As with any mythological symbol, the ‘Trident’ of Ukraine is full of ‘pre-history’ – most of it made-up, false, or deliberately fabricated and misleading. Although there is no archaeological evidence, Ukrainian nationalistic history (which attempts to construct a Ukrainian identity that is separate and distinct from Slavic Russian), paints a picture of exotic origins! This symbol is nothing less than the trident of the Greek god Poseidon! If this ‘origin story’ is correct, then the Ukrainians, despite being the obvious (and scientifically proven) descendants of marauding Scandinavians (exactly the same as their Russian neighbours), are nothing less than the modern survivors of a colony of ‘White’, and ‘European’ Greeks who settled in the area around two thousand years ago! The fact that Ancient (and Classical) Greeks were Southern Europeans who routinely ‘mixed’ with Middle Eastern and Asian people (hence their ‘olive’ complexion) appears lost on on these Ukrainian ultra-nationalists. Here, we start to see the ‘irrationality’ of Eurocentric racism.
Article 20 of the Constitution of Ukraine proclaims the Emblem of Prince Vladimir the Great as the small coat of arms of the country. The description ‘trident’ in relation to this symbol was first used by the Russian historian Karamzin – who in his ‘History of the Russian State’ (published in 1828), compared the Ukrainian trident to similar symbols found on coins pertaining to the rule of Kievan Rus. Over the past century, more than fifty historian, philosophers and social scientists from Russia, Ukraine and other countries have tried to unravel the meaning of the trident and find its sources. Their thoughts on this matter have differed considerably. For example, the trident has been considered the Apex of the Sceptre of the Byzantine or Scythian king, a Crown, the Dove of the Holy Spirit, a Spearhead, an Anchor, a Norman bow, an axe, a Banner or a Helmet, etc. All these ideas seem absurd and represent a desperate (and ‘racist’) attempt at ‘de-Slav-ing’ the Ukrainian people!
I would say that in relation to the relationship between Scandinavian settlement of the lands that would become Russia and the Ukraine – the coins of Kieven Rus are the earliest reliable record of an early presence. Kieven Rus was a loose, multi-ethnic federation of competing warrior-clans operating throughout Eastern Europe and Northern Europe (from the late 9th to the mid-13th century) and ruled over by the Rurik Dynasty. The earliest example I have found is a coin associated with Sviatoslav Igorevich c. 10th century CE.
However, whatever this symbol originally meant (as nobody knows), it certainly did not refer to a ‘Ukrainian’ ethnicity distinct from that of a ‘Russian’ ethnicity. There are even theories that it may have a Turkic or even Mongolian origin! Whatever the case, any Scandinavian person who migrated to the lands ruled by the ‘Rus’ was by definition a ‘Rus-sian’ and nothing else. These people (Vikings) where from Northern Europe, what in the modern world is Denmark, Sweden, Norway and perhaps Finland. This area was never invaded by the Greeks or the Romans and so has no ancient connections to these two civilisations. Of course, the UK – where I am from – was visited by ancient Greeks and colonised by the Romans. Furthermore, the UK was invaded and settled by Scandinavian Vikings prior to 1066 CE (the fabled ‘Danelaw’) – and then was invaded and settled by the Norman-French (Scandinavians who had settled in Northern France).
My DNA is Gaelic, Greco-Roman, Scandinavian and Chinese! There is probably also ‘Anglo-Saxon’ genetics somewhere (my mother’s DNA is linked to Armenia). The point is that the history of modern nations are really ‘snap-shots’ of vast waves of migration and genetic intermixing. A ‘modern nation’ is a false-construct through which the socio-economic system of capitalism functions the most efficiently. This is how a dominant United States controls the economic system it prefers through the network of ‘national’ banks which hinder or enhance the flow of money through a country (like blood through a body). Fascism, of course, and its ‘Nazi’ German variant, is pro-capitalist and anti-Socialist (as Socialism, in its pure form, would dismantle the exploitative and oppressive structures of the capitalist system). According to Chinese language historical sources, the trident of Ukraine only stands as an official ‘State’ symbol (ironically) from 1918!
烏克蘭國徽為藍色的盾徽，中間是金色的三叉戟。這個圖案最初是留里克王朝的印章圖案，1918年3月22日曾被立為烏克蘭人民共和國國徽。1992年2月19日經烏克蘭最高拉達采納作為國徽。
‘The National Emblem of Ukraine is a blue Coat of Arms with a central Golden Trident. This pattern was originally the Seal and Insignia of the Rurik Dynasty, and was established as the National Emblem of the (Socialist) Ukrainian People’s Republic on March 22nd, 1918. It was adopted as the National Emblem by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on February 19th, 1992.’
