The 2013 student strike and the birth of the Euromaidan

ABSTRACT

The student strike in November 2013 has a special place in the chronology of the Revolution of Dignity. During the early days of protest, the Euromaidan had little support in most of Ukraine. At that point, Ukrainian students joined forces in support of a common goal and took on responsibility for the country’s future. While for many Ukrainians of the older generation, the signing of the Association Agreement with the EU was not especially fundamental, younger Ukrainians believed it would determine their future. This paper analyzes the reasons and conditions leading up to the student strike, describes how it was organized and operated, and sums up its impact on the Revolution of Dignity.

RÉSUMÉ

La grève étudiante de novembre 2013 occupe une place particulière dans la chronologie de la Révolution de la dignité. Durant les premiers jours de protestation, l’Euromaïdan n’avait que peu de soutien en Ukraine. À ce moment-là, les étudiants ukrainiens ont uni leurs forces pour soutenir un objectif commun et ont assumé la responsabilité de l’avenir du pays. Alors que pour de nombreux Ukrainiens plus âgés, la signature de l’accord d’association avec l’UE n’était pas essentielle, les jeunes Ukrainiens pensaient qu’elle déterminerait leur avenir. Cet article analyse les raisons et les conditions qui ont conduit à la grève étudiante, décrit son organisation et son fonctionnement, et résume son impact sur la Révolution de la dignité.

KEYWORDS:

• Euromaidan
• students
• strike
• civil society
• Revolution of Dignity

Acknowledgments

This paper was originally prepared within the framework of the National Museum of the Revolution of Dignity’s scholarly forum on “The Revolution of Dignity: On Its Way to History,” 12–13 December 2019. It was translated into English by Lidia Wolanskyj and revised by the author in consultation with James Krapfl, Piotr H. Kosicki, and Guillaume Sauvé.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. On the history of Ukraine’s “multivectoral” policy, see Safar'ians, “Ukraïna na shliakhu.”

2. Verkhovna Rada Ukraïny, “Deklaratsiia pro derzhavnyi suverenitet.”

3. See Plokhy, Gates of Europe, 337–46; and Shore, Ukrainian Night.

4. Derzhstat Ukraïny, “Zaklady vyshchoï osvity.”

5. Strazhnyi, Maidan; Strazhnyi, Mentalitet maidanu; Boriak et al., 25 rokiv nezalezhnosti.

6. Junes, “Student Protest”; Junes, “Euromaidan and the Revolution.”

7. For works on the Revolution of Dignity that touch on the student movement, see Shore, Ukrainian Night; Plokhy, Gates of Europe; and Korablyova, “Euromaidan.”

8. Ptashnyk-Serediuk, “Studenstvo iak sotsiokul′turna grupa,” 110.

9. Vorozhbyt, “Pokolinnia milenialiv.”

10. Holub, “Students′kii taran.”

11. Strauss and Howe, Generations.

12. Ibid., 319.

13. Ibid., 36. Theorists and commentators have subsequently redefined Generation Y (“millennials”) as those born between 1981 and 1996, but the original scheme seems more appropriate in the Ukrainian context.

14. Ibid., 335.

15. Ostapenko, “Politichna kul′tura,” 7–8.

16. “Hromadians′kyi rukh ‘Vidsich’.”

17. See Junes, “Euromaidan and the Revolution,” 76–78; and Solonenko, “Ukrainian Civil Society.”

18. The greater intensity of socio-political engagement among residents of western Ukraine can be explained by the fact that the region began to be incorporated into the Soviet Union only in 1939. On the value orientations of residents in different regions of Ukraine and the transformation of Ukrainian society, see Safar’ians, “Ukraïna na shliakhu”; and Thomson, “From the Orange Revolution.” On Lviv’s central European “renaissance” from 1987 to 1990, see Kenney, “Lviv’s Central European Renaissance.”

19. Holub, “Students′kii taran.” Dmytro Tabachnyk was the minister of education from 2010 to 2014 and wanted to russify education in Ukraine. In 2023, he became an advisor to the head of the Russian occupation administration in southern Ukraine.

20. Ibid.

21. Boriak et al., 25 rokiv nezalezhnosti, 559.

22. Safar’ians, “Ukraïna na shliakhu,” 345.

23. “Dmitrii Medvedev vstretilsia.”

24. Kurishko and Sidorenko, “I pust′ EC podozhdet.”

25. Ibid.

26. Strazhnyi, Maidan, 12.

27. Since the Middle Ages the word maidan has meant the main square of a settlement, where public meetings were traditionally held. Revolutionary protests could also take place on the maidans. On 26 August 1991, the main square of Kyiv, where the Revolution on Granite had previously taken place, was named Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square). The word maidan then began to refer not only to the place of protests (the main square), but also to the protests themselves in the form of peaceful, non-violent demonstrations.

28. Safar’ians, “Poniattia ‘maidan’,” 142.

29. Strazhnyi, Maidan, 16–17.

30. Chepura speaking at the roundtable “Students′kyi Ievromaidan: 6 rokiv,” 2:39–2:44. The opera was Chervona zemlia: Holod (Red Earth: Famine).

