Ruska Kraina

The Revolution of Asters in Hungary on October 31 — November 16, 1918 established the democratic republican regime of the Hungarian People’s Republic . The new government, led by Mihai Karoyi , trying to get rid of the imperial heritage, instructed the new Minister for Ethnic Affairs Oscar Yasi to develop a plan of cultural and administrative autonomy for national minorities of the new Hungary. The most radical project of adviser Miksha Strobl, “Eastern Switzerland”, envisaged a division of the country into 27 cantons, of which 8 were provided for by the Hungarian, 13 for national minorities, and 6 were socio-economic in large cities. The proposed "Rusinsky canton" became the prototype of Ruska Krajina.

Rusyns were appointed to administrative posts in the respective committees : Orest Szabo (later Pavel Legeza) became Uzhansky zhupan, Nikolay Kutka became coastal, and Emilian Zombrii became Marmaroshsky. In December 1918, the so-called Rusinsky Regional Congress was held in Budapest, which by a majority vote announced its confidence in the new democratic authorities of Hungary. Under pressure from the local national movement, the Hungarian parliament on December 21, 1918 adopted Law No. 10 “On the Autonomy of the Ruthenian People Living in Hungary”. This law proclaimed the autonomous Ruska Krajina, which included the committees Bereg , Marmarosh , Ugocha and Ung . It was also assumed that parts of the Zemplin , Sharish , Abaui-Torn and Spish committees populated by Rusyns could become part of Ruska Krajina after signing a peace treaty between the countries participating in the First World War. According to the Hungarian government, “foreign policy, the army, finances, state affiliation, legislation on private and criminal law, as well as cases related to economic and social policy” remained. Local authorities remained education, culture, language and religious policy.

On February 5, 1919, a local provisional “Russian Council” was formed of 42 people, headed by chairman Orest Szabo and his deputy, Augustine Stefan . The legislative body of the Ruska Krajina was the Russian People’s Diet (Sejm), which was to be elected according to Law No. 1 by universal, secret, equal and direct vote. On March 4, 1919, elections were held in the Sejm and 36 deputies were elected. The Saeima demanded that the central government of Karoya clearly draw the borders. In the Hungarian parliament, autonomy was to be represented in proportion to the number of Ruthenian population, for which it was supposed to issue a separate law. The executive body of Rus'ka Krajina was State governorship, headed by a state governor (the residence is Mukachevo ). This post was held by Augustine Stefan. In Budapest, the Ministry of Rusyn affairs was created, which was headed by the same Orest Szabo.

Under the influence of revolutionary events and the proclamation of the Hungarian Soviet Republic , on the territory of Ruska Krajina (with the exception of Uzhhorod , occupied by Czechoslovak troops ^[4] from January 12, and the Hutsul Republic ) , Soviet power was established on March 22-24, 1919 ( Ukr. Radyanska Ruska Kraina ) . As part of Soviet Hungary, Ruska Kraina was vested with the rights of an autonomous region with a center in Mukachevo . In the draft constitution of Ruska Kraina, published on April 12, 1919 in the newspaper Ruska Pravda, this administrative-territorial entity was defined as "an independent Krai Union, which is part of the Soviet Republic on a federal basis."

Organization of power

August 25, 1919, after the resignation of Orest Szabo , Augustin Stefan becomes the People’s Commissar of the Territory, and Joseph Kaminsky becomes his deputy (as political attorney of Ruska Kraina). The Hungarian Socialist Party , formed as a result of the merger of the Hungarian Communist Party and the Social Democratic Party of Hungary , in the territory of Ruska Krajina, was subordinate to the Ruskokrainyansky Party Committee in Budapest , headed by Ivan Mondok and Erno Saydler.

Workers', soldiers' and peasants' councils began to form in Austria-Hungary already at the final stage of the First World War (from the beginning of 1918); as of November 1918, about 500 councils existed in Transcarpathia. The establishment of Soviet power in Hungary stimulated the spontaneous growth, including in the territory of Transcarpathia, of such councils at the level of villages, cities, districts and committees (zhups), which, in turn, elected directories (executive bodies) of 3-5 people . Since April 5, 1919, the Council of the Soviets was transformed into district councils , including three Rusyns - Beregsky (with its center in the city of Mukachevo ), Marmarosh ( Khust ) and Uzhansky ( Secondary ). The supreme authority on the draft constitution of Ruska Krajina was the regional congress of Soviets, the elections to which were held on April 7-14 , but which was never convened due to the onset of foreign intervention.

