«Smell of chamomile rum, wind of my hundred-voiceness.» Dissident and poet Ihor Kalynets about Ukraine’s way to freedom

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The heroic struggle of the Ukrainian people against Russian troops has been going on for almost two months now. Lviv Now spoke with Ihor Kalynets, a dissident, one of the «shistdesyatnyky» [Ukrainian oppositional poets of the sixties], a friend of Vasyl Stus, about his experience of communicating with the Soviet government, the cultural front and its formation without a Russian narrative, the daily front of the Ukrainian struggle and Ukraine’s statehood.

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Tell us about your first poems and your acquaintance with the Soviet authorities.

My acquaintance with the KGB party took place almost simultaneously with the publication of my first book in Kyiv. The trial of Vyacheslav Chornovil took place in Lviv, where my wife, Iryna Kalynets, and I testified.

Chornovil urged us to refuse to testify in court because it was held behind closed doors, although it was supposed to be public as a political affair. Iryna and I abandoned the idea of ​​Chornovil, because we didn’t have that temper then. Although we passed as witnesses, we supported Chornovil and other people on the dock.

And since we were witnesses, we were not convicted, but placed under the «care» of the city or regional committee of the Komsomol, so that they already had us in mind. Iryna then automatically lost her job. I was lucky enough to keep my job due to the support of my director.

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While the trial was going on, in 1965, I had a small book in a cassette in Kyiv, where there were 10 other books together. This was unexpected for Lviv, as its publication was not announced in any magazine or newspaper. And that’s how the Soviet Union learned about new publications.

The first books always had to contain ideological poems about Lenin or about the «brotherly Soviet people.» This was the condition for the publication of new books. The authorities did not like my book at all, because in my first works, I did not write anything about the party or Lenin. Instead, there were poems about Antonych, whom they considered an enemy and a bourgeois nationalist, and about other Ukrainian artists.

The book starts with a poem, «Wind»:

Swallow me, white road,

Swallow me, kind autumn,

Smell of chamomile rum,

Wind of my hundred-voiceness.

Wind will straighten again

Banderas of my Dnister’s lodias*.

Wind is with us and above us

With my regiment’s campaigns.

Wind teases the horses’ manes

And plays with banners on spears.

Wind is my faithful hryden’,**

Hryden’ of Prince Osmomysl.

Somewhere there is a princess,

Putyvl’s*** child Yaroslavna.

She sent to her husband 

Wind of the Homeland

To the pagan deserts.

Wind will heal all the wounds,

Wind has a smell of the Homeland.

Wind is with us and above us

With my regiment’s campaigns.

Iron pass into thickets

Carrying our shields 

Like the holy tablets

From Halych, there’s a healing wind

From Halych, there’s a state wind

[*Lodias – Sea and river ship of the ancient Slavs.

** Hryden’ – the name of the prince’s regiment of the Rus’ army. This word has Scandinavian origins:. grið («service to someone, right to asylum»)

*** Putyvl’ – the city of ancient Rus’. Now – a Ukrainian city in the Sumy region]

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This poem was written when I met Halych, so I used those images. However, the fact that «the state wind from Halych» was the second thing that interested the KGB. Foremost, they paid attention to the «Banderas of my Dnister’s lodias» and asked me how I dared to write it.

I said that «banderas» was the international name for the flags on the masts of ships, and I proved it by singing the song «Bandiera rossa» – an Italian communist song. They said that they were not naive and that I should not lie, because they supposed I used Bandera’s name on purpose.

Undoubtedly, I wrote it on purpose so that this name would sound somehow, but I did not admit that they were right. This was the second announcement of Bandera’s name after Dmytro Pavlychko. However, Pavlychko used this name in his poems rather with a negative connotation, in a «secular» spirit. He is an ideologue of independent Ukraine, one of the most successful ideologues, so they are afraid of him. His articles and works are very relevant.

They also asked me about Antonych, whose work I researched, as he was almost a pupil of his patron, Andrei Sheptytskyi. And the Soviet authorities extremely disliked that.

I naively denied it, but the director of the regional archive, Halyna Syzonenko, where I worked, came and saved me. She saved me twice, even though she was a party member, had a good name in the party’s regional committee, but she was already infected with the «bacillus» of nationalism. At that time, she had been living in Lviv for over 20 years, working with historians, including Yaroslav Dashkevych [professor, prominent Ukrainian historian, compiler of the famous book «History of the Ukrainian Army» – ed.]

How did you manage to create yourself as a poet without Soviet and Russian culture?

I knew Russian classics because I studied at university, and read it. I knew everything, but I didn’t live by it. That was not mine. It was as if I were reading French or German literature. I devoted myself to popularizing Ukrainian folk art and Ukrainian art in general, which was in museums. Actually, I specialized in this.

