Martos, Boris Nikolaevich

A native of the old Cossack family Martos. He graduated from the classical gymnasium in the city of Lubny (now the Poltava region ). He entered the mathematical department of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Kharkov University . From 1899 he participated in the activities of the illegal Ukrainian student community of Kharkov , in 1900 he was a delegate to the First Ukrainian Student Congress, held in Galicia . In the same period he met Simon Petlyura . In 1901 he was arrested for participating in a student demonstration and sent to Kharkov for two years under police supervision. He lived in Poltava , where he continued to participate in the Ukrainian national movement, was engaged in propaganda among peasants. In 1901, he participated in an underground conference of Ukrainian student communities in Poltava.

In 1903 he returned to Kharkov, where he again actively participated in the activities of the Ukrainian student community. He was imprisoned for six months for membership in the Revolutionary Ukrainian Party ( RUE ) and participating in the transport of fonts for an illegal printing house, and went on a hunger strike twice. After his release, he joined the Ukrainian Social Democratic Labor Party ( USDP ), which was created on the basis of the RUE , and participated in the development of its program and in campaigning. In parallel, he gave private lessons and gave lectures, which gave him means of living. In 1908 he graduated from the Physics and Mathematics Department of Kharkov University.

He taught mathematics for a short time at a female gymnasium and at various courses, but the authorities forbade him to engage in pedagogical activities. Having moved to Volyn , in 1909 - 1911 he worked in Zhitomir as a senior instructor of cooperation. In 1910 he was in practice at the Volga-Kama Bank in Kiev . In 1911-1913, he headed the financial department of the Office of the Black Sea-Kuban Railway, was a member of the directorate of the Kuban Cooperative Bank (1913), while teaching Ukrainian language and literature in an illegal circle of schoolchildren. In 1913-1917 - Inspector of Cooperation in the Poltava Provincial Zemstvo.

After the February Revolution of 1917, he became one of the leading figures of the USDLP; on May 21-22, he directed the work of the Ukrainian National Congress of the Poltava Province. In June 1917 it became part of the Central Council and the Small Council. From July 15 to August 1917 - Secretary General for Land Affairs, then Comrade Secretary General for Land Affairs. One of the authors of the draft Land Law. He was one of the organizers of the Ukrainian Central Cooperative Committee (Co-Center), since 1918 - Chairman of the Board of the Co-Center. He was one of the organizers of the Kiev Cooperative Institute, in which he lectured. He was a member of the supervisory boards of Dneprosoyuz and Ukrainbank, and was a member of the editorial board of the journal Ukrainian Cooperation.

In December 1918 - January 1919 and in February 1919 - May 1920 he was the Minister of Finance of the UPR in the governments of Vladimir Chekhovsky, Sergey Ostapenko , Isaac Mazepa. In addition, he retained this post in the government, which he himself headed.

Chairman of the Council of Ministers

He was appointed chairman of the Council of Ministers of the UPR on April 9, 1919 at the initiative of Simon Petlyura and under pressure from left Ukrainian parties dissatisfied with the policies of the government of Ostapenko. In turn, the coming to power of the left prime minister displeased the center-right political forces and contributed to the attempted coup attempt undertaken by the commander of the UPR forces in Volyn, Vladimir Oskilko . Oskilko’s speech was quickly suppressed, but it had an extremely negative effect on the position of the Ukrainian army at the front. During this speech, Martos was arrested by officers subordinate to Oskilko, but then released by Petlyura's supporters. During the arrest, he resolutely refused to recognize the legality of the coup, accusing its participants of conspiring with the Bolsheviks.

