Jacobin Radio: The Legacy of Revolutionary Ukraine w/ Vladyslav Starodubtsev

Jacobin Radio

Jacobin

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🗓️ 20 August 2025

⏱️ 85 minutes

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Summary

Ukrainian left activist, historian, and soldier Vladyslav Starodubtsev joins Suzi to connect two moments, separated by more than a century, in the fight for Ukrainian self-determination.

We begin with the Trump–Putin Alaska photo op summit on August 15th, an attempt to decide Ukraine without Ukraine at the table. Thankfully, a Munich in Alaska was averted, no deal was struck. We then turn to the Ukrainian People’s Republic of 1917-1923, born in the revolutionary upheavals of 1905, WWI, and the February 1917 Russian Revolution. Built on grassroots power from peasants, workers, soldiers, and cooperatives, the Ukrainian People's Republic legislated sweeping land reform, gender equality, national-personal autonomy for ethnic minorities, and a cooperative economy. It did not last. Its history is tied to the larger story of revolution, civil war and defeat. Starodubtsev traces the through-line from that struggle to today’s resistance: lessons on power, sovereignty, and the future of democracy.

Jacobin Radio with Suzi Weissman features conversations with leading thinkers and activists, with a focus on labor, the economy, and protest movements.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is Jacobin Radio. I'm Susie Wiseman. Today we're going to look at two moments separated by more than a century that both reveal the clash between imperial ambitions and the right of nations to
0:22.6	determine their own fate. In our first segment, we turn to Alaska, where Donald Trump and
0:29.0	Vladimir Putin are meeting face to face. What's on the table between the U.S. and Russia
0:34.1	and what might this summit mean for Ukraine and the broader geopolitical
0:38.1	balance in the world? Is this Munich, Alaska? And then in the second half, we step back in time
0:45.2	with my guest, historian and activist Vladislav Stavutzev, to revisit a pivotal chapter in
0:51.9	Ukraine's history that has been buried for decades, the Ukrainian People's Republic
0:56.7	of 1917 to 1923. This short-lived but visionary Democratic Socialist Republic was forged in the
1:05.5	revolutionary upheavals of 1905, World War I, and the 1917 Russian Revolution. It did not last, and its history is tied
1:14.6	to the larger story of revolution's civil war and defeat. Its story of resistance, progressive
1:20.5	reform and anti-imperialist struggle still resonates in Ukraine's fight today. So two moments
1:26.8	passed and present, both offering lessons
1:29.2	in power and the future of democracy and, of course, self-determination. All this when our program
1:36.2	returns in just a moment.
1:48.6	This is Jacobin Radio. I'm Susie Wiseman. We are going to be speaking to Vladislav Starrbutzev today about two different moments for Ukraine and indeed for the world.
1:58.4	Today, as you know, there are talks in Alaska between Trump and Putin
2:03.3	without Zelensky present. These talks have enormous stakes for Ukraine today. But the clash
2:10.9	between Russian power and Ukrainian self-determination is not just a story for the 21st century. It also goes back more than
2:20.2	100 years to the revolutionary era when Ukraine tried to chart its own socialist democratic course.
2:27.3	And we're going to be looking at that whole story, but beginning with Alaska.
2:32.0	Vladislav Srebutsov is a Ukrainian left-wing activist. He has been on this show
2:37.9	before, and we talked a lot about the developing invasion of Ukraine, full-scale invasion.
	...

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