A Memorandum to the Swedish Prime Minister in 1921: a brief introduction to Ukrainian history in the National Archives of Sweden

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The National Archives of Sweden

A MEMORANDUM TO THE SWEDISH PRIME MINISTER IN 1921: A BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO UKRAINIAN HISTORY IN THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF SWEDEN

Johanna Fries Markiewicz

MSc, Head of Collection Care and Conservation

Abstract

memorandum national archive sweden

The National Archives of Sweden is the official archive of the Swedish State and is responsible for the management of records from Sweden's public authorities. Although the archive functions primarily as the archives of the Swedish States, it also preserves documents from private individuals and organizations. The National Archives is one of the oldest public authorities in Sweden. This article gives a short introduction to historical sources in the National Archives of Sweden connected to Ukraine and thus contextualizes a Memorandum sent to the Swedish Foreign Ministry from the Ukrainian Diplomatic Mission in Scandinavia in 1921. The Memorandum is a plea for help through a description of the political situation in Ukraine during times of violence and oppression by the Bolsheviks. The memorandum echoes frighteningly with the present and reminds us that Russian aggression against Ukraine has a long history. The Memorandum and other historical sources connected to Ukraine from the 17th to the early 20th century are now being digitized and published online. New archives within the field will be published continuously. The research methodology is descriptive and combines the analysis of special collections of archival documents with the Memorandum, published both in English and its original language, Swedish. The scientific novelty is the publishing of a valuable historical document from the National Archives of Sweden on the history of Ukraine that have never been published before in English and Swedish as well as expanding information about the activities of the Ukrainian diplomatic mission in Stockholm in the early 1920s. Conclusions. Hopefully this publication will draw attention of the Ukrainian and European historians to and encourage further research of these important historical sources and that the publishing online will support their future use.

Key words: National Archives of Sweden; archival sources; history of Ukraine; Ukrainian Diplomatic Mission in Scandinavia; the struggle for liberation of Ukraine.

Анотація

Йоганна Фріс Маркевич магістерка наук, керівниця відділу забезпечення збереженості колекцій, Національний архів Швеції

МЕМОРАНДУМ ДО ПРЕМ'ЄР-МІНІСТРА ШВЕЦІЇ 1921 року: КОРОТКИЙ ВСТУП ДО УКРАЇНСЬКОЇ ІСТОРІЇ У НАЦІОНАЛЬНОМУ АРХІВІ ШВЕЦІЇ

Національний архів Швеції є державною архівною установою, яка відповідає за збереження історичних зібрань та управління документацією органів влади Швеції. Хоча установа функціонує як архів Шведської держави, вона також зберігає документи приватних осіб та організацій. У фокусі цього дослідження - історичні джерела, пов'язані з Україною, що зберігаються у Національному архіві Швеції. Зокрема, йдеться про Меморандум, надісланий до Міністерства закордонних справ Швеції Українською дипломатичною місією в Скандинавії у листопаді 1921 р. Меморандум містив опис політичної ситуації в Україні під час її окупації більшовиками, панування яких супроводжувалося насильством і репресіями. Зміст меморандуму має прямі аналогії з сьогоденням і засвідчує, що російська агресія проти України має довгу історію. Меморандум та інші джерела з історії України XVII - початку ХХ ст., що зберігаються у Національному архіві Швеції, нині активно оцифровуються та розміщуються онлайн. Методологія дослідження грунтується на використанні принципів історизму, об'єктивності, системності, методах критичного аналізу та синтезу історичних колекцій архівних документів. Наукова новизна дослідження полягає у публікації цінного історичного документа з історії України з фондів Національного архіву Швеції, який раніше не публікувався, англійською та шведською мовами, а також у розширенні інформації про діяльність Української дипломатичної місії у Стокгольмі на початку 1920-х років. Висновки. Сподіваємося, що ця публікація приверне увагу українських та європейських істориків до цих важливих історичних джерел і підштовхне їх до подальшого дослідження, а розміщення документів онлайн сприятиме їх ширшому використанню у майбутньому.

