Kharkiv City Council
Kharkiv City Council Харківська міська рада | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type | |
| Type | |
| Leadership | |
Secretary | |
| Structure | |
| Seats | 85 |
 | |
Political groups | Government (44)
Opposition (41) |
| Elections | |
Last election | 2020 Kharkiv local elections |
| Meeting place | |
 | |
| City Council building, Kharkiv, Ukraine | |
| Website | |
| www | |
Kharkiv City Council (Ukrainian: Харківська міська рада) is the city council for the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, and is elected every five years to run the city's local government.[1]
History
[edit]
Creation
[edit]In 1905, workers at the city's enterprises established the first councils. On November 14, 1905, during the 1905 Revolution, members of the united Social Democrats (SD) and later by representatives of the workers at Malyshev Factory and Hammer and Sickle factory established the Kharkov Federal Council, which lasted until January 1906. Initially, the council consisted of 3 people from each of the Social Democratic factions. From November to December 1905, the council published a newspaper called Izvestia Federativnogo Soveta, which ran until the revolution in the city was suppressed.[2]
Russian Revolution
[edit]Following the February Revolution on March 2, 1917, the Kharkov Council of Workers' Deputies was created as an elected local government body. Later on March 8, the Kharkov Council of Soldiers' Deputies was created since WWI was still underway. Both the soldiers and workers councils were then united into the Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies on March 20.[1] Until after the October Revolution, the majority of the Kharkov Council were either Mensheviks or Socialist Revolutionaries. In 1917, the Kharkov Council created a workers' militia, and reforms were introduced. These included disarming the Police Department of Russia, introducing an 8-hour work day at all workplaces, creating a food rationing system, regulating labor relations, and regulating municipal economy and its other functions after the liquidation of the city council.[1] The Kharkov Council of Workers' Deputies remained throughout the Soviet era, where the first chairman was Mikhail Lazko (in 1917), and the last was Yevhen Kushnaryov (in 1990–1991).
In 1917, the Council existed for some time under conditions of dual power and tri-power: 1) the Russian Provisional Government (late February - early November); 2) the Provincial Public Committee headed by the Commissar and the Central Rada (April 6 - November 10); 3) the Provincial Ukrainian Rada headed by Mr. Rubas. At the same time, the former Kharkov City Duma also worked in 1917. On April 8, 1918, about the time of the 1918 Ukrainian coup d'état, the authorities of the German Empire abolished the councils that were set up in the city.[1]
World War II
[edit]From October 26, 1941, to April 30, 1943, with a short break in February–March 1943, the city was governed by the Nazi military administration, and Kharkov's city council was responsible for some functions of city government, including collecting taxes, organizing a census, regulating schools and businesses, and deporting certain populations (e.g. Jews) to other areas in Nazi Germany.[1] These were largely headed by the Ober-Burgomaster, under the control of the German military administration. The first Ober-Burgomaster was Wehrmacht Colonel Peters-Knotte (until January 1942), the last was Pavel Kozakevich (until April 30, 1943).[3]
Since the end of August 1943, the Kharkiv City Council has been working in the city without interruption.
Major events
[edit]
Status of the Russian language
[edit]Since Ukrainian independence in 1991, one major point of contention has been the status of the Russian language.
