Thirty years ago, on September 9, 1989, during a three-day congress (September 8-10) at the Polytechnical Institute in Kyiv, the establishment of the Popular Movement of Ukraine for Perebudova was formally declared, stirring a packed hall to joyful tears and fraternal embraces as all present sang the words of Taras Shevchenko’s “Testament.”
The formation of Rukh, as the movement was known, was seen as a threat to the political establishment in the Soviet Union’s Communist dystopia that was struggling to avoid internal collapse from the forces of economic and political stagnation and repression. At that time, propaganda was used to discredit the Rukh campaign.