Skal's'kyi V. The Ukrainian Central Rada: social expectations and perceptions (March 1917 - April 1918).

The author has analyzed the political and social expectations of the citizens of Ukraine in the revolutionary conditions and found that Ukrainian society from this phenomena awaited a democratization of public life, ethnic and social equality, federalization of state, Ukrainization of local authorities, schools and churches, the resolution of land issues, and ending the War. It has established that social expectations were not static. It is retraced the gradual radicalization of public sentiments. The peaceful demonstrations in spring 1917 were changed by the radical statements of various conventions, meetings and sittings in summer, growth of extremism and readiness for violence in autumn-winter and complete public apathy, a continuous atomization of society at the beginning of 1918. Whole abovementioned process was accompanied by profound destruction of all old public relations. The emergence of new permanent relations shoved to many obstacles: the Bolshevik conspiracies, the Great War, delaying of land reform, rejecting by part of the inhabitants of Ukraine the idea of separate Ukrainian statehood, and strong pro-Russian and Russocentric sentiments.