Socio-political preconditions for the emergence of public associations in Western Ukraine

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Candidate of Social Communication Sciences, associate professor at the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication Lviv Polytechnic National University

Socio-political preconditions for the emergence of public associations in western Ukraine

Bozhena Ivanytska

Abstract

In the second half of the XIX century Western Ukrainian lands suitable for agricultural development could not provide their inhabitants with adequate well-being. Moreover, famine often prevailed in the region, and poverty raged. Ukrainians, who made up the majority of the rural population of the region, were particularly affected: almost 80 % [7, p. 4]. Government statistics at the time tried to prove that all conditions were created for Western Ukrainian peasants to ensure their well-being. At the same time, for example, the following figures were used: peasants owned 62.2 % of the land area, while large landowners, mostly Austrians, Poles, Germans, Jews and other peoples, only 37.8 % of agricultural land. It would seem that Ukrainian peasant farms, which had the majority of arable land in their use, could prosper. However, the other side of this statistic was not mentioned: first of all, it was hidden that the best lands belonged to the owners of large farms. In addition, there were 3.734 communities in the areas used by the majority of peasants. Therefore, if we compare the size of the area of a large landowner and the average peasant economy, the peasant economy was 320 times smaller than the agricultural land of a large landowner.

At the end of the 40s of the XIX century in almost all European countries the economic crisis deepened, mass strikes began. Governments became increasingly helpless, unable to control the situation. Political demands began to be put forward more and more often to the economic demands of the workers and peasants. The spirit of revolution hovered in the air. And soon it began.

The revolutionary events that swept Europe in the spring of 1948 brought the peoples of Europe hope for a better future. The consequence of this revolutionary upsurge was the abolition of serfdom in the Austrian Empire, which also ruled Western Ukraine. First of all, the Ukrainian intelligentsia, which was based on priests, teachers, and lawyers, began active social and political work. However, the majority of the population still stayed away from politics: neither its general education nor their financial situation contributed to participation in the national movement. That is, the “Spring of Nations” still did not contribute to the “mass, widespread awakening of the national consciousness of the Ukrainian people of Galicia, Bukovina, Transcarpathia” [17, p. 15]. This required a lot of effort, first of all to inform the nation competently and politically about what educated people had to do [22].

Keywords: professional-business partnerships, ukrainian magazine, honor of the nation.

Анотація

ВоженаІваницька

СОЦІАЛЬНО-ПОЛІТИЧНІ ПЕРЕДУМОВИ ДЛЯ ВИНИКНЕННЯ ГРОМАДСЬКИХ ОБ'ЄДНАНЬ В ЗАХІДНІЙ УКРАЇНІ

У другій половині XIX ст. західноукраїнські землі, придатні для розвитку сільського господарства, не могли забезпечити своїх мешканців належним добробутом. Більше того, в регіоні часто панував голод, і вирували злидні. Особливо постраждали українці, котрі становили більшість сільського населення регіону. Тогочасна урядова статистика намагалася довести, що для західноукраїнських селян були створені всі умови для забезпечення їхнього добробуту. Здавалося б, українські селянські господарства, що мали у своєму розпорядженні більшість орних земель, могли процвітати. Однак про інший бік цієї статистики не згадувалося: насамперед, було приховано, що найкращі землі належали власникам великих господарств. Якщо порівняти розмір площі великого землевласника та середнього селянського господарства, то селянське господарство було в рази менше сільськогосподарських угідь великого землевласника.

Революційні події, котрі охопили Європу навесні 1948 р., принесли народам Європи надію на краще майбутнє. Наслідком революційного піднесення стало скасування кріпосного права в Австрійській імперії, яка також керувала Західною Україною. Насамперед українська інтелігенція, яка базувалася на священиках, вчителях та юристах, розпочала активну громадсько- політичну роботу. Однак більшість населення все ще залишалася осторонь політики: ні їхня загальна освіта, ні їхнє матеріальне становище не сприяли участі в національному русі. Тобто “Весна народів” все ще не сприяла “масовому, повсюдному пробудженню національної свідомості українського народу Галичини, Буковини, Закарпаття” [17, с. 15]. Для цього потрібно було докласти чимало зусиль, перш за все для компетентного та політичного інформування нації про те, що повинні робити освічені люди [22].

Ключові слова: фахово-господарські товариства, український часопис, честь нації, національна свідомість, товариство.

Prerequisites for the emergence of public associations. Hopes for a significant and rapid economic improvement in the welfare of the population did not materialize. Peasants continued to be dependent on landowners: “The demolition of serfdom in western Ukraine transferred small plots of land

to peasants, leaving for a long time unresolved issues such as compensation - “indemnification” - of large land holdings for loss of useless labor - labor of subjects; the case of “propination” and “easements”. These main and other small remnants of the time of subjects still weighed on the economic situation of the peasantry for a long time, inhibiting the general development of the region” [11, p. 20].

However, the indemnification, the essence of which was that the Austrian government undertook to pay from the state budget instead of the peasants to their owners, who allegedly suffered from the inability to hire workers, did not do so, but shifted the payment to local budgets, in the peasants themselves [22].

