers emerged at the intersection of Soviet Union ideas of culture and nationalism.^[1] Much of the Ukrainian intelligentsia was wiped out during Stalin's purges and Ukrainian partisan movements during the World War II were discredited.^[1] The Executed Renaissance lead to the death or deportation of Generations of Ukrainian thinkers.^[7] This created a void in Ukrainian language art and literature.

The Soviet Union promoted an idea of a local culture of each member Republic that was united by a higher Russian culture.^[8] This created a sense of superiority within the Academy where Ukrainian language and work was downplayed and admission to Kyiv University reserved for Ethnic Russians.^[2]

In 1952-53, Soviet Officials arrested or expelled a number of students at the Ukrainian Division of the Kyiv University Philological Faculty for demonstrating a "nationalist deviation" in their work. A 1953 Komsomol investigation into the Division declared the Ukrainian Nationals as "queer fish" (svoeobraznye chudaki, in Russian) or eccentrics.^[1] Students at Kyiv University who would become the leaders in the Sixtier movement faced a stigma as being Ukrainian peasants while also benefiting from the upward mobility of Soviet education.^[4]

Following the death of Stalin in 1954 a "thaw" began that Spread in Soviet culture and Academies. The Sixtiers emerged from a cultural policy used as an instrument of implementing Soviet discourse that got rooted in International socialist realism and romantics of Nationalism.^[6]

Three major events would further shape the worldviews of many of the Sixitiers. In Kurenivka near the center of Kyiv, a dam, which the Soviet Government had used for waste disposal from a brick factory, burst, causing the Kurenivka mudslide. An estimated 54 people died but the KGB buried the story for days and the official account did not match the experience of eyewitnesses. Second, the fire at the State Public Library in Kyiv the evening of May 24, 1964, was also a noted influence on the Sixtiers. Finally, on 4 September 1965, at film premiere of in Kyiv literary critic Ivan Dziuba tried to call out the prosecution of Ukrainian Intelligentsia following a series of arrests.^[4]

Etymology

Russian literary critic Stanislav Rassadin coined the term "sixiter" in 1960, writing for a literary journal, referring to a new generation of Soviet writers. The term quickly spread among scholars in Ukraine who found themselves part of a national reawakening.^[4]

By 1962, the term "Sixtier" was being used in literary and political science journals in Western media and academic circles.^[9] Artists in Ukraine used the term to self-identify. Les' Taniuk in his diaries first noted, "He liked this word,” and following the death of poet Vasyl Symonenko in 1963 Taniak declared the period of the "Sixtiers over.^[10]

After Ukrainian Independence in 1991, a renewed interest grew in the Sixtiers. As a more open account of history emerged, notable figures were added to the list of accepted Sixtiers. Prestige was assigned to those took intellectual or artistic stances against the communist regime.^[4]

History of Sixtiers

Many mark the 1959 publication of Yurii Lavrynenko's book The Executed Renaissance: Anthology 1917-1933. Poetry - Prose - Drama - Essays in Paris, as the beginning of the Sixtier movement. The book which reached Ukraine in the 1960s was often hand copied and spread as Samvydav.^[11] Cultural activities of the Sixtiers including informal literary readings and art exhibitions, vigils in memory of repressed artists, and theatre performances grew in popularity. During the brief liberalization of USSR from 1957 to 1962, the Sixtier movement flourished but soon faced Prosecution.

In 1959, The Club of Creative Youth "Contemporary" (Klub Tvorchoï Molodi, KTM ) was founded by Les' Taniuk in Kyiv. Taniuk, concerned formal education in Ukraine looked down on the Ukrainian language and felt Lenin modified Marxist theories on the nationality question to fit the multinational reality of the Soviet Union. He then wrote to friends to establish a Playhouse. The Club was formed with the Komsomol, the Union of the Communist Youth, which allowed for official recognition and around offered a way to avoid censorship^[12] and coordinated with the Writer's Union. The Club put on plays such as Pathetic Sonata or read works by banished authors such as Todos’ Os’machka.^[13]

In 1960, Taniuk would introduce Vasyl Symonenko to the Club. Symonenko studied journalism at Kyiv University from 1952 to 1957. He then served as editor of the literary departments of two regional newspapers, "Cherkas’ka Pravda" and the 'Molod' Cherkashchyny."^[12]

By 1962, the KTM had taken on a more Nationalistic fervor. For example, Hors’ka considered herself a Russified Ukrainian and used the KTM members to practice language skills and relearn culture and traditions. The KTM began to sponsor remembrances to those lost in Stalin's purges and field trips to historical Ukrainian sites.^[13] Ivan Dziuba, joined KTM in 1962. He had registered with the University and Komsomol as Russian and credited KTM for his "‘self-Ukrainization’" and he published a book based on his dissertation, "A Special Person or a Mishchanyn." Dziuba joined Symonenko in organizing literary events.^[14]

Since the freethinking Sixtiers failed to keep within the official ideological and aesthetic boundaries, their cultural activities caused dissatisfaction of the authorities. The end of 1962 marked the start of massive pressure on the nonconformist intelligentsia. The Sixtiers were not allowed to be published, and were accused of "formalism," "inaction," and "bourgeois nationalism".

