# The Society of the Lion
[Tovarystvo Leva: Lion Society](https://preview.redd.it/s2anwr1ln7ud1.png?width=1339&format=png&auto=webp&s=f2af8c634542d85f285a21f11e4e9c2a17201487)
In the 1980s, Ukraine was a very interesting place to be[.](https://imgur.com/a/gprCclt) The period of Stagnation that clamped down on anything that was achieved during the brief but so vital period known as the Thaw, was changed by Perestroika, a last attempt by the russian empire, aka the ussr, to keep its grip on its colonies (“republics”) intact.
**This was not a voluntary change like so many naively think.** It was a response to a weak economy, a crisis of power, and aged infrastructure that made it literally impossible to continue to hold firmly the vast conquered territories. And so they tried a carrot instead of a stick, calling it Perestroika (“Rebuilding”) and cozying up to western powers who clearly won the cold war.
This sudden relaxing of the police state’s grip began to allow for some initiatives to flower, and before long one of the strongest emerged in Lviv, called The Society of the Lion, an informal group of young people who wanted to more than be a widget in the ussr machine.
They banded together, with an inception date of October 16th, 1987, at first as a purely cultural and ethnographical society and even shrewdly established itself under the organization of communist youth.
Its mission was to “reject the Soviet traditions as inauthentic and falsified, and to challenge its status in culture.” At the same time they wanted to redefine what it means to be a Ukrainian and what it means to be a citizen of a state – seeing the truth clearly despite decades of being forced to view their own culture through a russian lens. But without overexaggerating, this little movement played an outsized role in the struggle for the restoration of Ukrainian statehood in the second half of the 1980s.
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# The Roar
[Lion Society-related images, late 1980s](https://preview.redd.it/6pn4p3qtz7ud1.png?width=2200&format=png&auto=webp&s=2093ba91be13114946281d5d2b72f8c2fd7ea586)
The Lion Society leadership started small. Their first major initiative was to organize a volunteer day to clean up and work on the restorations of monuments at the Lychakiv Cemetery. But they ramped up fast!
Why the lion? Well, the city of Lviv literally means “lion”. You can read more about the city’s thousand-year-old history in these sunrise posts: [Lviv Early History](https://www.reddit.com/r/ukraine/comments/vbsarl/446_eest_the_sun_is_rising_on_the_111th_day_of/) | [Lviv 19th Century](https://www.reddit.com/r/ukraine/comments/vdagzl/446_eest_the_sun_is_rising_on_the_113th_day_of/) | [Lviv 20th Century](https://www.reddit.com/r/ukraine/comments/ve1ljd/446_eest_the_sun_is_rising_on_the_114th_day_of/) | [Lviv 21st Century](https://www.reddit.com/r/ukraine/comments/vevk80/446_eest_the_sun_is_rising_on_the_115th_day_of/). Lions have been associated with the city and region of Halychyna since the early 14th century!
In the fall of 1987, the Society organized an evening dedicated to the memory of Vasyl Symonenko. We wrote about this amazing person, and his tragic life cut short, in [this sunrise post](https://www.reddit.com/r/ukraine/comments/10t4u87/729_eet_the_sun_is_rising_on_the_346th_day_of_the/). This memorial gained scandalous attention because it was one of the first times that major Ukrainian political dissidents Vyacheslav Chornovil and Mykhailo Horyn spoke after their release from russian prison.
Soon after, they organized a concert dedicated to Volodymyr Ivasiuk, another Ukrainian luminary killed by russians. We wrote about him [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/ukraine/comments/uhwg6w/528_eest_the_sun_is_rising_on_the_70th_day_of_the/). Later, the society became associated with many concerts and festivals.
[Concert in Lviv. The sign says \\”You’re invited by Lion Society\\”](https://preview.redd.it/cp9j8yiy38ud1.png?width=1800&format=png&auto=webp&s=edc066807eeb9c9798ba951b14ce2fa11ce029ff)
The Society also made it their priority to revive Ukrainian folk traditions (nativity plays, haivky, the [Night of Ivan Kupalo](https://www.reddit.com/r/ukraine/comments/vseh8o/454_eest_the_sun_is_rising_on_the_133rd_day_of/) festivities, etc.) and organized ethnographic expeditions to collect songs and traditions, as many aspects of Ukrainian culture were on the verge of extinction due to long decades of neglect and suppression by the communist regime. In 1988 they organized a nature expedition that still runs to this day. They revitalized some practices that had been all but destroyed by the soviet system, including the unique art of Havaretska ceramics, which we will write about in the future.
[1988 Exhibition postcard for Havaretska ceramics, which the society helped to revitalize.](https://preview.redd.it/8jrizokr18ud1.png?width=1301&format=png&auto=webp&s=363aa9c5c04ebb5b27fec1695938207741038294)
The members of the Society even sought connections to Ukrainian communities outside of Ukraine. My sister, a member of the Society herself, shared stories about an expedition to Zelenyi Klyn (often called “Green Ukraine”), an area in the the far east of russia exclusively populated by Ukrainian farmers. They also organized with the diaspora in Canada!
