The Ideological Campaign of the "300th Anniversary of Reunification" and the Transfer of Crimea (1954)
A state propaganda operation: to mask Ukraine's colonial status, the empire celebrated with pomp the anniversary of the Pereiaslav Council, constructing the myth of a "single people." As part of the same campaign, Crimea was transferred to the Ukrainian SSR – the decree of the USSR Supreme Soviet Presidium of 19 February 1954 motivated it thus: "Taking into account the commonality of the economy, territorial proximity, and close economic and cultural ties between the Crimean oblast and the Ukrainian SSR"[1]. The real context of the decision: "After the Second World War, the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people and mass resettlements from other regions of the USSR, the peninsula is in a deep socio-economic crisis," and "Moscow admits ever more openly: the Crimean region is a problem territory that the union center does not know how to sustain"[2].
Actors
Instruments Applied
| ID | Name | Procedures |
|---|---|---|
| S0008 | Government | 2 |
| S0021 | Propaganda | 2 |
Procedures Carried Out
A state campaign to construct a historical myth: the "Theses on the 300th Anniversary of the Reunification of Ukraine with Russia," approved by the CPSU Central Committee, declared that "by this historic act was completed the long struggle of the freedom-loving Ukrainian people against foreign enslavers for reunification with the Russian people in a single Russian state"[3] – the annexation of 1654 was retroactively rewritten as the goal and outcome of a national struggle.
The imposition of a concept of unbreakable unity instead of recognizing a distinct nation: per the Theses, "by the act of reunification the Ukrainian people consolidated its close and unbreakable historical bond with the Russian people, in whom it found a great ally, a faithful friend and defender"[3]. The celebrations and the transfer of Crimea "taking into account the commonality of the economy, territorial proximity, and close economic and cultural ties"[1] served the same frame.
The redrawing of internal borders by the USSR Supreme Soviet Presidium's resolution of 19 February 1954: "To approve the joint submission of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR and the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR on the transfer of the Crimean oblast from the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic"[1] – the decision was taken in Moscow, without any expression of will by the peninsula's inhabitants. Behind the "commonality of the economy" stood the desire to shift the peninsula, ruined by deportation and war, onto the books of the Ukrainian SSR: "Moscow admits ever more openly: the Crimean region is a problem territory that the union center does not know how to sustain"[2].
The jubilee was fixed with a material sign in Pereiaslav in the Kyiv region, on the very square where the rada had taken place in 1654. The sign went up in the course of the jubilee reconstruction of the town ordered by the republic's authorities: "in connection with the preparation for the celebration of the 300th anniversary of the reunification of Ukraine with Russia," the Council of Ministers of the Ukrainian SSR allocated 20 million rubles for the reconstruction of Pereiaslav-Khmelnytskyi, the reconstruction plan was developed under the direction of the architect Volodymyr Zabolotnyi, and in May 1954, "on the square where the historic Pereiaslav Rada took place (now Reunification Square), an obelisk with a memorial plaque was erected"[4]. On the plaque, beneath a relief of Bohdan Khmelnytsky, a text is cast: "On this square, on 8 (18) January 1654, the Pereiaslav Rada took place, which, expressing the will of the Ukrainian people, unanimously adopted the historic decision on the reunification of Ukraine with Russia"[5]. The sign did not merely mark the spot: it declared the decision unanimous and expressive of the people's will, fixing this version in bronze on the very square where it all happened.
References
- Президиум Верховного Совета СССР, 19 февраля 1954. (1954). Указ о передаче Крымской области из состава РСФСР в состав УССР.
- Суспільне Крим, 27.01.2026. (2026). Подарунок Хрущова — Крим у складі Української РСР — що насправді відбулося у 1954 році (Суспільне).
- Михайло Брайчевський (написано 1966, вид. Торонто: Нові дні, 1972; цитує «Тези до 300-річчя возз'єднання України з Росією», Київ, 1954). (1972). Приєднання чи возз'єднання?.
- Редкол.: П. Т. Тронько (голова) та ін., АН УРСР. (1971). Історія міст і сіл Української РСР. Київська область.
- Фотофіксація меморіальної дошки; Вікісховище, автор Волтарс, CC BY-SA 4.0, знімок 14.08.2014. (2014). Пам'ятний знак на честь 300-річчя Переяславської Ради, обеліск на площі Переяславської Ради.