My second book, to be published in Kyiv, was called «The Opening of the Nativity Scene». The title itself testified: I was pushing for Ukrainian traditions, because it was «Kupalo Fire» [In ancient Slavs, Kupalo was a pagan god of midsummer; the tradition of celebrating Kupala day with jumping over the fire is still popular in Ukraine]. That’s just the beginning of that collection, the part that came out separately. And thank God for it.

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She gave me a name because there were a lot of reviews about it, and it didn’t get lost. It was obvious that the publishers wanted something more from me, there was already an interest, a certain demand. They have all become aware of me. Of course, the KGB also was aware of me, and the book was not published.

Many Ukrainians are rooted in Russian culture. How to snatch them from the Russian narrative now?

It is no longer a question to escape when they have shown themselves during this war. Until then, it was the same as well. This shouldn’t have been a problem for honest Ukrainian writers who knew the history of Russia, knew what that nation breathes and what it had already done to Ukraine even in the 20th century.

In my time, it was everyone’s personal business, who escaped and who didn’t. Many remained in that narrative. They served and were zealous Soviet patriots, communists. But there was a group of people who made a name for themselves. These are dissidents. I also got to them. Although it is a wrong definition, that’s how it came into the world. I did not have a single poem about the party and Lenin.

How did the Soviet Writers’ Union react to your work?

After my second book, Poetry from Ukraine, published in the West, a new phase of my persecution began. Everyone from the Writers’ Union visited me. They asked me to «repent» and angrily tell the West not to push Ukrainian literature and poetry in their struggle. Many Russian writers did the same after the publication of their works in the West.

I refused to say that to the West. I was not a member of the union because they did not want to accept me after my participation in the Chornovil case. They had no leverage over me. I said that I should thank Western publishers, because the book turned out to be good, with illustrations, on good paper.

Well, they didn’t accept, and I didn’t pay attention to this. I wrote further and sent the works to Kyiv. Ivan Svitlychny needed my manuscripts all the time. I became the subject of samvydav [unofficial literature and press, produced and spread beyond the Soviet censorship].

Where did you find the inspiration not to break down, not to betray the national consciousness, not to cooperate with the authorities during all these processes?

When I was convicted, it was not a question. It was necessary not to «break» in the camp. But there was good company: Ivan Svitlychny, Valerii Marchenko, Semen Hluzman. There were a lot of good people there, and we felt pretty good there. We wrote our works and some protests on pieces of paper. I was a clerk because I could write very small letters. We then put them together in the camp, made such a ball, I even kept those papers for myself, and passed them on to Ukraine and the West with all sorts of tricks.

How do you see the daily front of the struggle of Ukrainians in nurturing their mentality and identity?

You just had to be a principled Ukrainian. I was not a revolutionary, but I was principled in all matters, did not «break down», did not go to their requests, and somehow survived. In the camp, I took a position in the resistance movement.

After I left the camp, I did not do anything anti-Soviet. I endured for several years until in 1986-1987 a change in society began. And here I «climbed upstairs», and again began to engage in samvydav, organized various campaigns, chambers.

And it all started with Antonych. Iryna and I found his grave, put it in order, and took people there. On the 50th anniversary, there was already something like a protest at Antonych’s grave. Dmytro Pavlychko published his collection in Kyiv, modest, but Antonych came out.

Have you talked to the UPA army?

When they were in the woods, my generation still went to kindergarten. But even then, I communicated because my family was connected to the UPA. My dad was also in hiding. I wrote something about it in my books and memoirs.

Then in the camps, it was our strength, we often relied on them, although we were more literate, because we were mostly either writers or journalists. They were ordinary guys from the village, but we had a very good relationship with them as a whole. Even Semen Hluzman was their closest friend all the time.

How to push Russian culture out of the Ukrainian context?

We need to talk about this with young writers. I think that such a front actually exists because all current Ukrainian writers are in fact patriots. There are no people who condemn the current policy of the Ukrainian government. All of them are in solidarity. That’s just what has always been in conflict with the authorities. And now. Ukrainian culture and literature are very sparingly funded or not funded at all. Magazines are closing, art newspapers. They are becoming fewer and fewer in number. This lasted until the last president.

From which Ukrainian poetry do we need to draw inspiration to fight with Russia?

We did not fight so directly with Russia, it was not mentioned, except between the lines. We fought with the order of that time, with the communist government, we fought for the rights of the Ukrainian people, the nation, we fought for the Ukrainian language, the Ukrainian writers who were shot. In any case, we had a lot of them.

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Iryna published the magazine «Yevshan-potion». It was devoted to all the painful issues we brought to the world at that time. Few copies of it were published, typed on our own.

