Oleksii Shumyk: they will still line up to join the opposition...

Delegates of the 13th reporting-and-election conference of the Volyn regional organization of the Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (united) a week ago unanimously elected Oleksiy Shumyk as their leader. So what are the plans and intentions of the new Volyn team of the party, whose leadership has announced its transition to the opposition?

– Oleksiy Pavlovych, there is an opinion that opposition to the new government is opposition to Ukraine. What do you say to that?

– It sounds very pompous, but it is absurd. If there is no opposition in a civilized country, it means something is wrong in the state. Opposition to Yushchenko is in no way opposition to the Ukrainian people, because almost half of the population wanted to see someone other than Yushchenko as President. On the other hand, far from all who supported Yushchenko are sympathetic to him specifically. A significant portion of them simply voted against the previous government. We must admit: we lost the elections. And the one who loses, in a normal country, either goes into opposition or leaves politics.

– If I am not mistaken, you did not take part in Yanukovych's campaign headquarters; the representative from Lutsk Social Democrats was another person...

– Some people indeed went to the headquarters because after the victory they already saw themselves in the chairs of governor, mayor, rector of the largest university... The Lutsk headquarters more resembled a place for earning money than for political struggle. Although rank-and-file party members worked honestly for us. By the way, there is nothing to reproach the Social Democrats with regarding Yanukovych: we are the only ones who consistently, until the last court hearings, were with him. This proves that Viktor Medvedchuk is a man of his word.

– So you are not implicated in dubious deeds during the elections, and you are not afraid of lustration. How do you generally feel about it?

– I agree with Justice Minister Roman Zvarych – his competence even among us, his political opponents, is beyond doubt. Lustration contradicts not only Ukrainian but also world legislation. Although not as a secretary of the regional committee, but as a citizen of Ukraine, I am not against publishing the lists of those who at one time, starting from their student days, "snitched" on their own. Such people were not only in the old government; they are hastily repainting themselves and penetrating the new one. And it is precisely they who pose the greatest danger to it.

– I was on the other side of the barricades on the Maidan. But I respect those who do not repaint themselves depending on the political winds...

– The SDPU(o) acted honestly and decently, clearly declaring its opposition. This is better than pretending to be an ally, weaving intrigues, and then treacherously stabbing in the back. We admitted our defeat – therefore, we recognized Yushchenko's victory and accepted him as the legitimately elected President. Those who shout that they do not recognize Yushchenko as president are not oppositionists but merely masquerading as them. This is destructive, and we are for constructive, civilized opposition. There is no need to lash out at the new government with hatred. We must see the strengths of our opponents and even learn something from them. In particular, the methods of fighting for power, working with the masses... We will not criticize the government indiscriminately, but we will carefully monitor its actions and warn against mistakes. At least in Volyn it will be exactly like this.

– After Anatoliy Frantsuz was appointed governor, it was you, as editor-in-chief of one of the newspapers, who first publicly told the truth about what Volyn residents think of his team. After that you lost your position. So what actually happened?

– I don't even want to recall it. Mr. Frantsuz simply perceived the word "varyag" [outsider] as some extraordinarily shameful insult...

– That is familiar to me: a colonel from the military commissariat also took offense at the word "cohors": they started sending draft notices to the editorial office...

– Similarly. By the way, I still do not understand the need for such an appointment. Under Governor Borys Klymchuk's tenure, the region was constantly at the forefront in the state – and suddenly, without any explanation, they appoint some police chief from a neighboring region!

– But by that time he was already a Hero of Ukraine.

– What kind of hero is he, when during the orange rally in Lutsk he did not come out to the people but fled from the premises? I will not assert, but they say he hid somewhere in the forests of Volyn, in Ivano-Frankivsk region, Kyiv region... Even his deputy Volodymyr Panchyshyn had the courage to come out to the people and clearly say that he acts within the framework of current legislation and obeys the current President Kuchma... In my view, throughout the entire history of the Volyn region there has not been and probably will not be a weaker leader. Apparently, given his level of literacy, Frantsuz could take offense at the printed word. And considering that his chief ideologue was Mr. Rodych, I see nothing surprising in this. They pressured my immediate superiors so that I would go and repent. I chose otherwise – a clean sheet of paper and a letter of resignation. And, believe me, I do not regret it in the least.

