In 1985, when I was nine years old, I was solemnly accepted into the Pioneers and I took an oath to “live, learn, and fight as the great Lenin bequeathed”. 30 years have passed and the Verkhovna Rada passed a law “On the condemnation of the Communist and National Socialist (Nazi) totalitarian regimes in Ukraine and the prohibition of the propaganda of their symbolism”. What should I do with my oath?
254 deputies voted. All “for”. Not a single vote “against”.
The average age of the Verkhovna Rada deputies is 47 years old. This means that the absolute majority of them took the same oath as I did. Moreover, many of them were Komsomol members and Communists. For example, Boris Tarasyuk or Ivan Kirilenko: both were once members of the Communist Party of Ukraine and both voted “for”.
Several days ago, on May 9th, the country celebrated Victory Day, still not officially. I was surprised by the almost complete absence of traditional symbols for this holiday of the victorious Red Army: flags, military uniforms, photos of heroes.
They were absent because they have been banned for two years by the same law “On condemnation…” from April 9, 2015. They were absent because they were banned by those who thirty years ago swore allegiance to Lenin’s cause and marched with red flags on the square - on May 1st and November 7th and on Victory Day.
I am not defending “Lenin’s cause”. There are many criticisms of it.
I am concerned about how quickly and zealously we abandon old oaths in order to give new ones. This does not reflect well on us. Or, as the hero of Leonid Bronevoy said in the movie “17 Moments of Spring”, “changing your opinion always smells bad”.
Perhaps it would be better to do without oaths altogether?
Translated by ChatGPT gpt-3.5-turbo/42 on 2024-04-20 at 14:41