On the other hand, Commissioner Augustine Stefan made an attempt to restore the Rus Council (convened in the time of Mihai Karoyi) as the highest representative body of power (in fact, the bourgeois parliament), limiting the role of the Congress of Soviets to advisory functions. However, this attempt to establish " dual power " was thwarted by the dissolution of Stefan’s government council by a detachment of armed workers led by Gyula Katko. However, a little later, on April 22 , under the conditions of the Romanian offensive, Kaminsky managed to remove the Mukachevo directory, headed by Janos Galgotsi , which entailed the removal of part of the troops from the front (two days later the status quo was restored, Kaminsky was arrested, and four more Romanians entered Mukachevo day).

Social and Economic Transformation

On March 26, 1919, the Revolutionary Government Council of Hungary issued a decree according to which industrial and transport enterprises and workshops, employing more than 20 people, as well as trade establishments and shops with more than 10 people, were subject to nationalization and transfer under working control. In Transcarpathia, wood chemical plants in Svalyava and Turye Bystroy , furniture factories, building materials factories, the Schoenborn brewery in Mukachevo, as well as banks and financial institutions, were nationalized. The situation of workers improved, who were able to clearly define working conditions in new collective agreements, and disorganized production and infrastructure were partially restored.

Serious changes affected the socio-economic rights of workers, including the introduction of an 8-hour working day and the right to leave, limiting the work of minors, raising wages by 25-60%, removing barriers to trade union activity. Large-scale quasi-socialist transformations in the social sphere have begun (free medical care, compulsory secondary education for children under 14 years of age, material assistance to students of working children, proclamation of literacy programs and universal polytechnic education programs).

Agricultural policy was one of the most unpopular aspects of the activities of Soviet power in Hungary. Ignoring the specifics of the country, the leadership of the republic went to nationalization, rather than the socialization of landowners and church lands, organizing state production cooperatives on them and pushing away a significant part of the peasantry. According to the relevant decree of April 3, 1919, all “large and medium estates larger than 100 gold” (52 ha) of arable land were subject to confiscation. However, due to the predominance of small land tenure in Rus'ka Krajina, due mainly to the mountainous nature of the relief, such events not only did not provoke opposition from the peasantry, but were also enthusiastically splashed out in the seizures of allotments (in Vorochev, Bystritsa , Gorinchev , Ize , Lipcha, Zadnem, Zadnem, etc.). In addition, of the 11,000 production cooperatives created in Hungary in Ruska Krajina, only one managed to organize (in the Great Shores ).

Cultural Policy

Declaring its break with the traditions of national oppression of the peoples enslaved by Hungary, the HRV Constitution prohibited discrimination against national minorities and even provided for the use of the language of official nationalities of any nationality living in Hungary. In practice, in Rus'ka Krajina, this meant that the Ruthenian language for the first time in history became official. Following the example of the Russian spelling reform carried out in the RSFSR, the spelling corresponding to the phonetic sounding was introduced in the Rusyn language, unnecessary letters were derived from the alphabet. The Department of Ruthenian language, headed by Alexander (Sandor) Bonkal, was opened at the historical and philosophical faculty of the University of Budapest.

The Hungarian Soviet government, having proclaimed freedom of speech and press, also arranged for the publication of newspapers for the population of Transcarpathia in Russian (Ruska Pravda, from the 6th issue of Rusko-Kraiska Pravda, the organ of the Budapest People’s Commissariat in the affairs of Ruska Kraina), Ukrainian (Chervona Ukraine "- the organ of the Ukrainian communist group, consisting of former prisoners of war of the Austro-Hungarian army) and Hungarian (" Ruszka Krajna "," Beregi munkás "-" Berezhsky worker "," Munkácsi népszava "-" Mukachevo popular word ") languages. Against the background of the introduction of religious freedom and the separation of the church from the state in Rus'ka Krajina, unlike the rest of the HRV, the payment of state salaries to clergymen continued.