In May 1919, under the pressure of the Polish troops and the Red Army, the Martos government was forced to move from Rivne to Galicia. Attempts by the Martos government to intensify the agrarian reform once again provoked opposition from the right-wing forces, who accused the prime minister of conducting "socialist experiments." In addition, the government has developed tense relations with the leadership of the West Ukrainian People’s Republic (ZUNR), which existed on the territory of Galicia. In early July 1919, Kamenetz-Podolsky temporarily became the capital of the UPR, where the Martos government also moved. The ongoing disagreements with ZUNR leader Yevgeny Petrushevich, which prevented the unification of the forces of the two Ukrainian republics, led to a government crisis and the resignation of Martos ( August 27 ) under pressure from the Galician side. Officially, this resignation was explained by his overwork. At the head of the government he was replaced by Isaac Mazepa .

After leaving the post of Minister of Finance in 1920, Martos lived in Germany , and from 1921 - in Czechoslovakia , where he was a member and then director of the Ukrainian Public Committee in Prague . He founded cooperative courses, which in 1922 were transformed into the Institute of Agricultural Cooperation, on the basis of which the Ukrainian Academy of Economics in Podebrady was created. From 1922 - associate professor, led the departments of the theory of cooperation and consumer cooperation, from 1924 - professor, in 1923 - 1925 - dean of the economic and cooperative department. He is the author of the works “Theory of Cooperation” (1924) “Cooperative Revision” ( 1927 ) and articles on cooperation issues published in Ukrainian (emigrant) Czech, French professional publications. He led the Partnership of Ukrainian cooperators, edited the “Cooperative Almanac”. After the closure of the Academy of Economics, he was one of the organizers of the Ukrainian Technical and Economic Institute. He participated in the activities of the Ukrainian Economic Partnership, the Ukrainian Scientific Association, Masaryk Academy of Labor in Prague, and the International Institute for Cooperative Research in Paris . He led a cooperative seminar at the Central Union of Czechoslovak Cooperatives .

From 1945 he lived in Munich , where he was one of the founders and rector (1945-1949) of the Ukrainian Economic Higher School, became a doctor of sciences honoris causa. In 1948 he was elected a full member of the Ukrainian Free Academy of Sciences (UVAN) and the Shevchenko Scientific Partnership (NTS). He was deputy head of the IAOD, director of the Institute for Eastern European Studies. In 1946-1949 - member of the Migration Commission and the Main Migration Council at the Central Representation of Ukrainian Emigration in Germany.

Since 1951 he lived in Switzerland . In 1954 - 1957 he was one of the founders of the Institute for the Study of History and Culture of the USSR, headed its scientific council and the publishing board of the council.

In 1958 he moved to the United States, taught at the Ukrainian Technical Institute in New York , in Ukrainian studies, taught children the Ukrainian language in a parish school. Repeatedly made scientific reports in the IAOD and NTSH. Since 1966, he led the initiative committee to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the restoration of Ukrainian statehood.

Co-author of the book "Grosі Ukrainian State" ( 1972 ). Author of works on Ukrainian history of the 20th century: “Conquest of Ukraine by the Bolsheviks” (1954); “Oskilko y Bolbochan . Guess ”(1958); “Yak was updated by the Ukrainian State” ( 1968 ); "Persian Kroki Central Radi" ( 1973 ) and others.

He was buried in the Ukrainian cemetery in South Bound Brook (USA).

September 21, 2007 in Poltava, in front of the building of the Poltava University of Economics and Trade, a monument to Martos was unveiled. In 2009, the National Bank of Ukraine issued a coin in denominations of 2 hryvnias with its portrait. ^[one]

• He is one of the most long-lived leaders of the heads of state and government in the world.
• The longest-lived prime minister of Ukraine.
• The most long-lived head of government and state, born in the Russian Empire and the USSR .

1. ↑ Boris Martos: coin description // Website of the National Bank of Ukraine

• Biography (Ukrainian) (Retrieved June 15, 2016)
• Biography (Retrieved August 20, 2009)
• Coin with the image of Martos (Ukrainian) (Retrieved August 20, 2009)
• Monument to Martos (inaccessible link) (Retrieved August 20, 2009)
• Laying flowers at the monument (Retrieved August 20, 2009)