31. Pryvalko, Maidan vid pershoï osoby, vol. 3, part 2, 14–15.

32. Iaroslav Khraps′kyi, Vadym Pozdniakov, and Vitalii Ustymenko speaking at the roundtable “Students′kyi Ievromaidan u rehionakh,” 8:55–11:17, 11:20–12:22, and 12:25–14:13.

33. Junes, “Euromaidan and the Revolution,” 79.

34. Ivanov, “Iak vynyk students′kyi IevroMaidan?”

35. Strazhnyi, Maidan, 18.

36. Ivanov, “Iak vynyk students′kyi IevroMaidan?“

37. Hordiichuk speaking at the roundtable “Students′kyi Ievromaidan: 6 rokiv,” 13:11–14:01. The National Technical University of Ukraine – Kyiv Polytechnic Institute (NTUU–KPI) is now named after Igor Sikorsky.

38. VKontakte is a Russian social network that imitates Facebook and was banned in Ukraine in 2014.

39. Hreshchyshyn speaking in Den′kovych, “Protestuvati, ne mozhna movchati.”

40. Hreshchyshyn speaking at the roundtable “Students′kyi Ievromaidan: 6 rokiv,” 9:05–9:15.

41. Stern, “Huge Ukraine Rally.”

42. Hreshchyshyn speaking in Babylon’13, “Maidan’2013,” 1:17–1:24.

43. Ivanov, “Iak vynyk students′kyi IevroMaidan?”

44. Hreshchyshyn speaking at the roundtable “Students′kyi Ievromaidan: 6 rokiv,” 10:45–11:44.

45. Junes, “Euromaidan and the Revolution,” 80.

46. P'ietsukh, “L′vivs′kyi Ievromaidan.”

47. Ivanov, “Iak vynyk students′kyi IevroMaidan?”

48. Krotenko, “Chomus′ ne mozhu lyshyty.”

49. Strazhnyi, Maidan, 25.

50. Vitalii Ustymenko speaking at the roundtable “Students′kyi Ievromaidan u rehionakh,” 3:29–5:15.

51. I am guided by my own observations, as I was a participant in the night rallies on the Euromaidan in November 2013. The list of rally participants detained by the police on the morning of 30 November 2013 (with their dates of birth) substantiates my impressions: “Zatrymanykh evromaidantsiv vidpustyly.”

52. Kurishko and Sidorenko, “I pust′ EC podozhdet.”

53. Krotenko, “Chomus′ ne mozhu lyshyty.”

54. Ibid.

55. Holub, “Students′kii taran.”

56. Hreshchyshyn speaking in Babylon’13, “Maidan’2013,” 2:04–2:28.

57. Kowal, “Speech on the Maidan.”

58. The historian Volodymyr V'iatrovych directed the Centre for Research on the Liberation Movement from 2002 to 2010. During the Orange Revolution he was a Pora! activist. From 2008 to 2010 he was the director of the Archives of the Security Service of Ukraine. He directed the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory from 2014 to 2019. He helped draft the de-Communization laws, and since December 2019 he has been an MP.

Ruslana Lyzhychko is a popular singer, famous for winning the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest. She was an active participant in the Orange Revolution and served as an MP in 2006–07. During the Euromaidan she was “the voice of protest,” addressing the assembled citizens from an improvised stage and, as a moderator, giving the floor to those who wanted to speak.

Oleh Rybachuk is a civic activist and politician. He was an MP from 2002 to 2005. In 2005 he briefly served as Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration, then from September 2005 to September 2006 he was State Secretary. He was an advisor to President Viktor Iushchenko (Yushchenko) from September 2006 to March 2008.

59. Den′kovych, “Protestuvati, ne mozhna movchati.”

60. Ibid.

61. Ivanov, quoted in “Na studentiv-ahitatoriv za ievromaidan.”

62. Junes, “Euromaidan and the Revolution,” 79–80.

63. “Piatuval′nyky vstanovyly na Maidani.”

64. Ivanov, “Iak vynyk students′kyi IevroMaidan?”

65. Interfaks–Ukraïna, “Tymoshenko zaklikala prybraty.”

66. Hreshchyshyn speaking in Babylon’13, “Maidan’2013,” 3:42–3:53.

67. Krotenko, “Chomus′ ne mozhu lyshyty.”

68. Ivanov, “Iak vynyk students′kyi IevroMaidan?”

69. “Molod′ natsiï za Ievrointegratsiiu.”

70. Ivanov, “Iak vynyk students′kyi IevroMaidan?”

71. Krotenko, “Chomus′ ne mozhu lyshyty.”

72. Ivanov, “Iak vynyk students′kyi IevroMaidan?”

73. Stadnyk, “Evrolantsiuh.”

74. Safar’ians, “(R)evoliutsiia Hidnosti.”

75. Krotenko, “Chomus′ ne mozhu lyshyty.”

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Yevhenii Safarians

Yevhenii Safarians is a research fellow at the Institute of World History of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. When he prepared the original version of this paper in 2020, he was a junior researcher in the Department of Academic Research at the Heroes of the Heavenly Hundred National Memorial Complex and Museum of the Revolution of Dignity in Kyiv.