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This article is about the ethnic policy of the governments. For localization into Ukrainian language and locale, see Ukrainization (computers).

Ukrainization (or Ukrainianization) was the policy conducted by the Bolshevik party and the Government of the Ukrainian SSR during 1920s and early 1930s to increase the presence of Ukrainian within schools, the press, and other educational and cultural institutions as well as in administration. Ukrainization was a temporal policy forced by the hostile attitude of the Ukrainian population to the Communist regime. The true objective of this policy was a strengthening of Soviet power in Ukraine.

Some scolars also use this term in reference to the policy of the Communist regime in Western Ukraine after its annexation to the Soviet Union in 1939 and the policy of the Government of the Ukrainian SSR in Cremea after its transfer from Russian SFSR to Ukrainian SSR in 1954 (See Language policies in Ukraine).

As the Bolshevik rule took hold in Ukraine, the early Soviet government had its own reasons to encourage the national movements of the former Russian Empire. While trying to ascertain and consolidate its power, the Bolshevik government was by far more concerned about the political oppositions connected to the pre-revolutionary order than about the national movements inside the former empire. Besides, the reversal of the assimilationist policies in the Russian Empire was to help to improve the image of the Soviet government and boost its popularity among the common people.

Until the early-1930s, the Ukrainian culture enjoyed a widespread revival due to Bolshevik concessions known as the policy of Korenization ("indigenization"). In these years an impressive Ukrainization program was implemented throughout the republic. In such conditions, the Ukrainian national idea initially continued to develop and even spread to a large territory with traditionally mixed population in the east and south that became part of the Ukrainian Soviet republic.

The All-Ukrainian Sovnarkom's decree "On implementation of the Ukrainization of the educational and cultural institutions" (July 27, 1923) is considered to be an onset of the Ukrainization. The soon followed (August 1) decree "On implementation of the equal rights of the languages and facilitation of the Ukrainian language" mandated the implementation of Ukrainian language to all levels of the state governments. Initially, the program was met with resistance of some Ukrainian Communists, largely due to the fact that non-Ukrainians prevailed in the party at the time. The resistance was finally overcome by 1925 changes in the party leadership under the pressure of the Ukrainian representatives in the party. In April 1925 the party Central Committee adopted the resolution on Ukrainization proclaiming its aim as the "solidifying the union of the peasantry with the working class" and boosting the overall support of the Soviet system among the Ukrainians. The joint resolution aimed at "complete Ukrainization of Soviet apparatus" as well as the party and trade unions was adopted on April 30, 1925. The Ukrainian Department of Education was charged to oversee the implementation of Ukrainization policies. Thus, Mykola Skrypnyk, the head of the department for the years to come, became a main leader of the Ukrainization program.

The rapidly developed Ukrainian-language based education system dramatically raised the literacy of the Ukrainophone rural population. By 1929 over 97% of the high school students in the republic were obtaining their education in Ukrainian and illiteracy dropped from 47% (1926) to 8% in 1934.

Simultaneously, the newly-literate ethnic Ukrainians migrated to the cities, which became rapidly largely Ukrainianized—in both population and in education. Between 1923 and 1933 the Ukrainian population of Kharkiv, at the time the capital of Soviet Ukraine, increased from 38% to 50%. Similar increases occurred in other cities, from 27.1% to 42,1% in Kiev, from 16% to 48% in Dnipropetrovsk, from 16% to 48% in Odessa, from 7% to 31% in Luhansk.

Similarly expansive was an increase in Ukrainian language publishing and overall eruption of Ukrainian cultural life. As of 1931 out of 88 theatres in Ukraine, 66 were Ukrainian, 12 were Jewish (Yiddish) and 9 were Russian. The number of Ukrainian newspapers, which almost did not exist in 1922 have reached 373 out of 426, while only 3 all-republican large newspapers remained Russian. Of 118 magaziens 89 were Ukrainian. Ukrainization of book-publishing reached 83%.

