A Man Incapable of Adapting to Injustice
One year has passed since the untimely death of Dr. James Mace, human rights champion, American scholar, professor, and researcher of the Ukrainian Holodomor. Starting off as a researcher of Ukraine’s past, James Mace came to be a citizen of Ukraine: he was pained to see Ukraine experiencing failures on its way to genuine democracy and sincerely rejoiced over its successes. Journalists at The Day feel privileged to have worked alongside this extraordinary American, who was both their colleague and a like-minded person always open to sharing opinions.
James Mace began researching Ukraine’s contemporary history when the Soviet Union still seemed unshakable, and nobody suspected that the “kingdom has been numbered, weighed, and divided” (the Biblical warning “Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin”). The main results of his research was a four-volume report: one volume of documentary evidence from Soviet archives that had been shipped to Germany during World War II (Soviet archives were closed to researchers at the time), and three volumes of chilling eyewitness accounts from famine survivors. Speaking at a James Mace jubilee, one Holodomor witness said that this American man wept while listening to accounts of Ukrainian sufferings.
A characteristic trait of Dr. Mace was his inability to adapt to injustice, no matter where it occurred: in the US, Ukraine, or any other place on earth. This made him markedly different from many of us - people who either become accustomed to the horrible order of things or crusade for justice selectively, depending on the circumstances, nationality, and time. James always maintained his lofty moral standards, which appealed to people. As the writer, scholar, public figure, and former prisoner of conscience, Yevhen Sverstiuk, rightly noted, “To do good to Ukraine, one doesn’t necessarily have to be a Ukrainian. One simply has to be a human.” Unfortunately, the opposite is also true. Think of all those Ukrainians who only do harm to their fatherland. They are either indifferent people or the kind that prefer to forget the tragic pages of our history, thereby cancelling out not only these pages but Ukraine itself. These are people who still live in the suffocating fog of nostalgia for the old regime, which to them is a veritable heaven on earth. Didn’t their ancestors, the Cossack rebels, create and live under a system of collegial (now known as democratic) self-governance as far back as the middle ages? The Ukrainian Cossacks preferred to be killed in action rather then surrender to oppressors.
James Mace began researching the problems and tragedies of the Soviet Union during his university studies. His doctoral dissertation, “Communism and the Dilemmas of National Liberation: National Communism in Soviet Ukraine, 1919-33,” was published by Harvard University Press. When Dr. Mace began studying the problems of the artificial famine of the 1930s in Ukraine, he had absolutely no access to the main sources of information, i.e., authentic Soviet documents, which were classified. Thus, the young scholar embarked on what later turned into large-scale research and investigations that lasted his whole life. In 1986 he was appointed staff director of the US Congress Commission on the Ukraine Famine. That was when he was spotted by the Soviet press, which quickly branded him as “a fabricator of history,” “a liar,” and “a false friend of the Ukrainians,” etc. In the eyes of honest individuals these accusations were a badge of honor. Meanwhile, his works were being published in many languages in several Western countries.
When he was allowed to come to Ukraine in the new era, James Mace supplemented his research with several volumes of accounts by eyewitnesses and victims of the Ukrainian Holodomor. The outpouring of grief at his untimely death is not surprising. His widow, the well-known Ukrainian writer Natalia Dziubenko, received hundreds of telegrams of condolences from every continent.
Below are a few excerpts from James Mace’s column in The Day.
“Ukraine still lacks a market economy because of the formal and especially informal (shadow) role of state structures, monopolization (legal and illegal), along with the lack of any legal security for market transactions (supremacy of telephone law). An investor coming to this country from what used to be called the Free World simply does not know what he is buying, and if he thinks he can take control of it, he can be unceremoniously thrown out, handed back his usually devalued hryvnias, and bidden a fond farewell. Of course, in a competitive world, nobody with serious money is going to put it into such an environment. They will put it where they know what they are buying and that, once owners, they can change the management for those they think can do a better job. Until that is the case in the former Soviet Union, one can forget about serious Western investment. All one can do is wait to see how much others from the same environment can buy, bribe, and then take over well out of the public eye.”
“While I might be less than optimistic about the likely result, because I consider the society that will produce it somewhat less than healthy, I appreciate the effort. Ukraine has serious and deep-seated problems, but at least in this election campaign I see some effort to address them.”
“After six years in Ukraine I can’t help noticing that life here follows different laws than those of America or Western Europe. I can’t help noticing the changes and realize that not all of them are for the better. My goal as an instructor of American political science at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy is not to prove the excellence of the American system, which is far from perfect. We must recognize, however, that so far it has been quite a successful system, its weaknesses notwithstanding.”
“It is necessary, indeed crucial, to judge the Ukrainian reality by the standards of the civilized Western world. Because, whether it is fair or not, this world dominates our planet. And if the people of the new independent state want to live decently on this planet, they must adapt to the successful experiments of mankind.”
“I am a historian, and I am drawn to where the winds of history are blowing. A strong and turbulent wind of history is raging over Ukraine. Much is being decided here: not only the future of a newly formed country but also Europe’s future, or perhaps — and I am certain beyond any doubt — the future of the international community as well. It is not just about opening a new market or a new political division or new orientation. It is primarily about opening Ukraine’s lofty spiritual heights to the world. And this will be at least partial compensation for the talented and industrious nation for the paths of suffering it has traversed throughout the centuries. This is my dream and hope.”
“I am proud that after World War II America could play a modest role in Germany’s return to itself as the land of Goethe, Beethoven, and Mozart away from the nightmare of blood the Nazis led it to.”
“I long ago came to the conclusion that whether we address our God as Jehovah, Allah, or whatever else some prophet might come up, with is no reason to fight or kill each other. Trained as a historian, I know how a thousand years ago, when they took Jerusalem, the Crusaders waded up to their knees in blood and wrote how it was right and just because it was, after all, the blood of infidels. But that was a thousand years ago. One hopes that in that time not only technology but human morality, public and political morality, has changed.”
“Yet, things always change. With time, will, and some friendly guidance from the EU members themselves, this country has a chance for membership at some point in the future. This is why a number of EU member states are unwilling to shut the door as firmly as this Euro-bureaucrat would. Yet this is not the point.”
“I respect The Day for the civic courage to speak the truth, no matter how bitter it might be; for its analytical mind; for covering problems of science, culture, economics, and politics while remaining fully geared toward its readers; for being a small, but not solitary, brave island of truth and freethinking at a critical and fateful moment for Ukrainians. Our readers are with us.”
