r/europe • u/MarktpLatz Lower Saxony (Germany) • Apr 03 '17

What do you know about... Ukraine?

This is the eleventh part of our ongoing series about the countries of Europe. You can find an overview here.

Todays country:

Ukraine

Ukraine is the largest country that is completely on the european continent. The Ungarian people's republic was founded in 1917, the ukrainian state in 1918. It later became part of the soviet union and finally got independent in 1991. Currently, Ukraine is facing military combat with russia-backed rebels and the crimean peninsula was completely annexed by Russia. Ukraine will host the next eurovision song contest.

So, what do you know about Ukraine?

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u/svaroz1c Russian in USA Apr 04 '17

Southeastern Ukraine was the site of one of the first attempts at creating a modern stateless anarchist society. It existed during the Russian Civil War between 1918 and 1921, but swore no allegiance to either the communists or the monarchists. It was defended by several militia groups under the de facto leadership of Nestor Makhno, who regarded himself as nothing more than a military strategist and advisor. They rejected the idea of a central government and all decisions were made in local councils.

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u/Minimum_T-Giraff Sweden Apr 04 '17

Calling it anarchist is debatable as they did things that be could be considered a state. Conscription , monetary policy , laws. Sound like a state.

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u/[deleted] Apr 04 '17

Sounds like anarchy is impossible and always, under every circumstance, naturally evolves into some form of statehood.

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u/svaroz1c Russian in USA Apr 04 '17

Right, hence "attempts". They tried to make it as anarchist as possible without letting it become an absolute power vacuum (which would have caused it to fall to either the Reds or the Whites even more quickly).

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u/[deleted] Apr 04 '17

depending on what school of anarchism you consider, none of those things have necessarily to be considered as part of a state.

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u/[deleted] Apr 04 '17

As did Catalonia

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u/Minimum_T-Giraff Sweden Apr 04 '17

Catalonia was bit different as it was mostly a shitshow. Dozen of factions fighting over control and same times trying to fight the nationalist forces.