Most importantly, Ukrainization was thoroughly implemented through the government apparatus, Communist Party of Ukraine membership and, gradually, the party leadership as well, as the recruitment of indigenous cadre was implemented as part of the korenization policies. At the same time, the usage of Ukrainian was continuously encouraged in the workplace and in the government affairs. While initially, the party and government apparatus was mostly Russian-speaking, by the end of 1920s ethnic Ukrainians composed over one half of the membership in the Ukrainian communist party, the number strengthened by accession of Borotbists, a formerly indigenously Ukrainian "independentist" and non-Bolshevik communist party.

In the all-Ukrainian Ispolkom, central executive branch, as well as in the oblast level governments, the number of Ukrainians reached 50.3% by 1934 while in raion ispolkoms the number reached 68.8. On the city and village levels, the representation of Ukrainians in the local government bodies reached 56.1 and 86.1, respectively. As for other governmental agencies, the Ukrainization policies increased the Ukrainian representation as follows: officers of all-republican People's Commissariat (ministries) - 70-90%, oblast executive brunches - 50%, raion - 64%, Judiciary - 62%, Militsiya (law enforcement) - 58%.

The attempted Ukrainization of the armed forces, Red Army formations serving in Ukraine and abroad, was less successful although the moderate progress was reached. The Schools of Red Commanders (Shkola Chervonyh Starshyn) was organized in Kharkiv to promote the careers of the Ukrainian national cadre in the army (see picture). The Ukrainian newspaper of the Ukrainian Military District "Chervona Armiya" was published until mid-1930s. The efforts were made to introduce and expand the Ukrainian terminology and communication in the Ukrainian Red Army units. The policies even reached the army units served by Ukrainians in other Soviet regions. For instance the Soviet Pacific Fleet included a Ukrainian department overseen by Semyon Rudniev.

At the same time, despite the ongoing Soviet-wide anti-religious campaign, two Ukrainian national Orthodox churches were created, the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church and the Ukrainian Autonomous Orthodox Church (See History of Christianity in Ukraine). The Bolshevik government initially saw the national churches as a tool in their goal to suppress the Russian Orthodox Church always viewed with the great suspicion by the regime for its being the cornerstone of the defunct Russian Empire and the initially strong opposition it took towards the regime change. Therefore, the government tolerated the new Ukrainian national church for some time and the UAOC gained a wide following among the Ukrainian peasantry.

The Ukrainization even reached those regions of southern Russian SFSR, particularly the areas by the Don and Kuban rivers, where mixed population showed strong Ukrainian influences in the local dialect. Ukrainian language teachers, just graduated from expanded institutions of higher education in Soviet Ukraine, were dispatched to these regions to staff newly opened Ukrainian schools or to teach Ukrainian as a second language in Russian schools. A string of local Ukrainian-language publications were started and departments of Ukrainian studies were opened in colleges. Overall, these policies were implemented in thirty-five administrative districts in southern Russia.

1. ^ "Ukrainization, although with less success, was implemented in the Army (School of Red Commanders in Kharkiv, newspaper of the Ukrainian Military Disctricr "Chervona Amriya" published until mid-1930s, etc.)".
   Encyclopedia of Ukrainian studies) cited above Cite error: The named reference "Army" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
2. Vasyl Ivanyshyn, Yaroslav Radevych-Vynnyts'kyi, Mova i Natsiya, Drohobych, Vidrodzhennya, 1994, ISBN 5-7707-5898-8
3. ^ Volodymyr Kubiyovych; Zenon Kuzelia, Енциклопедія українознавства (Encyclopedia of Ukrainian studies), 3-volumes, Kiev, 1994, ISBN 5-7702-0554-7
4. Cite error: The named reference UkrWeekly was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
5. "Rudnev Semen Vasilyevich". Library of the Far East State University. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
6. Template:Uk icon"The campaign was implemented in 35 raions of the Russian Republic most of which still exist to this day."Oleksandr Tereshchenko (2004). "Ukrainian renaissance in the south of Russia". Cultural connections of Donetsk region with the Ukrainian Diaspora. {{cite conference}}: Unknown parameter |booktitle= ignored (|book-title= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)