And when Vyacheslav Chornovil left the camp, he started publishing his magazine «Ukrainian Herald» again. And Mykhailo Osadchyi started publishing the magazine «Department» about literary and artistic problems.

Is Russia at war with Little Russia, which is trying to become Ukraine, or was Ukraine already established?

Ukraine is heterogeneous, and the fact that Ukrainians are dying so much for it, fighting for it, shows that we are already approaching the moment when the Little Russians become Ukrainians, they are aware of this. After this war, there will be even more sobering up of our people, who were intimidated, or have no idea at all.

There has never been such a national upsurge. I remember the 50s, 60s and 70s, what Ukraine was, what Ukrainians were. Until recently, there were still Little Russians.

So, I think now, if the war ends happily – and it should end like that! – we will have a more unanimous Ukraine. Because today, those who have not felt themselves as Ukrainians are dying for Ukraine. Different strata of Ukraine have chosen to defend Ukraine and not, to some extent, their own «russia».

So this war looks very tragic, but if it ends happily, Ukraine will become even more Ukrainian in percentage terms.

Obviously, the war in Donbas will continue for a long time. So it’s still hard to say «from San to Don» [rivers, mentioned in the Ukrainian national anthem.] «From San» we need to accept as it is, but there is still hope with Don.

How did you manage to preserve dignity and humanity in the Soviet camps?

We also had it before the camps. Although there were people who, so to speak, repented. Zenia Franko was released because of this repentance, as well as poet Mykola Kholodnyi and a few other people. They «repented», that is, did not maintain their position. And even Dziuba «repented» first.

I was lucky to be in such a society where I did not «repent» and they did not «repent». This is a camp society. We were there in opposition, wrote all sorts of protests, went on hunger strike, and renounced Soviet citizenship. There were many actions, if only not to sit humbly.

Do you have any friends with whom you were in the camps? What do they say about the war now?

We had a revolutionary element. These are Jews who wanted to return to their homeland, but were not allowed to do so. They stole planes and were arrested and imprisoned for this. They supported Ukrainian nationalism in the camp.

We were also supported by Armenians. There were many of them. There was revolutionary youth there, just like us. Also, there were several «white» Russians who wanted to restore tsarist Russia. But we did not have close contact with them. There were also a few Baltics in our camp. We organized all those protests together with them.

I don’t communicate with them right now because I don’t have those connections, people, but I’m sure they support us.

And what, in your opinion, is the essence of the Ukrainian mentality, which the Russians are so eager to conquer?

For centuries, Ukrainians have been a people with a desire for freedom, for their state. Therefore, the struggle lasted a very long time. In the XIX century, it unfolded purely literary, political, artistic. And paired with weapons, already in the XX century, from the UNR and so on until today, it has no end. Because until we get rid of the Muscovites at all, there will be no peace.

Now, there is hope that Russia will fall apart. Because there are many other nations. And if they supported, joined the opposition to Putin, it would be hoped that Russia as a great power will not exist, but will be a union of smaller nations that make up the current Russian Empire.

Will Ukraine’s prosperity after the war begin through culture?

I think all politicians should have understood that more attention should be paid to culture. Of course, there will be another reconstruction of Ukraine, which requires huge finances. However, we must win with culture. There are forces, but they are either asleep or do not have the financial means to express themselves out loud. But in every art form we see that there is potential.

Is it important now to fully Ukrainianize Ukraine and how to do it?

I think it will be done. Because, you see, there are already projects of the Verkhovna Rada not to tolerate those who want to be on both sides. After all, people found out who the Russians are.

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Of course, there will be traitors, transitional moments between them and us, but Ukraine will be much cleaner, will be closer to Ukrainian Ukraine, to its Ukrainianness. This will be our strength, because we have shown that we can do it by force. And this war proves it, we just have to reach the end, win to the end.

What do you think about the atrocities in Bucha and Mariupol?

This is terrible… I am glad that people are already coming from Europe to see the consequences of those tragedies. Let’s hope they come out of that destruction. If the world helps us as it promises, then maybe we will get back on our feet sooner.

The main thing is to get rid of the claws of the Russian leader, who is gathering more forces from other parts of Russia to throw them at Ukraine. In short, it seems that the war will not end soon. There will be many more problems, especially in Donbass.

Now, the Russian military is called «orcs». And what word would you use for this?

I grew up near Khodoriv, the «moskali» have always been «moskali». Then began the «russian». And before there were «soviets» and «moskali».

I really liked it, their new name, orcs, which is such a synonym. I sometimes call them «Satan»… I can’t say anything new. I think orcs are the best now.

Roman Tyshchenko-Lamanskyi spoke, translated by Kateryna Bortniak

Photo by Ivan Stanislavskyi

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