Ukrainian community

The State Duma of the first convocation worked in St. Petersburg from April 27 to July 8, 1906. The left-radical parties of the Russian Empire boycotted the elections to the First Duma. The Ukrainian Democratic Radical Party (UDRP) and the Ukrainian People's Party took part in the elections. Among 102 deputies from 9 Ukrainian provinces, there were 24 landowners, 42 peasants, 26 representatives of the city intelligentsia, 9 workers and 1 priest. On a party basis, 38 deputies were cadets and sympathizers of this party, 28 - Trudoviks. The labor group was not a political party, but a parliamentary faction, which brought together mainly non-partisan deputies-peasants by origin.

The Ukrainian Duma community, consisting of 45 people, formed almost immediately. Her lawyer and public figure from the Chernigov province I.L. Shrag headed. At the first organizational meeting, which took place on May 1, 1906, 22 deputies registered in the association, among them: S. T. Taran , G. L. Zubchenko , N. S. Onatsky , L. S. Litvin , A. F. Grabovetsky , P I. Kurilenko , T. T. Nesterenko (or Nesterenkov) , M. F. Filonenko , Z. I. Vyrova , A. N. Wozovik , I. I. Lysenko . AE Plotnik, who was not a deputy of the State Duma, took part in the meeting. The assembly gathered on May 16 included seven more deputies, headed by lawyer I.K. Zabolotny : I. G. Gnatenko , L. E. Shtefanyuk , V. I. Bey , A. F. Rybachek , A. I. Romanyuk , P.I. Bogach , A.G. Grinyuk . In total, according to M. S. Grushevsky , more than 40 deputies registered in the association ( P. I. Chizhevsky , Baron F. R. Shteingel , V. M. Shemet , I. V. Tarasenko , M. M. Kovalevsky ^[1] , A G. Vyazlov , N. F. Bilyashevsky and others), but there were many peasants and intelligentsia from the Ukrainian provinces who "did not understand the Ukrainian question for themselves, or did not decide to formally enter."

The work of the Ukrainian community was based on the principles of Western European parliaments. Her ideological leader consider M. C. Grushevsky . He prepared a draft Constitution of Russia, which was based on the idea of ​​national-territorial decentralization of Russia and the formation of cultural autonomies. A plan was developed for the national-territorial decentralization of the Russian Empire, according to which it was envisaged to create a nation-wide parliament and territorial diet. In parliamentary elections, they must be indirect, in order to avoid a large number in the formation of small constituencies and not representativeness of small nations in large constituencies. Territorial Diet were engaged in cultural affairs, local administration, the appointment of judges. A quarter of the seats in them were provided for the intelligentsia.

The press organ of the Ukrainian community was Ukrainian Herald . M. S. Grushevsky also prepared a declaration on the autonomy of Ukraine, which on behalf of the Ukrainian community was to be proclaimed from the rostrum of the 1st State Duma. But on July 8, 1906, the Duma was dissolved.

The further fate of the majority of peasant deputies was difficult. Many of them went missing, others had to hide, someone went to a psychiatric hospital, some were beaten half to death, or they were burned at home.

In 1907, elections were held in the Second State Duma. Of the 518 deputies, 65 were Social Democrats (18 in the I Duma), 157 were Trudoviks (along with the Socialist Revolutionaries), compared with 94 in the I Duma. Among the 102 deputies from the Ukrainian provinces, there were 40 Trudoviks, 34 representatives of right-wing parties, 11 Cadets and Social Democrats each (including 6 members of Spilka , 3 Mensheviks, 1 Bolshevik, 1 representative of the USDP ). By social status, the Ukrainian provinces were represented by 16 landowners, 4 priests, 17 intellectuals, 59 peasants and 6 workers. In the Second Duma, peasant deputies set the tone.

In the second State Duma (February 20 - June 3, 1907), Ukrainian deputies also united in a community of 47 members. The congregation published the magazine Ridna on the right. Visti z Dumi ”(“ Native Business. News from the Duma ”April – June 1907). It contained speeches by members of the Duma, statements by citizens in which they demanded the autonomy of Ukraine, the introduction of local self-government, the introduction of the Ukrainian language at school, the court and the church, the formation of departments of the Ukrainian language, literature and history at universities. According to members of the Ukrainian community, in particular, rural deputies, these tasks should be solved by legislative means of consistent reform of the state system, economic and social relations.

