A roundtable discussion on the recently published Encyclopedia of Rusyn History and Culture (edited by Paul Robert Magocsi and Ivan Pop) took place April 5, 2003 at the annual convention of the Association for the Study of Nationalities at Columbia University. During this discussion University of Toronto Prof. Taras Kuzio stated that there are no data on the number of Rusyns living in the Transcarpathian Region. He emphasized that he does not deny that there are Rusyns living in Transcarpathia, but simply that there are no specific statistical data to suggest their presence. Kuzio added that the recent 2001 census of population in Ukraine could have been helpful in providing such needed data, but that the census did not permit Rusyns to declare their national identity as “Rusyn.”

This is an intriguing situation: on the one hand, the Ukrainian government in Kiev did not allow Rusyns in Transcarpathia to be counted in the census, while on the other hand, a Ukrainian scholar from Canada demands data on the number of Rusyns in Transcarpathia. What’s wrong with this picture?

There is certainly nothing wrong with Prof. Kuzio’s demand. He needs statistical information on the number of Rusyns in Transcarpathia for research purposes. And Prof. Kuzio is not the only person interested in such statistical data. Rusyns themselves (and perhaps others) were certainly hoping that the census would support their claims about the Rusyn ethnic structure of the region – while some Ukrainian (and perhaps other) opponents of the Rusyn cause might have hoped that the census would have shown the demographic insignificance of the Rusyn ethnos.

The census data would most likely have lowered the 650 000 figure that is claimed in some Rusyn publications. At the same time the data would most certainly have contradicted the notion of the “universal Ukrainianness” of Transcarpathia that is presented in many Ukrainian publications. Whatever the hopes regarding the outcome of census information might have been, the absence of official data puts them all to rest.

One might ask why the Ukrainian government declined to give Rusyns the option of identifying themselves as such and why they were instead counted as Ukrainians [any census responder who described himself/herself as “Rusyn” was later categorized as “Ukrainian”]. Why would the government of a purportedly democratic European country attempt such a deception?

Another Ukrainian scholar from Canada present during the discussion, Roman Senkus, stated that the decision not to allow for a Rusyn identity option was, “...stupid.” Senkus did not otherwise elaborate.

Some might consider “stupidity” to be a sufficient explanation for Kiev’s policy, but it’s not good enough for me. I believe that the policy was not merely “stupid,” but a deliberate, calculated continuation of Kiev’s campaign of cultural forced assimilation against the Rusyn population. The reader need only refer to the infamous “Plan of Measures in Respect to Resolution of Problems of Ukrainian-Rusyns (1996).

Considering Kiev’s long-lived opposition to absolutely anything and everything Rusyn, it is logical that Kiev would not welcome evidence that Rusyns (and - God forbid - a substantial number!) should be found to be residing in Transcarpathia. With that “discovery” would come the need to grant this unwanted minority group political recognition and financial support for its cultural activities. Most likely there would also be more monitoring and more pressure from NGOs both at home and abroad.

All that just to gain an accurate grasp of demographic reality? Nah. Better just to resort to the old, tried and true methods of the Communists who used to bend reality to fit their agendas. So Kiev decided to put off the inevitable by denying the existence of Rusyns in much the same way that the Russians once denied the existence of Ukrainians. It’s too bad that Ukrainian leaders haven’t been better students of their own history as a repressed minority rather than of the Russian’s own history as a repressive, dominant majority.

So, what is the political consequence of Kiev’s supposed “stupidity”? No Rusyns registered in the census equals no political recognition of Rusyns and no financial support for Rusyn cultural activities. It gives the Ukrainian government ten more years (till the next census) to teach these Rusyns that they are not ...Rusyns, but confused Ukrainians. Well, maybe Rusyns are slow learners, but Kiev’s policy will do nothing more than prolong for another decade the international uncertainly over the Rusyn question in Transcarpathia.

Many more scholars (with all due respect for Prof. Kuzio and his demand) will continue to ask for demographic data on Rusyns in Transcarpathia. Others with less honorable motives will argue that – surprise! - research into Rusyns is impossible due to the lack of statistical data. Still other scholars will innocently conclude that there are no Rusyns in Transcarpathia.

Well, here’s the bad news that Kiev will sooner or later have to face: some people know the truth and will tell the truth.

The word is already out on Kiev’s manipulation of the census data.

When Ukraine makes its pitch for membership in the EU, the Rusyn “problem” it prefers to ignore will become one of the obstacles to its admission.

Already today, some parties - perhaps aware of Kiev’s conspiracy to undermine Rusyns? - would rather follow what Prof. Piotr Wróbel of the University of Toronto has termed, the “imperialism of ethnic minorities.” In his recent book: Post-Communist Ukraine (2002) Bohdan Harasymiw presents the existence of 600 000 Rusyns in Transcarpathia (thus encompassing the majority of the Eastern Slavic population of the region) as a fact (a statement that has been – another surprise! – criticized by Prof. Kuzio in his review of the book).

Taking all of this under consideration, perhaps we should conclude with a comment made by Prof. Alexander Motyl of Rutgers University. Addressing the issue of whether the Encyclopedia of Rusyn History and Culture threatens the integrity of the Ukrainian state, Motyl immediately concluded that it does not. He went on to say that the only way in which the book could do that is if the state itself were so “wretched” and “miserable” that a simple book could cause its collapse. If that was the case – he said – then Ukraine needs to make a long, hard look at itself and make significant reforms before it can begin to address the Rusyn question.

[After this text had been completed came the release of the Ukrainian census results. Surprisingly, 10,200 Rusyns are listed there. Surprisingly, because Rusyns were not to be listed – but is it really a surprise? No, it is not much of a surprise at all! The number is what it was supposed to be: small. Although in every situation like this one the group that believes it's underrepresented in the census results should first point at itself - it seems that in this case, discriminatory practices by the Ukrainian government have to be pointed at first. How reliable can be the data from a census during which the census takers were instructed in a special manual - the existence of which we have now learned - that there is no Rusyn nationality and the Rusyn answers should be marked as Ukrainian? In such a situation one has to ask: where was the released number of Rusyns taken from? On the other hand, if that is the number of Rusyns that was somehow "smuggled in," why did only 10,200 Rusyns out of the claimed six hundred and fifty thousand manage to register as Rusyns?

The release of the Rusyn results once again proves that there is no stupidity on the part of the Ukrainian government involved here – on the contrary, the Rusyn issue is being dealt with systematically and with the goal of “resolving it” (in the Soviet style). If someone asks for the statistical data on Rusyns it’s available in the census results, and the number is ten thousand and not six hundred and fifty thousand! That’s not stupid – that’s clever. First manipulate the census as much as you can, then give the world the data. The problem (for the Ukrainian government) is that these methods are known all too well to actually fool anybody.]

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