The Workers’ Movement and the National Question in Ukraine

by Marko Bojcun

Bojcun explores the social democratic workers’ movement in the Ukrainian provinces of the Russian Empire and its impact on the course of the 1917 Revolution. The focus here is on the Ukrainian, Jewish and Russian parties, the sections of the labour movement they built, the national inequality and oppression that they confronted and the political solutions they pursued. This study traces the workers’ movement from its inception through to the First World War, the outbreak of revolution in 1917, formation of the Ukrainian People’s Republic and the country’s descent in 1918 into civil war and foreign interventions.

Genres: History

ebook

Published January 1, 2021

Reviews

[Owen Hatherley · Rating 4 out of 5]

After a first part outlining Ukrainian modern history this then plunges into an almost day-by-day history of the first year or so of the socialist revolution in Ukraine in 1917-18 - on how it did and didn't intersect with a national revolution, and how it soon descended into increasingly horrific violence on all sides. Clearly Marxist but non-sectarian and sympathetic to Ukrainian nationalisms of the left, wise in its political judgements, and with many great small details (I won't spoil the paragraph on the Pickpockets Trade Union of Odesa). Strongly recommended for anyone interested in the subject.

[Dmytro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ця праця Марка Бойцуна - must read для всіх тих, хто цікавиться не мейнстрімною історією революції в Україні.
Вітчизняна історіографія здебільшого приділяє увагу «націоналістичному» поглядові на ті події. Самосвідомість людей та їхнє бажання жити в УНР сприймається як щось самоочевидне. Тоді як Марко Бойцун прагне дослідити те, як звичайні люди бачили ці події, кого підтримували і чому тощо. Велику увагу приділено партіям в УНР і їх популярності.
Особисто мені було цікаво прочитати про більшовицький український уряд, Народний секретаріат, про його історію, оскільки в нашій історіографії про нього немає ні слова.

[Natan Bedrosian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since the U.S. proposed a peace plan for the Russian-Ukrainian war, I wanted to learn more about Ukraine, not only as a nation-state, but also as a geographic entity, whose total area covers 603,628 km² (233,062 sq mi).

This book not only helped me understand the socio-economic makeup of Ukrainian geography, but also shed light on its political history, particularly during the era of the Ukrainian People’s Republic.

Socio-economically, the author correctly focuses in the first two chapters of the book (‘State Power and the Development of Capitalism’ and ‘The Working Class’) on how parts of contemporary Ukrainian territory once belonged to the medieval Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. As the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland expanded eastward into what is now Ukraine, its social structure produced a system of Polish landownership that increasingly pushed East Slavic populations—the predecessors of modern ethnic Ukrainians—into the status of peasants. Following the Russo-Polish wars of 1654–1667 and 1792, Russia annexed Polish-controlled territories inhabited by Ukrainian populations. Additionally, in examining the formation of the modern working class in the region of today’s eastern Ukraine, known as the Donbas, the author notes that people from across the Russian Empire migrated there in search of employment as industrialisation accelerated in the 19th and 20th centuries. The legacy of these migrant workers still shapes modern Ukraine, as a majority of people in its eastern regions continue to speak Russian.

Shifting to the politics of the Ukrainian People’s Republic, which emerged in the aftermath of the 1917 revolutions, the author examines the political parties that shaped the first Ukrainian nation-state. He traces the complex intercommunal relationships that at times culminated in violence, most notably the pogroms against Jewish communities, as well as the deeply polarised and often divided relationships among the various political parties.

In conclusion, what today’s Ukraine can learn from a republic that existed 107 years ago is the importance of building a country that serves as a home for all Ukrainians, regardless of ethnic or religious background, and of ensuring that political parties can operate freely. Ultimately, the dissolution of the republic and the subsequent Sovietisation of Ukraine offer valueable lessons—not only for Ukraine, but also for other nascent and flawed democracies struggling with civil wars and political polarisation.

[Denys Medianick · Rating 5 out of 5]

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