Adaptation of a Central Ukrainian Village to the Post-Soviet Reality (Exemplified by the Villages of Dmytrivka and Potaptsi in Kyiv and Cherkasy Regions)
Authors: Balushok Vasyl 
Published: November 2024

The Ukrainians have always been distinguished by an active social position and initiative. But the collective farming network (kolhosps) imposed by the USSR communist authorities have brought the hardworking Ukrainians into a heavy distress. Country people have recovered from it until recently. After Ukraine has been announced an independent state it takes a long time for the villagers to release their typical traits of having an active social position and taking an initiative. Thus, in 1990s the so-called farmers’ movement has abated and country people stuck habitually to the almost disabled collective and state farms (kolhosps and radhosps). Finally, in the second decade of modern independence, suddenly the situation has started changing fundamentally in a rapid pace. This article is based on the field material collected in 2022–2023 and analyzed according to the guidelines of the neoevolutionists (Marshal Salins, Serhii Arutiunov, etc.) regarding the adaptability of culture. Two cases of at least the Ukrainian village beginning to revive are considerd. These are the large village of Dmytrivka (not far from Kyiv) and the small village of Potaptsi (100 km far in Cherkasy region). Even these two examples illustrate a real recovery of the Ukrainian village from the Soviet regime, with its destructive collective farming network. Thus, in the first case (the village of Dmytrivka) transformation of the village into a province in Kyiv region, albeit without the corresponding status is described. The residents have been no longer involved into an agricultural activity, instead they are employed at enterprises, small businesses and institutions in Kyiv and Dmytrivka. Only some of them have small vegetable gardens and homestead lands, so no one can call them peasants. In case of Potaptsi, here the concept of village is preserved completely as it is. The residents lease their plots of land to the two farmers, as well as cultivate large vegetable gardens and run fairly large homesteads. Country people no longer keep cows, instead they prioritize poultry and bee keeping and rabbit breeding. Two farms in the neighboring villages of Pii and Chernyshi are specialized in the production of dairy goods. In Dmytrivka, which is the center of the amalgamated territorial community, the village head Taras Didych, has taken a great effort to preserve, reform and develop most of the services and institutions that have been operating since the Soviet times (school, House of Culture, medical institution, etc.). Unfortunately, all the issues haven’t survived in the village of Potaptsi practically. However, despite this fact, the village is reviving, albeit on modern grounds, people revive ancient Ukrainian country practices, such as rural homesteading, beekeeping, fish farming, as well as farming at least. It is facilitated by the general rise of living standards in the state, the availability of various farming and household appliances, motor vehicles, and information technologies. The residents are coming back to the village, first of all, those who were born there. They leave apartments for their grown up children in Kyiv and Cherkasy and move to Potaptsi. Their relatives, as well as their children, often follow them. Even the war started by the Russian descendants of the creators of the Soviet collective farming network cannot hinder the process. The initiative and hardworking Ukrainian peasantry having an active social position is being revived.