This is part two in the July partial release of The New Rusyn Decade. You can access part one by clicking on this link: The History of Rusyn Oppression and Erasure. While some sentences may seem to be out of place, these are in reference to earlier chapters.
The Meaning of Carpathian Rus
These early facts while vital to know [like in part one], do not give a clear answer to what we are or what Carpathian Rus is outside of geography. Of course we have been subjugated and our history is storied, but what about our soul? We understand nothing of the effects of the previous two chapters except for the physical elements without this second part. To this succeed at this end we can both describe what our nation is and the duty that the citizens inside it have.
Every nationality on earth requires a base set of beliefs to function as an organized unit. When other peoples are asked to explain the basis for their civilization, the answers flow quickly from their mouths. To the Indians they are the vanguards of Hindustan. For China, they view themselves the successors to the great dynasties of Sino civilization with the aim of reasserting these previous qualities. It is rare for any country or people to not have this in some form because they no longer be one soon after losing it.
The answer to this long-unanswered question in our case can be realized in the formation of a spiritual essence that aligns with the realities of our native being. A conclusion based in the acknowledgment of a separate local culture wrapped within a truthful man-made image. It can be most clearly stated as:
The idea of Carpathian Rus is one based on the foundation that the Rus peoples of the Carpathians form a unique nation worthy of its own future.
Through this we can begin to realize not only our distance from others around us, but connect as part of a greater idea to the reason why we matter. Except for the delineation between the inner heartland and the periphery, it does not matter if the Lemkos arrived in the 1300s or the Hutsuls later than all others. They both in the end have joined a local culture where the melting pot of these different groups has created a unique place with a purpose to develop. This answer is formed in the consequence of life experience that has only been shrouded in fog through the decisions of outsiders.
We in the Carpathians must take the knowledge of our history and the earliest political formations of our ancestors into account to realize that previous projects have failed because they did recognize the importance of local culture as we understand it today. Because of this they did not make a truthful enough image of a nation. We looked toward the Russians as a type of savior figure, and yet found out they were in many ways alien to us. Their speech was not intelligible, and their culture was peculiar in a way that was completely foreign. The error of Dukhnovych and other Russophiles to see them as a role model to copy alone and not further integrate with the local people has provided a real-life lesson to not repeat. They did not write in the text of the villager, but of the imperial scholar from Moscow. What was local was not seen as good enough, yet that is what makes any of these things possible.
As for the inclusion of all Carpathian Rus peoples into this entity of ours, the answer to why will become an apparent one. Both the Rusnaks, and Lemkos, and Boykos, and Hutsuls all originate from the merging of Rus and Vlach emigres in the Carpathians. To leave out one is to deny this common heritage between all. If a Carpathian Rusyn villager sees themselves as a Ukrainian now, they still unlike Ukrainians in the Dnieper, understand the Rusyn language due to this continuity between us all. Because they do not know any better, they will instead refer to it as po-nashomu, or our way of speaking. Likewise, the high religiosity and cultural holdovers from the time of Hungarian rule that distanced us greatly from other Rus did not merely go away at the time of the Soviet Union. A great percentage of the Orthodox clergy across the countries in which Rusyns reside is made up of ethnic Rusyns even though they are dwarfed in population is a testament to this fact.
These old cultural markers are also why when workers of Ukraine go abroad to make an income, those from Subcarpathia and from the rest of Ukraine separate themselves because of difficulties in dealing with other’s attitudes. Even the fables of the Carpathians cross ethnic lines like in the case of freedom fighter Andriy Savka, who though from the Pryashiv region, was written about more in folk tales as a Lemko bandit given his work against the Poles, and was known by Ruthenians as far away as the borderlands of southern mountainous Galicia.
All of these facts are to say that excluding those that do not have our national consciousness but retain the local cultural roots of Rusyns proves that an individual does not understand the reality of what a Rusyn is. It is making the same mistake that our forefathers made decades ago. Our peoples were on the edges of society, with our only close acquaintances being one another.
They do not truly share the imperial history of Galician Rus or Hungary because they are not the central people that created these societies. Instead, they created the interconnected highland of Carpathian Rus. It is merely the acknowledgment of the idea of Rusyn separateness that means all of those in the Carpathians be included. What some might think now in a greater artificial national context that is not aligned with local truth does not change the reality of what is true at all.
