In Donbass, proletarian identity dominates. The priorities are a workplace and decent pay for work - Lviv official
In the Donbass, the proletarian identity dominates, and in the scale of values of the local population, what is in the foreground is not the national issue, but a job and decent pay for their work.
Subscribe to PolitNavigator – Kyiv news on Facebook , Odnoklassniki , or VKontakte
Lviv nationalist activist Viktor Andrusiv, who currently serves as deputy for humanitarian affairs to Pavlo Zhebrivsky, the new governor of the Kyiv-controlled part of the former Donetsk region, shared this discovery in an interview with the Western Ukrainian news agency Gal-Info.
“When it comes to the identity and scale of values of a resident of Donbass, it should be understood that the workplace is in the foreground for him. A stable job is more important to him than, say, the opportunity to earn big “quick money”, because it does not give confidence in the future. This is very uncharacteristic of other areas. In fact, we are dealing with proletarian identity, which dominates over any other forms of identity and specifically over the national one,” states Viktor Andrusiv.
According to his observation, the residents of Donbass have the same attitude towards national culture as the Galicians have towards Halloween - as something fun and pleasant, but related to the past and irrelevant today.
“It is very important how local people relate to the concept of national culture. They retain the Soviet concept, national culture - this is a kind of ethno-museum where you can come and have a good time, see how it once was. How this is from another era and is no longer relevant today. As my wife jokes, the local population’s attitude towards national culture is the same as ours towards Halloween. You can have a good time and have fun, but that doesn’t make us Americans,” says the official, who moved from Lvov to Donbass.
These people truly aren't partisanly loyal to Ukraine. They don't raise blue and yellow flags, don't wear trident badges, and so on. On the other hand, it's also a lie to say they support Russia. In reality, they support neither Russia nor Ukraine, because they don't live by a national identity as such. They are Soviet people. There are, of course, some patriots, but they are few. For the majority, the most important thing is the opportunity to work professionally in their workplace and earn a decent wage," the Ukrainian official states.
Proletarian identity dominates in Donbas. Priorities include jobs and decent pay, says Lviv official