Radomyr Mokryk: The Birth of Dissent in Ukraine

The new book by Ukrainian Historian Radomyr Mokryk, Zrození disentu: šedesátníci a tání na Ukrajině (The Birth of Dissent: The ‘60s Generation and the Thaw in Ukraine), tells the story of a group of Ukrainian writers, poets, literary critics and intellectuals who shaped the cultural opposition to the Soviet regime in Ukraine during Khrushchev’s “thaw”, becoming known as the “’60s generation”. The gradual revelation of the historical crimes of the Soviet government, an understanding of the policy of Russification and opposition to official censorship led this generation to dissent. The book traces the fate of Ukrainian intellectuals and their transformation from relatively loyal Soviet citizens into dissidents. It illuminates the colonial nature of Russian-Ukrainian relations in the period, a fact that ultimately drove the emergence of the Ukrainian dissent.