"Prolisok", or "Snowdrop" formed in Lviv in 1963 by Ihor Mironovych Kalynets after he went to a poetry reading by Ivan Drach and Ivan Dziuba. Both were active in the Club of Creative Youth and encouraged Kalynets. Snowdrop, like KTM was created under formally under the regional committee of the Komsomol. club "Snowdrop" (founded in 1962).^[15] The Sixtiers restored the traditions of the classical pre-revolutionary intelligentsia, which aspired to spiritual independence, political alienation, the ideals of civil society and service to the people.

Soon, word of the literary houses spread. Next to join were a group of artists lead by Alla Hors’ka. The artists challenged State dogma and Hors’ka’s apartment in Kyiv became a second meeting place. The KTM continued to grow taking on poets, literary critics, and historians.^[16]

KTM and Prolisok arranged for an unauthorized choir to sing in Myiv Central Park on 31 August 1963. Then in December Symonenko died of cancer while in Soviet Custody. Many accused the Soviet State of denying Symonenko lifesaving care. KTm organized "Literaturna Ukraïna" to commemorate Symonenko 's life. KTM would be forced to close in 1964.^[17]

In 1964, Alla Horska, together with Opanas Zalyvakha, Lyudmyla Semykina, Halyna Sevruk, and Halyna Zubchenko, created the stained glass "Shevchenko. Mother" in the vestibule of the main building of Kyiv University. It depicted a poet with a woman leaning against him symbolizing Mother Ukraine. Unfortunately, the university administration, acting with the tacit consent of the party leadership, ordered rthe destruction of “ideologically divergent” stained glass window for not complying with proper aesthetic values^[18] After this incident, a commission classified the stained glass as ideologically hostile and deeply incompatible with the principles of socialist realism. Horska and Semykina were expelled from the Artists' Union, but they were reinstated a year later.^[19]

A massive fire that lasted two days broke out at the State Public Library in Kyiv on May 24, 1964. Hundreds of thousands of books and manuscripts on Ukrainian history were lost or destroyed. This had a massive impact on the young intellectuals. Sverstiuk wrote an essay under the title "On the Occasion of Pohruzhalsky’s Trial," which raised suspicion that the fire meant to erase Ukrainian history.^[20]

In response, the ideas of the Sixtiers began to spread in Samvydav and the Writer's Union continued to host events. In January 1965, the Writers’ Union nominated Symonenko for the Shevchenko prize, the highest Ukrainian award for writers. A remembrance was also sponsored in Kyiv attended by Symonenko's mother. Finally, Symonenko's Diaries were published abroad, which triggered a crackdown from the KGB.^[21]

The crackdown on the young intellectuals was quick. As many as 200^[22] Ukrainian Sixtiers were arrested in a 1965–1966 purge.^[23] Hoska's apartment came under KGB surveillance.^[19] In April 1965, "Radians’ka Ukraina" published a forgery claiming to be Symonenko’s mother, accusing other Sixtiers of betraying her son. In August, many young intellectuals were rounded up and arrested.^[24]

On September 4, 1965, during the premiere of Sergei Parajanov's film Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors in Kyiv's Ukrayina cinema, many Sixtiers spoke to protest against the arrests of Ukrainian young intelligentsia. Many faced repression, such Vasyl Stus who lost his job at State Historical Archive.^[25]

Faced with fierce resistance from the party apparatus, some of the Sixtiers compromised with the authorities, while others evolved into political dissidents, members of the human rights movement, and open opposition to the regime.^[26] Ivan Dziuba would publish "Internationalism and Russification?" In 1967, Chornovil would collect tales of the arrested Sixtiers and publish "Woe from Wit."^[27]

Following Perestroika, the Sixtiers started to gather again.^[28] In 1989 Ivan Drach, Vyacheslav Chornovil, Mykhailo Horyn founded Popular Movement of Ukraine (Rukh).^[29]

Many Sixtiers would go on to serve in Ukrainian politics and the art scene following independence in 1991.^[30]

Academic and artistic impact

The rise of the Ukrainian language, culture, and history at Kyiv University encouraged students to think about the national question.^[1] The Sixtiers were distinguished by their liberal and anti-totalitarian views, and romanticism, which found vivid expressions in music and visual arts.^[31] The Sixtiers believed in Communist ideals, they had come to be strongly disappointed with Stalin's regime and its repression of basic civil liberties.

The Sixtiers goal of reviving national identity within a spirit Soviet socialism that rejected Russian chauvinism.^[1] But tension existed between the art and the Communist Party. Stylistically, the Sixtiers are noted more for their formalism drawing on Soviet doctrine of social realism.^[32] Many of the projects completed by Sixtiers, both literary and artistic, were the result of State funded commissions.^[33] Marxist aesthetics felt art should be politicized to transmit the Socialist messages.^[34] Russia also had a long and proud tradition of social critique through realist painting such as the Society for Itinerant Art Exhibitions, commonly known as Peredvizhniki. Through this ambiguous relationship with the State^[26] and the traditions of realism, the Sixtiers carved out a movement that evolved from a re-awakening of Ukrainian Nationalism to a dissident movement.

