Yuriy Shchur
The Ukrainian city of Mariupol has been known in all corners of our planet for three years. The heroic defense of the city from the Russians and the genocidal crimes of the latter forced thousands of pairs of eyes to closely follow the unprecedented events.
During World War II, especially during the years of German occupation, a fairly powerful underground of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists operated in the territory of the modern Donetsk region. The OUN included both Ukrainians and Russian-speaking Ukrainians and Russians. It is clear that with the return of Soviet power, its special services waged a fairly serious struggle against the nationalists. Despite this, the ideas of the OUN took root quite deeply and the anti-Soviet struggle continued in the late 1940s and early 1950s. A vivid example of this is the activity of the organization “Freedom of Labor” in Mariupol.
In July 1949, in the city of Mariupol, Donetsk region (then the city of Zhdanov, Stalin region), the organization “Freedom of Labor” was established among young workers of the Azovstal plant (a total of 15 people were involved in the case). All members of the organization were graduates of factory training schools (FZU).
The main task of the organization was to fight against the Soviet government, in particular by creating an underground anti-Soviet organization, discrediting Soviet authorities and carrying out terrorist attacks on Soviet and party activists.
Expecting that a war between the Western Allies and the USSR would begin in the near future, the members of the organization intended to go underground and create an armed unit to fight against the Soviet government. They expected to receive weapons from the underground OUN, with whom they planned to fight for the independence of Ukraine.
The leader of the organization was a native of Kyiv region, Vitaliy Seredyuk (born in 1928). During August-September 1949, he established contact with workers of the Azovstal plant, Ivan Rudy and Vasyl Tarasyuk, who lived in a dormitory. Later, they were joined by other workers of Azovstal, who joined the underground organization.
In February 1950, each member of the organization signed an oath in blood, in which he pledged to fight against the Soviet authorities and the Bolshevik Party.
Seredyuk personally developed the organization’s charter and organizational structure. The charter, in particular, stated: “A member of the organization is obliged to lead the preparation of a national-democratic government that would defend the national interests of the broad masses of the Ukrainian people.”
When joining the organization, each newcomer had to write his biography, receive two recommendations from active members of the organization, and take an oath.
The structure of the organization provided for the following governing bodies:
- The Chairman (Seredyuk), who exercised general leadership;
- The Secretary of the organization (Derevianko);
- The Agitation and Propaganda Department (Rud);
- The Military Department (Kharchenko), which was to be engaged in the appropriate training of the organization’s members, and after the transition to an illegal position, the head of the department was to lead the armed militia;
- The Legal Department (Zbroj), whose head was tasked with developing a criminal code, and after the transition to an illegal position, to perform the duties of a prosecutor, consider the cases of captured Soviet workers, and pronounce sentences.
After the transition to an illegal position, it was planned to create a counterintelligence department under the governing body of “Freedom of Labor”.
The organization “Freedom of Labor” also had its own emblem – a trident, a flag, a seal, and membership cards. The latter, designed personally by Seredyuk, depicted a stylized trident on a background of the sun, under it two crossed red flags, the tops of which were yellow and blue; between the flagpoles was a symbol of labor – a sickle and a hammer. On the second page, under the slogan “Workers of all countries unite!”, it was marked “Membership card of the union “Freedom of Labor”, its number, surname, first name and patronymic, signature of the head of the union, personal signature of the member and date of issue.
In April 1950, Seredyuk instructed the organization’s members to take regular vacations at the factory and leave for their parents’ place of residence, and then gather in the village of Shelpakhivka, Khrystynivka district, Cherkasy region, in Rudya, from where the whole group would go to the forest for the activities of the armed department.
Rud and Denysenko, on Seredyuk’s instructions, went to the Haisyn district of the Vinnytsia region, where they were to find a place in advance to hide the members of the organization.
Zbroj went to the then Ladyzhyn district of the Kyiv region (since 1954 – part of the Cherkasy region, liquidated in 1959). He was given all the organization’s documents for safekeeping. In addition, he was given the task of cutting out a font from rubber for printing anti-Soviet leaflets. He was also to establish the location of a cash register where significant amounts of money were kept in some collective farm or Soviet institution, with the aim of requisitioning them for the needs of the organization.
After completing all the tasks, Rud and Zbroj were to notify Seredyuk by a conventional letter or telegram and await the arrival of other members of the organization. The place of deployment of the insurgents The Vinnytsia region was chosen as the location of the department. As the underground members themselves explained, there were few military units in the region and the probability of failure was lower. Armed actions were planned to be carried out in the Kyiv region, where most of the members of “Freedom of Labor” were from.
These intentions were not realized. Unfortunately, we do not know the circumstances under which the youth anti-Soviet organization was exposed. We only note that the MGB Departments of the Stalin and Vinnytsia regions jointly carried out arrests in the case, as a result of which, as of the beginning of the summer of 1950, “Freedom of Labor” ceased to exist.
Already during the investigation of the case, through investigative and intelligence-operational actions, it was possible to establish that Rud and Tarasenko had indoctrinated some other Azovstal employees in an anti-Soviet spirit, who were preparing to be involved in the organization. We are talking about five former students of the Mariupol FZO: mechanic Kifarenko of the mechanical shop, driver of the electric crane of the blast furnace shop Metanovsky, assistant steelworker Batyuk, mechanic Harkavenko and turner of the rail-beam shop Bondarenko. All of them knew about the existence of “Freedom of Labor” and maintained contacts with its participants, and Kifarenko, Bondarenko and Harkavenko had already agreed to join it. It should be noted that of the five sympathizers of the organization, only two were arrested in the case – Kifarenko and Batyuk.
By the decision of the Military Tribunal, Seredyuk, Rud and Derevyanko were sentenced to death (shooting). Tarasyuk, Zbroy, Dobryansky, Kachan, Zdoryev, Denisyuk, Kharchenko, Motuz, Rakhnyansky and Kifarenko received 25 years in a labor camp. Batiuk and Heisman each received 8 years in camps.
The activities of “Freedom of Labor” are a vivid episode in the history of the Ukrainian nationalist movement in the Dnieper region of the early 1950s. Vivid, but not the only one. The network of centers and organizations covered many regions of Ukraine on both sides of the Dnieper.