In 1996, the Kharkiv City Council decided to use Russian as a working language along with the state language of Ukrainian. However, the Supreme Court of Ukraine later declared this decision illegal.[4]
In the summer of 2000, the Kharkiv City Council again adopted a decision on the official use of both Russian and Ukrainian in the city's bodies and institutions.[5]
On March 31, 2002, a consultative referendum was held in Kharkiv, where 87% of voters agreed to give Russian official status in the areas that are within the jurisdiction of the Kharkiv City Council.[6]
On March 6, 2006, the Kharkiv City Council decided to recognize Russian as a regional language.[7][8] Later, a prosecutor appealed this decision to the regional Court of Appeals.[9] On February 6, 2007, the court rejected the prosecutor's appeal, leaving the city council's decision in force.[10]
On July 4, 2007, the Kharkiv City Council enshrined in the city charter the provision that the Russian language is a regional language in the territory of the city of Kharkiv.[11]
On August 20, 2012, after the Verkhovna Rada adopted the law on languages (Закон України «Про засади державної мовної політики»), the city council approved Russian as the regional language of communication and office work. On the territory of the city of Kharkiv, the following areas may be conducted in Russian: acts of the city council and its executive bodies, officials; names of state authorities and local governments, associations of citizens, enterprises, institutions and organizations are written, inscriptions on their seals and stamps, official forms and plates; documentation of local referendums is drawn up; Ukrainian and Russian were used in the work and office work of local governments and in correspondence with higher-level state authorities; texts of official announcements and messages were written in the state language and distributed in Russian.[12]
Since January 16, 2021, all meetings of the city council, in accordance with the language law on the protection of the Ukrainian language, are held exclusively in Ukrainian.[13]
Composition
[edit]Following the 2020 Kharkiv local elections, the elected composition of the council is as follows:
- Kernes Bloc — Successful Kharkiv (34)
- Servant of the People (10)
- Opposition Platform – For Life (19)
- European Solidarity (9)
- Party of Shariy (7)
- Svitlychna Bloc "Together! (6)
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e National Academy of Educational Sciences of Ukraine; H.S. Skovoroda Kharkiv National Pedagogical University; Mykola Yarmachenko [in Ukrainian]; Ivan Prokopenko [in Ukrainian] (1994). "Харьков". Родной край (in Ukrainian). Kharkiv: Основа. pp. 158, 582. ISBN 5-7768-0233-4.
- ^ A. Armysh; Serhiy Posokhov [in Ukrainian]; Arkadiy Epshtein [in Russian]; Petro Tronko (2004). "Харьков в 1905-1907 г.г.". История города Харькова XX века (in Ukrainian). Kharkiv: Фолио, Золотые страницы. pp. 102, 105. ISBN 966-03-2649-1.
- ^ A. Armysh; Serhiy Posokhov [in Ukrainian]; Arkadiy Epshtein [in Russian]; Petro Tronko (2004). "Установление в Харькове "нового порядка". История города Харькова XX века (in Ukrainian). Kharkiv: Фолио, Золотые страницы. pp. 338–339. ISBN 966-03-2649-1.
- ^ «Голос Украины». Киев. 1 марта 2002 года.
- ^ «Голос Украины». Киев. 13 июля 2001 года.
- ^ "www.rdu.org.ua/news". Archived from the original on 2007-09-30. Retrieved 2012-09-06.
- ^ "Lenta.ru: Украина: В Харькове русский язык стал официальным". Archived from the original on 2007-11-16. Retrieved 2012-09-06.
- ^ Решение городского совета Харькова от 6 марта 2006 года: «Признать русский язык в г. Харькове региональным языком в определении Европейской хартии региональных языков или языков меньшинств. Установить, что Харьковский городской совет, его исполнительные органы в своей работе и в официальных документах, сообщениях, объявлениях используют наряду с украинским (государственный язык) русский язык (региональный язык) — языки работы, делопроизводства и документации (рабочие языки)».
- ^ "В Харькове русский язык все еще имеет особый статус" (in Russian). mediaport.info. 2006-12-14. Archived from the original on 2008-10-11.
- ^ "Русский язык в Харькове (Украина) остаётся в статусе регионального" (in Russian). Новости Украины ИА REGNUM. Archived from the original on 2012-11-24.
- ^ "Харьковский горсовет признал русский региональным языком". Archived from the original on 2007-09-29. Retrieved 2012-09-06.
- ^ За принятие решения о признании русского региональным языком общения и делопроизводства 20.08.2012 г. проголосовали 76 депутатов Харьковского городского совета из 80 зарегистрировавшихся. Izvestia.kharkov.ua Archived 2013-05-09 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Deutsche Welle (www.dw.com). "Закон о госязыке: в сфере услуг теперь только украинский | DW | 16.01.2021". DW.COM (in Russian). Archived from the original on 2021-02-04. Retrieved 2021-03-13.