We must spiritually strive to push the boundaries of law and order to birth a national consciousness worthy of preserving these beautiful local attributes. It is a desire for all Rusyns of the Carpathians to join hands, or accomplish nothing at all. A movement may start in Pryashiv Rus and make its way east to the edges of Hutsulia, but the ending goal does not stop at the borders of Subcarpathia. There is not any in-between in this situation, for if this is not the case then we are merely the gathering of villages with some quirky ideas about who we are and nothing more.
Our people derive meaning from the duty of protecting the Rusyn culture, language, and have potential to flourish into something great. We represent the beauty of the last thousand years in Carpathian Rus and wish to elevate it even higher. Pointing to what is only acceptable now to those who believe is like invalidating the actual reality of what came before this outside oppression of our natural inclinations. Once this unification of overarching meaning has been accepted by the people of our society, we will have an acceptance of the purpose that lies ahead for us.
National Sustainability
When a Rusyn knows their history it is almost impossible for them to lack the need to do something in order to right the wrongs of the past, or more importantly, to stop any future events from occurring. One way that we can use this collective energy to good use is to help improve the national sustainability of our nation. National sustainability can be thought of as the basis for the continued survival of a people throughout multiple generations. Some factors that influence the level of sustainability that a country has are its political representation, institutionalization of language and culture, the population structure, economic conditions, external migration, and national vision. These are the things that political theorists and international relations experts focus on when making their predictions about the future.
If even just a few of these factors are off the mark then it can be extremely hard for a nation to survive over the long term. A good example of this is Japan, where their economic conditions are reasonable, their people control their own destiny, and the vision for their country established. All of these factors are present, yet there is a great deal of anxiety about the coming decades. This is because they are going through an extreme population crash that while not a death blow (there are 125 million ethnic Japanese) there will be negative ripple effects throughout the economy, intellectual life, and migration patterns. One in particular that will be particularly prominent in all aging countries is the collapse of social welfare systems brought on by the lack of young workers putting money in. In the future Japan and others like it will need a competent government that can deal with these issues and hopefully reverse the trends we see today.
When evaluating our nation on similar questions it becomes apparent quite quickly that few of them are in a positive position. We may in fact be in one of the worst situations possible in Europe. To get an in-depth picture on the direction that should be taken in the coming decade some further analysis of specific issues is required. No matter how terrible the situation looks, it’s important to realize that this is a necessary first step to change what is going on. Without confronting the bleakness of the situation the history of the last thirty years will likely repeat itself going forward.
8.1 | Political Representation
Overall the situation for Rusyns across the homeland and the diaspora is poor regarding political representation. Currently the positive factors on the national level regarding this are a few ethnic Rusyns in national governmental positions in Slovakia, an ethnic minority party from Romania (Cultural Union of Ruthenians of Romania), and a self-autonomy government in Hungary.
Ethnic Rusyns are suppressed and not represented in any capacity on the national or regional level within Ukraine, and the Lemko-Rusyns due to their displacement are not cohesive enough as a unit to develop something like a political party. Regional and local governments are dominated by ethnic Rusyns in the places they live, however there has been no development of a political culture regarding minority rights as a community like in the case of Hungarians with their Party of Hungarians of Ukraine (KMKSZ) in Ukraine, and the SMK-MKP in Slovakia.
While they are able to further the interests of their constituents in an organized way, we do not have this ability. Lacking it comes into play when matters of institutionalization and the economy are taken into account. The best way to push one’s agenda is not through the mass movement of people, but through an avenue where doing something beneficial to our cause is the established norm and legitimized by the state.
It is vital to recognize the effect of Rusyns in Ukraine lacking representation in particular due to the nature of their current suppression. Whereas the total amount of Rusyns in all areas outside of Subcarpathia in Europe may equal to something around 200,000, within the region is between 750-950,000 people, or somewhere between 60 and 75% of the total Rusyn population in the world. If someone is a Rusyn they are more likely to live here versus anywhere else.
This means that the majority of Rusyns have no formal opportunities to develop political expertise or connect with transnational Rusyn organizations in ways that are seen as non-harmful by the central government. Those that do so anyways run the risk of having their lives destroyed. You are also effectivity limiting the pool of potential leaders to roughly 3 out of every 10 Rusyns. Having the majority unable to participate in this situation severely limits the ability for us to survive or even project our voice into world politics.