The artistic and academic impact of the Sixtiers first underwent elements of renewed nationalism.^[4] At KDU, a literary studio called "SICh", an acronym for the Chumak Studio, had a double meaning as a reference to the Zaporizhian Cossack State. This allowed literary critics, artists, and scientists to meet in a forum to discuss Ukrainian Culture.^[1] They argued a return to Leninist Norms from Stalinist norms would address that "Nationality" question without Russian Chauvinism. Thus, the rising Nationalism within the movement was not so much anti-Soviet as many embraced the idea of International Socialism returning to roots of Lenin.^[13] This form of dissident socialism allowed for the awakening of a national identity while meeting strict part standards.^[35]

Over time, the movement began to take on more dissident tones in response to growing tensions over public performances of their work.^[26] The Sixtiers worked within the constraints and through the Komsomol apparatus in relationship^[26] where Komsomol acted as both a controlling and an enabling agent for what would later become dissident artist and writers. Together with the Writers' Union, the Komsomol provided venues for exhibits and meetings. The Sixtiers were neither separate nor in total opposition of larger Soviet Ukrainian culture, but also tapped into a world of non-conformist culture that emerged across the Globe, such as the Beatniks in the 1950's and Hippies in the 1960's.^[26]

The impact of the Sixtiers on art and literacy is often projected through the lens of diaspora scholars in North America but recent efforts since 1991 have allowed a re-examination of canon from a Ukrainian and Eastern European perspective. Some critics say poetry and paintings of the Sixtiers created a double emancipation by returning to a more formalism^[36] to protect Ukrainian heritage while working within the approved doctrine of social realism.^[37]

In art, the Sixtiers brought in a period of romanticism celebrating Ukrainian peasant life, traditional fashion, or cultural art symbols such as Pysansky Eggs (Ukrainian: писанка, писанки (pl.)).^[11] These elements brought in a period of social-realist canon that celebrated the social ideal.^[38] The artist would often balance double meaning of undisclosed political protest through commissions of state- projects.^[11]

Among the Sixtiers, a group of literary critics remained committed to translating Western titles into Ukraine. They had a subversive goal of trying to bring with them the West's ideas, imagery, and cultural trends.^[38]

Notable Sixtiers

The Ukrainian Sixtiers movement was dominated by national ideas.^[39] Many Ukrainian Sixtiers defended the national language and culture,^[1] and freedom of artistic creativity. The Sixtiers consisted of writers, painters, textile, film directors, and translators.

Authors

• Ivan Drach
• Valeriy Shevchuk
• Mykola Vingranovsky
• Volodymyr Drozd
• Hryhir Tiutiunnyk
• Borys Oliynyk
• Vasyl Stus
• Dmytro Pavlychko
• Vasyl Symonenko
• Mykola Kholodny
• Lina Kostenko
• Yevhen Hutsalo
• Boris Chichibabin

Painters and Textiles

• Alla Horska
• Viktor Zaretsky
• Lyubov Panchenko^[40]

Literary and Art critics

• Ivan Dziuba
• Yevhen Sverstyuk
• Vitalii Donchyk
• Roman Korogodsky
• Yurii Smyrny.^[1]

Theater and Film Directors

• Les Tanyuk
• Sergei Parajanov
• Yuri Ilyenko^[41]

Translators

• Hryhorii Kochur
• Mykola Lukash
• Mykhailyna Kotsiubynska^[38]

Journalists

• Viacheslav Chornovil

Criticism

An examination of an art movement or generation within Ukraine presents challenges in Ukrainian history^[42] as they rely on fragmentary materials published in memoirs, diaries, and interviews with other materials and lives lost in persecution. This research is conducted in a period of Ukrainian independence which has lead some critics to suggest the literary work of the sixtiers gets conflated with building a national mythology and the sixtiers get idolized.^[43]

The Sixtiers were given a special place in the Canon creating a National Identity that some poets later found unwarranted. This was especially noted among younger generations associated with Mala Ukrains'ka Entsyklopediia Al'ternatyvnai Literatury or MUEAL^[44] MUEAL, edited by Volodymyr Ieshkiliev and Iurii Andrukhovych was a literary journal associated with the Bu-Ba-Bu group became part of the "new canon" in the 1980s and 1990s who rejected canons and parodied the Writers' Union and other institutions of official culture.

Serhiy Zhadan, who considers Andrukhovych and the Bu-Ba-Bu group major influences,^[45] often writes of rejecting poetry as a tool of for national identity work and questions the canonization of poets.^[44] His poem "The Sell-Out Poets of the '60s" in History of Culture at the Turn of This Century' details a narrative stance that questions the loyaly of the Sixtiers.^[46]

See also

• Ukrainian Underground
• Executed Renaissance
• Creative Youth Club