Prudko V. Political and socio-cultural processes of Nizhyn District during the Ukrainian Revolution in 1917-1921

This thesis deals with the political, social and economic and cultural life of Nizhyn District (Chernihiv Region) during the Ukrainian Revolution of 1917-1921. The thesis involves different published and non-published materials, part of which have never been under scientific scrutiny. Activities of the local authorities in different political actors' struggling for power in Ukraine have been studied, and key political and social expectations of the district population have been outlined, together with background for certain social groups' attitude towards the authorities. Special attention has been drawn to the topic of the Ukrainian nation, and the process of the national and cultural rebirth has been analyzed in context of politicization of the population of Nizhyn District. The revolutionary wave started in the Russian Empire in the early spring, 1917. The former monarchical system did not withstand the pressure of the global problems raised by the long-lasting hostilities and the overall system crisis. The authority in the country was passed on to the Provisional Government established by the State Duma. Relations between the new authority and district self-government bodies shifted to a qualitative new level compared to the pre-Revolution period. Establishment of the new public authorities that would democratize the activity of district councils and city Duma became the main issue of that time. In this setting, Nizhyn Public Committee was established. The Committee went out of business after update of the composition of the District Council and election to the City Duma. After declaration of the Third Universal, Nizhyn local self-government authorities officially devolved to the Central Council. The autumn-summer period of confrontation between the Central Council and the Bolshevik regime affected the activity of the local self-government authorities. The period of the Central Council's governing was a beneficial age for improvement of the Ukrainian national movement, which was expressed in vigorous activity of "Prosvitas" and other public organizations of Nizhyn District, too. In spring 1918 the authority in Ukraine devolved to P. Skoropadskyi. For as long as the Hetman state existed the network of district authorities suffered serious intimidations. Confrontation between district authorities and Hetman government were most fully expressed during inspection of the local self-government bodies held by the state authority to review the state of the district and city economy. The contemporaries of those events understood political implication of the inspection perfectly well, as the representatives of district councils mostly supported socialist parties which were openly opposed to the new authority. Omitting certain political implication of these inspections of the district councils, we should mention that there really was an objective necessity for such inspection, since there were individuals absolutely unable to manage economy and people the district councils' members.