8.2 | Institutionalization of Language and Culture
There is a dearth of representation on this front regarding all Rusyn regions with varying levels of recent success. The status of the Rusyn language is marred by its inability to gain status in modern society. Dual street signs are present in some areas, and a handful of Rusyns schools exist in Pryashiv Rus, however these do not often go up to the level of high school or undergraduate level education. There are no universities that teach specifically in the Rusyn language, and any program that does revolve around our people is often focused on the study of our culture. Literary and writing traditions are strong particularly in Subcarpathia, however most new books published are done through self-promotion and there is no formal market like with English. Work opportunities to speak in the Rusyn language are also nonexistent at the level of corporate environments. If we wish to move past the roadblock of language endangerment then it must be a possibility to go through education and a working career without needing to speak any other language than our own.
In the cultural scene Rusyns are often plagued by the issue of Orientalism from their western neighbors. This goes back to the Czechoslovak era at least and probably even before. If they are not seen as a strange minority from the east then the focus is on Rusyn folk culture and music alone. This in turn focuses activities and events in a type of museum-like display. A reasonable amount of this is fine, however a lack of modern invention pervades every level of our communities. There are almost no opportunities to watch Rusyn movies or television, online content is scarce at best, and the effect we have on popular culture in the larger states we live in is low. Like in the creation of new pathways for Rusyn students, the development of new modes of culture are a must.
8.3 | Population Structure, Economy, and Migration
While Rusyn regions stand out as slightly above average in fertility rates compared to the areas around them, with the difference being between +0.1-0.3 on average, their fertility rate is still below the replacement rate of 2.0. Even when taking into account that some of this may be due to the significant populations of Roma in the area, they are likely not doing any worse than any other regions. All the available data also suggests that at least in the case of Subcarpathia they are legitimately above the rest of the country in reproduction. Our own issues with fertility are aggravated by the lack of economic opportunities available to those that reside within Rusyn dominant areas. We are overwhelmingly a rural people that have historically lacked the ability for mass industrialization. What industry we do have has slowly eroded since the collapse of the Eastern Bloc, and with it the best choices to stay within the homeland. Mixed in with these events was educational collapse that has not been fully repaired.
It is not uncommon for masses of young women and men to engage in seasonal work abroad, particularly in Czechia due to the low salaries found at home. If one were to go up to villages in highland areas there will be examples of abandoned shops and factories in nearly every village. Living with urban decay is a universal reality for most. Many of the people that go abroad eventually stay in the places they found work permanently with only rare trips back to their native villages. It is a usual occurrence for their children to become separated from their heritage and forget how to speak the Rusyn language or know what their true nationality is. This starts the trend of assimilation not all dissimilar to the process that occurred in the United States to Rusyn workers who had originally gone there for a temporary source of income.
Changing the situation of these three factors will require a complete restructuring of the Rusyn lifestyle as we know it today. Mass industrialization and modernization needs to occur within the framework of a Rusyn national orientation to reverse the trends we see in emigration. What is required to do this is large amounts of capital from sources of wealth and a crop of new elite businessmen and skilled workers that are okay with a slow process of evolution that may take more than twenty years to rise to the standard of the rest of Central Europe. Without buy-in to the concept we will continue to remain a poor people without the resources to manage our own affairs.
Vision in National Politics
As things stand today Rusyns are not entirely ready to move forward with a vision that rises to the level of nation-building. When we talk about the requirements to having a vision, this includes both where we want to go and a strong sense of who we are. Similar to the other lacking sustainability attributes in the previous chapter, these are missing from our consciousness for now. The majority of Rusyns retain a sense of folk identity not unlike in the time before nation-states arose if they know at all, and furthermore we have no government institutions to call our own. This was not always the complete story as examples like the Lemko Republic show, however there has been a regression due to obvious reasons.
One day we will be ready to make the leap away from this completely, but for that to happen we need to have crafted an environment ready for it. This means activists today must focus on achieving goals that will lead to this new starting point. Without them your energy can be wasted on things that will usually have no permanent result at the end. It is also crucial to consider the time to success of your mission. With the pressures of assimilation and the already mentioned economic situation still slowly working their way through Carpathian Rus, there must be a sense of urgency. With this in mind I have laid out six primary goals to be completed over the next ten years. It is my belief that if these can be achieved, we will be ready to move forward with a national vision for our nation and no longer be on the defensive worrying if we will be assimilated over the next few generations.