– Shortly after that, the "French" deputies Rodych and Panchyshyn joined the SDPU(o)... Are they still in the party?

– Personally, I was against their joining. It is clear that these were purely opportunistic motives. I will say frankly: Mr. Rodych, by joining the party, only harmed it. And at the next meeting of the bureau of the Lutsk city committee, I will personally raise the question of his expulsion from the party. As for Mr. Panchyshyn, I respect his right to independently decide on his stay in our ranks.

– They say that after the elections Social Democrats are mass-returning their party cards?

– In Volyn the party has over 5 thousand members. We have about 200 applications for withdrawal. How mass-scale that is, judge for yourselves. True, some secretaries of district and city committees have left. But I would not make a tragedy out of this. When the party was in power, these people by hook or by crook asked to join us in order to obtain positions of authority. They were also the first to leave us. The party has freed itself from excess ballast and become morally cleaner. At present the exit process has paused; in February about fifty new applications for membership have already been received. It is pleasant that young people are coming to us, making up over a third of the Volyn party organization, and about half are women.

– And what do you count on in a region where Yushchenko received 90 percent?

– Believe me: in just six months there will be a queue to join the opposition. In 2006 in Volyn we will pass the threshold. At whose expense – I will not say for now. I will only say: we will go to the people, we will be among the people, we will become understandable to them. The situation in which the SDPU(o) finds itself today reminds me of the situation around the Communist Party in 1991. Back then all the "dogs" were hung on the communists; now they are hung on us. Though mostly these are other people's "dogs." And very soon ordinary people will understand this. One should not forget that Viktor Medvedchuk is a strong-willed politician; he knows how to take a blow.

– Your attitude toward reprivatization.

– I am convinced: indiscriminate reprivatization will bring more harm to Ukraine than benefit. We will repel even those few investors who agreed to put money into our economy. And if the government changes again – will the new team also raise this issue? Although I agree: these processes should be made as transparent as possible. Why not, say, compile so-called "privatization maps" in the regions? As a resident of Volyn, I would be interested to learn which object was bought, by whom and for how much, who at that time governed or still governs the city, district, region... So that everyone could compare what family or business relations exist between those who bought these objects and those who were in power at that time, and members of their families. I think many officials would end up on the lists of enemies of the people.

– Is political pressure being exerted on SDPU(o) members?

– In Volyn I personally do not know of such cases. I know that such things exist in Lviv region, Ternopil region... However, I am not aware of anyone here being threatened: either you leave the SDPU(o) or you lose your position. I am convinced that in Volyn this will not happen. If the new government allows itself anything of the kind, everyone will know about it.

– What relations do you have with the previous regional committee secretary Anton Kryvytskyi?

– As people with certain life experience, we are capable of understanding each other. There has been no settling of accounts or anything similar between us, and I think there will not be. By the way, I openly expressed my position: I do not agree with how he was expelled from the ranks of the SDPU(o)... If you mean the possible eviction of the regional committee from its current office, then there indeed is a corresponding warning letter from the city hall. But I believe that this is not such an urgent issue in the work of the city executive committee as to create some kind of conflict here. We will resolve this issue in a working manner. All the more so since in a recent blitz interview with the newspaper "Volyn," Anton Fedorovych said that he remains a convinced Social Democrat...

– You had the courage to declare that the "French team" was not the right one. And the current one – is it?

– It is not proper to give assessments of a person a few weeks after their appointment. For now one thing is clear: the level of trust in the current head of the regional state administration among Volyn residents is no less than the authority of President Yushchenko in Ukraine. Volodymyr Bondar is a highly intelligent, strong-willed person with firm principles. Whether he will become a good leader, time will tell. Personally, I wish him to implement everything he declares. Although I believe that after Frantsuz, whoever sits in the governor's chair, for at least a year he will be much better for Volyn residents than his predecessor.

– Do you like being an oppositionist?

– Being in opposition is quite uncomfortable. But that does not frighten me. Being in opposition is a normal phenomenon, and it should be perceived accordingly. When everyone realizes this, then we will have a truly civilized, European state.

Interviewed by Oleksandr PYROZHYK