Authors: Shapoval Yu., Yakubets O.

Summary: The book is important for the process of decommunization in modern Ukraine. It contains a realistic biography of a figure who for more than 17 years (from May 1972 to September 1989) headed the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine, while being a member of the top political leadership of the USSR. Since the years of Volodymyr Shcherbytsky’s life (1918—1990) almost completely coincide with the period of existence of communized Ukraine, his biography is inscribed in the context of key socio-political and socio-economic processes in Ukraine in the twentieth century. The authors elaborated previously unavailable archival sources, scientific and memoir literature. The publication contains archival documents and some publications about him. The book contains illustrations. The importance of the study is to find out the internal mechanisms of the communist regime in Ukraine through the fate of one of its leaders, to understand the consequences of its activities and the functioning of the power structures headed by it. The authors sought to shed light on the essence of the political actions of the Ukrainian leadership, to analyze the preconditions for the collapse of communism in Ukraine and in the USSR.

ISBN 978-966-2789-26-3

Responsible institutions: Kuras Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies of NAS of Ukraine

Published: Kyiv

Other institutions: Institute of Krytyka ; Ukrainian Research Institute, Harvard University

Size in pages: 512

Print run: 1000