Propination was associated with the abolition of the mandatory purchase of alcohol by peasants only in the dominions of the court, but left these producers a monopoly on the production of alcohol, which they could dispose of independently.

Thus, after the reforms of 1848, the poor were still unable to make a living from their impoverished economy, as were, after all, the other classes. For example, the “hutmen”, who had only their gardens and cows, the agricultural proletariat - courtiers and day laborers - all this mass of agricultural population, along with able-bodied family members was a huge reservoir of almost the cheapest labor force in the world, doomed to constant exile torment of hunger and poverty. political intelligentsia priest

Unable to provide for themselves and their families with the means to survive, without finding work in the region's industry, peasants had to emigrate and look for work in American mines and Canadian farms, on Brazilian coffee plantations and deforestation, and on Java's sugar plantations [22].

It is believed that the first workers from Galicia arrived in the United States in 1877. However, it was difficult to establish the number of Western Ukrainian emigrants until 1898, as illiterate people could not even name their nationalities, so officials wrote in questionnaires instead of nationalities that they came from Galicia or Wenger and recorded newcomers as Poles, Slovaks, or Russian [14, p. 90].

In the new place, Ukrainian workers also faced unbearable work, contempt from local residents, and discrimination in pay. Therefore, many of them, not having time to acquire any capital, were forced to return to their native land, from which it was not so easy to escape: the government did everything to prevent the peasants from leaving Galicia. To this end, for example, in March 1877, the Galician governorate issued a secret appeal “To all the elders and units of the gendarmerie”, which ordered to stop the emigration of all poor peasants, those who are usually hired to work in the lord's fields, and return them back to the villages [4, p. 27].

As the emigration wave also affected women, landowners, fearing that the majority of the working population would leave the country and no one would work in agriculture, persuaded government officials to pass a law banning the emigration of women under the age of 35 [24, p. 23].

However, the difficult fate in the region forced the peasants to resort to various tricks, just to escape from the region. Therefore, the government adopted a new secret decree, according to which any emigration from Galicia was prohibited [20, p. 67].

From the end of the XIX century. seasonal emigration of Western Ukrainian peasants to European countries is also growing rapidly. Since 1905, for example, only in Germany for seasonal earnings from Galicia annually went more than 100 thousand people, and in 1909-1911 the number of seasonal workers increased to 310-320 thousand [2, p. 17]. Of course, emigration could not solve the problem of poverty, it only emphasized the economic inability of the government to raise social production in the region.

However, the peasants had no other choice - in the cities of Galicia it was almost impossible to find work, because most enterprises were low-power, small, they employed an average of 10 to 30 workers, so unemployment in the cities was a mass phenomenon.

The peasants could not get out of poverty on their own: apart from being illiterate, politically amorphous, they did not have any public organization that would defend and defend their interests. There were no reading rooms or clubs in the villages, but there were taverns and taverns everywhere.

The small Ukrainian intelligentsia understood that the only way to save the Ukrainian peasantry should be its education, the need for various associations. However, as a result of the revival of the democratic movement in Europe, which began under the influence of the revolution of 1848, this breath was felt in Galicia: the first Ukrainian mass political union was created - the Main Russian Council, headed by Bishop Hryhoriy Yakhymovych. From the same year, the first Ukrainian-language magazine “Zorya Halytska” began to be published in Halychyna not only in terms of language but also in terms of its content, which actually became a printed organ of the Rada.

Almost for the first time, thanks to the Main Russian Council in Galicia, the slogan about the unity of the entire Ukrainian people on both sides of Zbruch was clearly sounded. Yes, under the heading “Let's be a people!” The editorial board published an appeal from the meeting of the Council, which took place on May 10, 1848: “We, the Galician Ruthenians, belong to the great Russ people, who speak one language and make 15 million, of which one and a half million inhabit the Galician land”. It was further asserted that the Ukrainian people were once independent, but lost their independence due to historical circumstances. Now, according to the editorial board, the time has come to “develop our nationality in all directions again” [8].

Societies “Galician-Russ Matytsia” and “Silskyi hospodar”. According to the first paragraph of the Statute, the “Matytsia” was not only to print, but also to distribute among the people “good and useful books”, and to do so at the lowest prices to establish faith and customs, spread knowledge, develop eloquence, writing, crafts, economics and pedagogy and good education”.

The statute also required work on manuscripts for future books. In particular, a book could be allowed to be published only when the text was reviewed and responded to by a “leader (chairman) and at least four jurors”. In addition to the content, they had to make sure that the manuscript complied with current state legislation and “Ukrainian language norms”.

Matytsia paid special attention to publishing, envisaging the beginning of printing and distribution of various thematic brochures for the mass reader [21, p. 13]. However, since book publishing was a new business for Ukrainians in the region, in the beginning it was not possible to publish a book on a topical topic: the author's assets were not formed, and there was no appropriate readership. Therefore, the first books were devoted to religious topics. In particular, in early 1849 the books “Lives of St. Eustace”, “Catechism for Children” and “Theology for the Peasant” were published.