The goals are as follows:
- Official recognition of Rusyns and the Rusyn language as a unique ethnicity and language in Ukraine.
- The implementation of the 1991 autonomy vote and the renaming of Zakarpattia Oblast to the Autonomous Region of Podkarpatska Rus.
- The implementation of Rusyn language education in primary and secondary education (from ages 5 to 18) in all regions of Carpathian Rus and the diaspora.
- The creation of Rusyn minority ethnic parties in Slovakia, Poland, and Ukraine to vouch for the interests of their respective populations.
- Double the population of self-identifying Rusyns in the diaspora and increase the self-identifying Rusyn population in Europe excluding Subcarpathia by at least 50%.
- Official recognition of the Lemko Ethnocide by the Polish government and the repopulation of Lemkovyna through cooperation with the state and international Rusyn organizations.
If it looks like these have been chosen to cover a wide array of issues, then you would be correct in that assumption. Avoiding obsession with a single thing by focusing on multiple domains with very different qualities gives the opportunity for people to focus on what they value the most. Through the first two goals our legitimacy as a people and safety from assimilation are maintained in Ukraine. Simply having our people recognized is not enough given the past thirty years and the track record that has brought with it. We cannot make do with just guarantees now, we need institutions of our own within a legal framework to counterbalance possible regressions of rights. If thought from a wider perspective as well, in this scenario both the international integrity of Ukraine’s borders and our concerns are addressed through a legitimate process in line with international law. Given our geopolitical situation this should always be our first option as half of our homeland is already in the European Union, with the other being right on its border.
Part of the problem we have faced in the past thirty years with the question of national politics in Ukraine is that nobody has stated goals like this openly. Because of that, their central government had no reason to take the Rusyn question seriously. If one also thinks about it from a historical perspective, our autonomy is legitimized by a few things besides the vote itself too.
The major one of these is that we had autonomy during the interwar period within Czechoslovakia and would have had it again if not for the annexation by the USSR against the will of the populace. Regardless of the blowback this will raise upon us, nothing in history worth anything has ever come without some difficulty. Now that all Western eyes are on Ukraine, it will be even more difficult for them to continue as they have in the past, especially if our activism methods have improved.
The fourth point is an extension of this focus on politics and should be seen as the most baseline step that can be made. Create political parties, gather up the available political capital we have in our position, and begin fumbling about as we learn how to play with power politics. The politicians of our future have to begin their training now before the opportunities that come will pass Rusyns by. Our third goal regarding language is something that starts to handle the problem of language and culture. This point addresses the baseline problem of not having enough of an audience to maintain creative endeavors. The amount of artistic expression will expand as the amount of speakers who feel they have the ability to use their language expands.
The final two goals were chosen because of the need to put other regions besides Subcarpathia on the path toward sustainability. With Lemko identity and culture now hanging by a thread, the actions taken to save them must raise to the level of acknowledgment and repatriation. We know this because cultural activism where Lemkos reside now has simply not stopped assimilation in any meaningful. If Poland does recognize the responsibility for their actions and makes significant steps toward this end, there can be a path forward. In addition to this, our aim must always in part be focused on the recollection of Carpathian Rus in territory and ethnic identity. If academic assessments are even close to being correct, there could be as high as one million people who are ethnically Rusyn but don’t identify as one. The stated statistics of population doubling and increasing by half may look significant, however in pure numbers this is something like 20,000 to 40,000 in the diaspora, and 70,000 to 105,000 in the western parts of the homeland. That is something as minor as 10-15% of the under-nationalized population with ten years to achieve it. When looking at it from the perspective of actual numbers it is not as towering of a figure to behold.
As we move forward and cover topics like identifying Rusyn erasure, it is important to not lose sight of these overarching goals. It is good to work against systems of oppression that we have endured through activism, and it is better to fight for a situation where we can focus on what comes after. Remember that the act of rebellion is only half the battle that a people face in a movement. You must be for something that invigorates others to join your cause. If that is kept in mind our hearts will be in the right place and so will our actions.
With this said it is just as important to base your own specific goals off of these larger ones so that they are personally connected to you. For example, if you want to help in the self-identification of Rusyns in the diaspora you can set up a specific goal like increasing awareness in your own town. It is a subject for a later chapter, however know that while some parts of our movement need centralization, others will have to rely on a wide array of people influencing the world in their own way.