However, this symbol, as nobody knew what it was supposed to mean was quickly replaced with the following Soviet Socialist symbol once the Hammer and Sickle motif had been invented by YEVGENY KAMZOLKIN and adopted throughout Revolutionary Russia – the Official Ukrainian State symbol was replaced with the following:
It seems that the ‘Trident’ symbol became associated with Ukrainian ‘nationalism’ following the troops of Imperial Germany occupying the West of the country during 1918 – and an opposition to ‘Socialism.’ In other words, German totalitarian governance was viewed as a viable alternative to Soviet Socialism. At this time, there was no association with Western (liberal) democracy (with Western Europe being viewed as the ‘enemy’ of Germany and the Ukraine). Although Germany’s occupation of West Ukraine at the end of WWII (as part of the European ‘intervention’ in what became known as the ‘Russian Civil War’) was short-lived, but the presence of the pro-fascist and anti-Socialist Roman Catholic Church throughout has been both ancient and long-lasting! The rise to power in Italy (the epicentre of the Catholic Church) of Mussolini was significant for the bourgeoisie and aristocracies of Europe, as it signalled a definite turn away from working-class Socialism and re-asserted the claim to dominance of the two other classes. Mussolini, of course, endeared himself (and the fascist cause) with the Roman Catholic Church with the 1929 with the Lateran Accords (which granted the Vatican sovereign independence from Italy).
From 1922, according to extant evidence, a Ukrainian ‘Nationalist’ movement existed both outside of the Soviet Ukraine (and probably within it as an ‘illegal’ underground movement), that associated itself with the totalitarian movement of Mussolini’s fascism! It was only with the rise of Hitler in 1933 that Ukrainian ‘Nationalism’ started to gravitate back to its preference for German far-right ideology! The ‘liberation of West Ukraine from what was misconstrued as ‘Russian’ Socialism was implicitly promised by Hitler and explicitly encouraged by an exiled Trotsky and his followers! In 1938, Trotsky would throw caution to the wind and openly call for his followers to collaborate with the forces of international fascism! Trotsky also called for Soviet Citizens to turn on their own government and carry-out political assassinations and sabotage against State property! The late 1930s saw a convergence of Catholicism (very clearly seen during the Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939), Trotskyism (which offered a form of distorted Socialism which reinforces and collaborates with capitalism in its oppression of the working-class), Mussolini’s Fascism (State Totalitarianism) and Adolf Hitler’s bizarre ‘National Socialism’ (and ‘Cult of Personality’! All this madness fed into Ukrainian ultra-nationalist attitudes and motivations!
The discourse latent within the minds and bodies of West Ukrainians is a fascistic, monotheist ideology that embraces the anti-Russian racism contained within the German far-right movement. Although Ukrainians – as ‘Slavs’ – should be included as targets of this German anti-Russian racism, these people attempt to ‘escape’ the reality of the physical world by ascribing to themselves a purely fictitious identity that would, if true, lift them out of their own historical and socio-economic predicament (as if receiving a ‘blessing’ from an unseen but all-knowing ‘god’)! As none of this is true – the best the ‘Slavic’ Ukrainians can hope for is to associate themselves with non-Slavs (if not the Germans, then the Celts or Anglo-Saxons – but never Africans or Asians), and hope nobody notices their non-Celt, non-German and non-Anglo-Saxon origins – a reality which is literally etched upon their faces! God even gets in on the act by supposedly creating the ‘fake’ Ukrainian Orthodox Church! In reality, this is an anti-Socialist and pro-fascist, and pro-Vatican construct staffed by drug-addicts, paedophiles and murderers! Is this not an honest reflection of Neo-Nazism and the far-right?
No less interesting (from the point of view of distorted Ukrainian ultra-nationalism) is the emblem of the so-called ‘Donbass’ Punishment Battalion. This body of Neo-Nazi ‘volunteers’ drawn from the cesspit world has been attacking the people of Donetsk and Lugansk since 2014 (when the Neo-Nazi ‘Maidan’ regime illegally took control of West Ukraine with the support of the US, UK and EU) – and in that time have murdered around 14,000 men, women and children! This emblem is based on an inverted, stylized trident – a swooping Nazi eagle with half-folded wings, used by the Wehrmacht between 1931945. The black and white colour was not chosen by chance, it is this colour that you will find on the uniforms and helmets of Nazi German soldiers of that period. In general, the Ukrainian Neo-Nazis do not hide this association, and enjoy defiantly greeting one other with the well-known ‘straight-armed’ Nazi salute – throwing the right hand from the heart up to the right!
Russian Language References (Accessed 24.3.2022):
https://humus.livejournal.com/6030395.html?view=comments
https://nastroy.net/post/gerb-ukrainyi-foto-opisanie-znachenie-istoriya-sozdaniya
https://www.politforums.net/auringonnousu/1600608021.html
Chinese Language Articles (Accessed 24.3.2022):
https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/烏克蘭國徽
THE SANGHA KOMMUNE (SSR) 