The community demanded that Ukraine be granted political autonomy within its ethnographic borders, and that the Ukrainian language be introduced in schools, judicial and administrative bodies. Regarding the main issue of the revolution - the agrarian - there was no consensus in the community. Cadet deputies advocated the transfer of part of the landlord lands to the peasants for ransom, while peasant deputies supported the Trudoviks - the confiscation of landlord lands and the nationalization of all land. To highlight its activities in the Duma, the community founded a printing organ - the journal Ukrainian Herald, in which M. S. Grushevsky , Ivan Franko , M. I. Tugan-Baranovsky collaborated.

There were 47 people in the Ukrainian community of the Second Duma. Among them, N. Dolgopolov , E. A. Saiko , A. I. Grinevich , V. I. Khvost , S. V. Nechitailo , A. N. Naumchak , N. K. Rubis (or Rubisov) , V. V. Wolf-Karachevsky , V. G. Sakhno , E. K. Chigirik , S. K. Matveev , P. S. Moroz and others. During the work of the Duma, it was decided to withdraw members of the Ukrainian faction from all Duma party associations. The premature dissolution of the Second Duma interrupted the formation of the Ukrainian faction.

In the Second Duma, the Ukrainian community issued a declaration created on the basis of the URPP program. Along with the general democratic demands for freedom of speech, the press, amnesty, political prisoners proclaimed the need to provide autonomy to Ukraine, the Ukrainianization of school education. June 3, the II State Duma was dispersed.

June 3, 1907 Nicholas II issued a new electoral law, which provided a complete advantage in the new composition of the Duma to the landlords and the bourgeoisie. There were no officially Ukrainian associations in the III and IV Duma. The reason for this was the anti-democratic election law adopted by the government of P. A. Stolypin , the repressive policy of the central and local administration in relation to all democratic and national parties, pressure on voters during the vote. Among the deputy corps, 29 deputies clearly positioned themselves as defenders of the national interests of Ukraine. However, this amount was not enough to create an independent Ukrainian faction in the State Duma.

However, there was an informal group of Ukrainian deputies. And at the meetings of the III and IV Dum, questions about the Ukrainian language and the allocation of the Kholmshchyna into a separate Russian province were discussed. In the III Duma, signed by 37 deputies, a bill was introduced on introducing the Ukrainian language in primary schools in parallel with Russian, publishing textbooks and books taking into account Ukrainian conditions, and using the Ukrainian language in rural courts. However, it was not accepted. In a February 1914 report to the Minister of the Interior, the Poltava governor A.K. Baggovut recommended that only Great Russians be involved in the positions of teachers, inspectors, rectors, and priests in the Ukrainian provinces; dismiss any teacher who is committed to the Ukrainian language; subsidize newspapers in Kiev, Kharkov, Poltava, Yekaterinoslav to combat Ukrainization; to eradicate the use of the names “Ukraine”, “Ukrainian”, proving that “Ukraine” is simply the outskirts of the state in the old days, etc.

To strengthen the anti-Polish and anti-Ukrainian policy, the Third Duma adopted a law on the allocation of the Kholm region in the Kholm province . They provided for the territory with the Ukrainian population to be separated into the province. According to the authors of the project, this step undermined Polish influence and facilitated the assimilation policy of the Russian government towards the Ukrainians.

In the Fourth Duma there was a group of Ukrainian deputies, one of the lobbyists of which was Mikhail Rodzianko . Representatives of various political forces came forward in defense of Ukrainian interests, in particular, the constitutional democrat P.N. Milyukov , the Trudovik V.I. Dzyubinsky , and the social democrat G.I. Petrovsky . The question of Ukraine’s autonomy was raised, which received support from prominent political figures, deputies A.F. Kerensky , P.N. Milyukov, G.I. Petrovsky, A.I. Shingarev . Professor S. A. Ivanov demanded the founding of Ukrainian studies departments at universities, and Bishop Nikon demanded the introduction of the Ukrainian language in schools.

• Bonadrenko D., Krestovskaya N. The Ukrainian Question in the State Duma (1906-1917) // Russia - XXI. - 2001. - N. 6. - S. 92-117
• Ukrainian fractions and Ukrainian power in the State Duma of the Russian Federation
• Dyalnist Ukrainians in the I and II Sovereign Duma
• Ukrainian in the State Duma of the Russian Federation
• Until the end of the Ukrainian Duma community