Consistent, purposeful steps of the young nationally-conscious Ukrainian intelligentsia found a response primarily among student youth, young teachers, lawyers, and writers, which contributed to the growth of the nation's defenders. In particular, at the beginning of 1850, the Galician-Russ Matytsia had more than 190 founding members, including 76 representatives of the clergy and their families, 26 lawyers, 19 professors, teachers, pupils and students, 3 peasants, 2 editorial journalists.

The subject matter of publications also expanded, and book circulations grew. Among the books published by Matytsia publishing houses were school textbooks, popular science publications on agricultural topics - brochures on how to run a household, take care of cattle, raise bees, plant gardens, and so on. In particular, under the auspices of the “Matytsia” was published more than 80 titles of various books [19, p. 82], the average circulation of which ranged from two to three thousand copies.

In 1860, a new constitution was proclaimed in Austria, as a result of which power in Galicia passed into the hands of the Polish nobility, and a new wave of anti-Ukrainian policy began. Unable to repel anti- Ukrainian policy on their own, some intellectuals began to despair, while others turned their attention to Russia. Thus, a new trend appeared in the Ukrainian political movement - Muscovites, all whose activities were focused on Moscow [12, p. 8].

Even the magazines that began to be published at that time under the auspices of the Matytsia, not only in their content but also in their spelling, testified to the gap that had arisen between society and the needs of Ukrainians.

The first branches of the society were established in 1898 in the village Olesko in the Zolochiv region, near Lviv. The initiator of their creation was a priest from the village of Dubie in Brody region T. Dutkevych [13, p. 38]. With the help of his fellow priests, schoolteachers and peasants, he drafted the company's charter, declaring that the basis of the activity would be “overcoming the destructive effects of the peasants' economic activity, raising the income of the owners and reducing costs”.

Immediately after that, the organizers appealed to the peasants, which was published in almost all newspapers that supported the Ukrainian idea, where they explained the purpose and objectives of the society and called to join its ranks. This gave a positive result: the society became more and more popular, “priests responded well to it, and young high school students dreamed of dedicating their lives to the “Silskyi hospodar” to “snatch the Ukrainian peasant out of trouble”.

Conclusion

Over time, it was possible to more clearly distinguish the functions of “Silskyi hospodar”. In particular, “Osvita” should combine educational activities with pedagogical and economic, disseminate and promote agricultural innovations, take care of “agricultural schooling, conduct practical experiments in the field with demonstrations of achievements, prepare rural vendors and shop equipment”.

The task of the “Silskyi hospodar” is to teach the peasant to practice new methods of work in the field, in horticulture, gardening, cattle breeding, etc. On the eve of the First World War “Silskyi hospodar” had a clear organizational structure, it included more than 90 branches, more than 1,100 clubs, which had 26,612 members [6, p. 9].

During the First World War, Russian troops occupying Galicia, fearing that Enlightenment's activities would negatively affect their troops, including many Ukrainians mobilized from eastern Ukraine, and to make up for the “Mazepinism” and prevent it from growing outside the region, closed and looted all educational institutions, burned libraries. The same fate befell the company “Silskyi hospodar”.

However, with the establishment of the Western Ukrainian People's Republic, these organizations gradually began to resume their work.

Unfortunately, this period did not last long, because after the Polish troops with the support of the Entente occupied Eastern Galicia, even more brutal terror awaited the Ukrainians. Only after 1922 did certain branches of the “Prosvita” and “Silsky hospodar” societies manage to gradually adjust their work to reach the prewar level.

Simultaneously with the resumption of the work of “Silskyi hospodar”, the forms of their activity are expanding. They become full-fledged Ukrainian institutions in the cities and villages of Galicia. On the eve of the Second World War, these societies had to reckon with state structures, and good fame about them spread far beyond Galicia.

However, with the establishment of the Bolshevik regime in Galicia in the autumn of 1939, the Bolsheviks began repression against these societies - leading figures and leaders were arrested, premises were looted, and the structure was destroyed. Thus ended the activities of the societies. And only with the establishment of statehood, these societies began to revive again, to gain new breath.

Thus, Farmer societies arose as a reaction of the Western Ukrainian intelligentsia to the economic and political challenges of the time, which primarily faced Ukrainian peasants as the most numerous strata of the Ukrainian nation. By helping them to overcome illiteracy. The “Silskyi hospodar” societies began to be organized in the region, which in all years worked together with “Prosvita” in one field: “Prosvita” hardening spiritually, “Silskyi hospodar” taking care of a positive solution to economic problems.

Summary

The object of research is periodicals of Ukrainian business associations of the interwar period. The subject of the research is to study the peculiarities of the functioning of periodicals of business associations, to clarify its genre paradigm, problem-thematic orientation and forms and methods of presenting materials.

Geographical boundaries are delineated by the territories of Eastern Galicia.

Research methods. The work is based on methodological principles related to the general scientific principles of objectivism, historicism, systematics, ideological pluralism and dialectical understanding of the historical process. They are based on a combination of interdisciplinary approaches and methods borrowed from different socio-humanitarian disciplines.

The practical significance of the research results is that the collected, processed and systematized factual and empirical material, the main theoretical provisions can be used in writing scientific papers on the history of the media in Ukraine.

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