In the spring of 1989, Society activists began publishing one of Ukraine’s first independent newspapers. Called Postup, it was distributed hand to hand – including by “mules” like my father and… yours truly (though I barely remember anything from that young age, I will still take a little credit!).
[A page from Postup, 1990.](https://preview.redd.it/h97suqlkr7ud1.png?width=1500&format=png&auto=webp&s=4a8910bf519ceb37d801287813f0b4a578d4434c)
Inspired by the successful work of the Society, similar initiatives were established in other cities in Ukraine, and from its ranks many cultural and political leaders emerged over the years.
**One of the most evocative moments as the soviet union crumbled was the detainment of Lion Society members who attended the 1989 Chervona Ruta festival. Their crime? Wearing yellow blouses with blue skirts. In russian words, “extreme nationalism”.**
You can see Vasyl Zhdankin, one of the most amazing folk singers, perform at Chervona Ruta in 1989, and admonish the police for their brutality, in [this sunrise post translation video.](https://www.reddit.com/r/ukraine/comments/15661y8/511_eest_the_sun_is_rising_over_kyiv_on_the_514th/)
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# The Lion’s Share
[More Lion Society-related images](https://preview.redd.it/ury2yjz708ud1.png?width=2000&format=png&auto=webp&s=b3113ff686d6ff6391a4dac9f6bec5fdc2150c80)
Maybe the best the role of The Society of Lion in the end of the USSR, is described by one of its members – today a professor at Lviv’s Art Academy – Ihor Havryshkevych:
“Very quickly, those who were thirsty for the ancient Ukrainian traditions, rallied around it.
>Soon, the process of reviving these traditions, regardless of the actual mission of the Society of the Lion, became an explosion of the struggle for \[national -ed.\] freedom.
>The entire society was so compressed by the fear of prohibitions that it resembled a powder keg. The fuse of that powder keg was lit when the Society of the Lion organized the first Haivky \[festivities dedicated to Spring – ed.\] near the church in the Shevchenkivskyi Grove in Lviv in 1988 – and many people realized that it was possible not only to revive national traditions but also to preserve memory, without fear.
>The Society’s wise moderation in all its subsequent pro-Ukrainian initiatives quickly attracted the attention of Ukrainian, Baltic, and other dissidents. It was here that the idea of encompassing all of Ukraine with a youth movement was born, leading to the creation of the Student Brotherhood in 1988, as well as the formation of numerous chapters of the Taras Shevchenko Ukrainian Language Society and the Ukrainian Cultural Club in Kyiv.
>From everything that was happening at the time, it gave the impression that the Society of the Lion had so precisely and timely ignited the fire of freedom that it consistently spread across the entire enslaved Ukrainian nation, leading them into an uncompromising struggle for freedom, which was later united by the People’s Movement of Ukraine and culminated in victory in 1991.”
With time, the cultural prominence of Lion Society faded a bit as other initiatives began to take priority. However, the group still exists today but its activities are mostly in Lviv. However, we need to give the Society its due, as one has to wonder how the world would look today if not for this group of young, hopeful people who literally changed the course of Ukrainian history and the history of the world.
And perhaps it is a little selfish of me, but I also want to share that my very most favorite memory of my older sister is when I saw her radiant young face beaming with happiness when she would return from the Society’s weekly meeting. Her relaxed smile is all I needed to understand the difference between the freedom of expression and oppression.
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**The Hymn of the Society of The Lion**
*Written by Oleh Pokalchuk*
>Before dawn the shadows grow deep,
>Before the storm it’s harder to breathe,
>Hey, Society, in every plight
>We won’t abandon friends to their fate,
>We praise the light of free ideas
>In the midst of our homeland’s night,
>Happiness from God, glory from men
>We do not seek, but earn!
>Together — forward! Step by step!
>The people’s movement’s steel advance,
>We will tear stars from the sky,
>We swore allegiance to the Lion!
>Our land, the source and the flame —
>Before this we kneel,
>The spirit of the Kobzar and shades of Lychakiv spirits
>Commanded us to claim what’s ours.
>Eternal memory of our fathers
>We won’t tarnish with servile silence,
>And we’ll honor till the end of days
>The wisdom of enlightenment, but not preaching.
>Together — forward! Step by step!
>The people’s movement’s steel advance,
>We will tear stars from the sky,
>We swore allegiance to the Lion!
>Fatigue and fear will stalk us,
>Betrayal and mistakes, but surely,
>The heavens will yet embroider the Lion
>In morning sunlight on our banners.
>Brothers, let us stand strong, we are worthy,
>Ukraine herself has asked us for this.
>There will be no tomorrow if we don’t
>Protect it from the unholy forces!
>Together — forward! Step by step!
>The people’s movement’s steel advance,
>We will tear stars from the sky,
>We swore allegiance to the Lion!
I think, after reading this poem, you will understand why the independent spirit of Lion Society is as relevant as ever!
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The 962nd day of a ten-year invasion that has been going on for centuries[.](https://imgur.com/a/bh0O7OJ)
One day closer to victory.
# 🇺🇦 HEROIAM SLAVA! 🇺🇦
Source: duellingislands