Most ordinary and average employees remained in their positions subject to the oath of office to the dictatorship of the proletariat ; they were ordered to learn the Ruthenian language.

Understanding the strategic importance of the Carpathian passes as a possible route of assistance to the Hungarian Soviet Republic from the RSFSR and the Ukrainian SSR , especially in light of the directive of the Ukrainian Front commander Vladimir Antonov-Ovseenko on April 13, 1919 on preparations for an offensive with the aim of joining the Hungarian forces, Entente increased pressure on Romania and Czechoslovakia in order to accelerate their aggression against HRV by Transcarpathia. As a result, on April 16, 1919, Romanian troops launched an invasion of the territory of Hungary and Transcarpathia, crossing the demarcation line in the direction of the cities of Marmarosh-Sighet - Tyachev - Khust - Beregovo . The Romanian army, having numerical and material superiority over the separate Ruthenian battalion and the Ruthenian Red Division (the equipment of which was never completed, and a significant part was fettered in the cities as a result of anti-communist demonstrations), after the surrender of the Seikey Red Division deployed in Northern Hungary, discovered way to Khust, Debrecen and Nyiregyhazu . The stubborn battles for Korolevo with the participation of working groups on April 21 forced the Romanians to retreat to Khust, however, after the reinforcements approach (including machine guns and artillery), the interventionists, resuming the offensive, took control of the cities of Beregovo and Mukachevo on April 27 - 28 .

In addition, on April 23, 1919, Czechoslovak troops advanced towards the Romanian units, whose offensive developed in two directions - Mukachevo and Chop , an important railway junction for which fierce battles lasted more than ten days. The units of the Ruthenian Red Division, in cooperation with the rest of the Hungarian red units, were forced to leave the territory of Ruska Krajina after the end of the fighting in the Chop region on May 3, 1919 and withdraw with the Soviet authorities to Central Hungary. Romanian troops occupied about 65% of the territory of Rus'ka Krajina with the cities of Mukachevo, Khust, Beregovo and Sevlyush (Vinogradov) ; Czechoslovakians occupied Uzhgorod . Although subsequently the Hungarian Red Army managed to launch a counterattack and establish Soviet power in eastern and southern Slovakia (headed by Antonin Janošek, the Slovak Soviet Republic with its capital in Prešov / Pryashev , a small part of whose territory was inhabited by Rusyns), it no longer entered the territory of Transcarpathia.

After four months of independence, Ruska Krajina ceased to exist, and another three months later the Hungarian Soviet Republic fell.

On June 6, 1919, on the orders of the occupation administration of the French General Edmond Ennock, a military dictatorship was introduced in Transcarpathia, which lasted until 1923 (Ennock himself was recalled in 1920 due to charges of anti-Semitism ). Several hundred "sympathizers of Bolshevism" were imprisoned in special camps in Uzhgorod, Sighet and Korolev. Since back in 1918 a number of Ruthenian politicians in Czechoslovakia (at meetings in Staraya Lyubovna , Presov and Uzhgorod), as well as Ruthenian emigration to the United States , led by a lawyer Grigory Zhatkovich , spoke in favor of joining Czechoslovakia, Zhatkovich together with Anton Beskid and Augustin Voloshin passed about it to the president of Czechoslovakia Tomas Garrig Masaryk . However, the Czechoslovak leadership was very skeptical of the idea, due to the economic backwardness of the Ruska Krajina.

By the decision of the Paris Peace Conference , expressed in the Saint-Germain Peace Treaty of September 10, 1919 , Transcarpathia became part of the Czechoslovak Republic as an autonomy, its self-government was reduced, and the name “Ruska Krajina” was changed to “Subcarpathian Rus” ( Czech Podkarpatská Rus ) The territory of the latter was 12,097 km², the population was 572,028 people (of which, as of January 1, 1920: 62% were Ruthenians ( Ukrainians ), 17.2% were Hungarians , 13.4% were Jews , 3.3% were Czechs and Slovaks , 1.8% - Germans ).

• International Socialist Party of Subcarpathian Rus
• Russian movement in Carpathian Russia
• Directory of Subcarpathian Rus
• Hutsul Republic

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