Dreaming a City: From Wales to Ukraine

"In the inaugural BAFTA Cymru ceremony in 1991, author Colin Thomas received the BAFTA for Best Documentary for the BBC TV series Hughesovka and the New Russia, directed by himself and presented by eminent Welsh historian Gwyn Alf Williams. This short volume of social and political history stems from that series. It looks into how the town came to be founded in the 1870s by a Welshman in what was then the Russian-held territory of Ukraine, and traces its subsequent history through industrialization, revolution, Communist rule as part of the USSR, and the independence of Ukraine upon the USSR's break-up. Themes include capitalism vs. communism, nationalism vs. internationalism, and freedom vs. exploitation. Through analysis of Hughesovka's development, we explore the retreat from political idealism and the nature of hope and disillusion. Anyone struggling to understand the present-day war in Ukraine will find this rewarding background reading on the complex situation which still entangles Ukraine, Russia and the West to this day."