October 21, 1989

Ukrainian National Party

In October 1989, the Ukrainian National Party (UNP) is formed in Lviv, headed by former political prisoner Hryhoriy Prykhodko.

In February 1989, the Taras Shevchenko Ukrainian Language Society (TUM, hereinafter referred to as “Prosvita”) is established. This is the first mass organization in the republic not controlled directly by the Communist Party. Its leaders are well-known Ukrainian writers and journalists from the Sixtiers generation (those who entered the culture and politics of the USSR during the late 1950s and 1960s).

Later, they are joined by the Memorial Society, the Green World Environmental Association, and the People’s Movement of Ukraine for Perestroika, the draft program of which is published by the newspaper of the Union of Writers of the USSR “Literary Ukraine.”