Ключові слова: Національний архів Швеції; архівні джерела; історія України; Українська дипломатична місія у Скандинавії; боротьба за незалежність України.

The main text

The National Archives of Sweden (Riksarkivet) manage a striking amount of sources dealing with Ukraine's political history!¹. The majority originate from the 17th and 18th centuries though sources from before and after this period can also be found. Since the onset of Russia's full scale war against Ukraine, it has become more important than ever to make these collections accessible to the Swedish and the Ukrainian publics. This article aims to provide a brief tour through the National Archives of Sweden and some of the material preserved there which is connected to Ukraine. This is exemplified at the end with the full text translated into English of a Memorandum addressed to the Swedish Prime Minister on behalf of the Ukrainian Diplomatic Mission in November 1921 Dr. Yurii Savchuk has done an extensive research in archives, libraries and museums in Sweden. The exhibition catalogue «Ukraine - Sweden: at the crossroads of history (XVII-XVIII centuries)» gives a profound overview, see: Ukraine - Sweden: At the Crossroads of History (XVII-XVIII centuries): October 1, 2008 - March 30, 2009. Kyiv, April 24 - October 31, 2010. New York: Catalogue of the international exhibition / comp. Yu. Savchuk; The Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Ukraine, Institute of History of Ukraine of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, The National Museum of History of Ukraine, The Ukrainian Museum, New York. Kyiv: Такі spravy, 2010. 232 p.; Marina Trattner, journalist and translator, has published an overview of a selection of records in the National Archives of Sweden: Скарби шведських архівів. Документи з історії України [Treasures of Swedish archives. Documents on the history of Ukraine] / упоряд. М. Траттнер. Одеса: Музей української книги, 2021. 259 с. Riksarkivet (The National Archives of Sweden). Utrikesdepartementet med foregangare, SE/RA/221/2210.03.1/HP/586, Image no: 9-16. URL: [Politiska (och handelspolitiska) avdelningens arenden] NAD (riksarkivet.se) (date of retrieval:

15.02.2023) .. The records preserved from this period in the Archives of Swedish Foreign Ministry constitutes an important source for further research The articles devoted to the activity of the Ukrainian Diplomatic Mission in Scandinavia based mainly on the sources from Ukrainian archives: Степанов В. А. До 95-ої річниці започаткування діяльності Української дипломатичної місії в Скандинавії // Науковий вісник дипломатичної академії України. Київ, 2013. Вип. 20(1). С. 25-31. URL: http://irbis-nbuv.gov.ua/cgi-bin/irbis_nbuv/ cgiirbis_64.exe?C21COM=2&I21DBN=UJRN&P21DBN=UJRN&IMAGE_FILE_

DOWNLOAD=1&Image_file_name=PDF/Nvdau_2013_20(1) 5.pdf (date of

retrieval: 12.02.23); Коваль О. О. Діяльність Дипломатичної місії УНР у Швеції: взаємодія без визнання // Вчені записки Таврійського національного університету імені В. І. Вернадського. Серія: Історичні науки. 2022. Т. 33(72). № 3. С. 135-143. URL: https://doi.org/10.32838/2663-5984/2022/3.20 (date of retrieval: 12.02.2023).. A selection of volumes with interesting content, not only to Ukraine but also other states struggling for independence at that time are now digitized and accessible online. The Memorandum serves as an example of what can be found.

The National Archives of Sweden is the official archive of the Swedish State and is responsible for the management of records from Sweden's public authorities ⁴ Although the archive functions primarily as the archives of the Swedish States, it also preserves documents from private individuals and organizations. The National Archives is one of the oldest public authorities in Sweden. Originally limited to the Royal Offices, the National Archives has, over time, subsumed responsibility for archives of other central and local authorities such as the Military Archives and Sweden's regional archives. The archival holdings currently amount to approximately 750 kilometers of shelving comprised of paper and parchment documents, 6 million maps and prints, 8 terabytes of born-digital images and 46 million searchable documents on the internet. The collections are preserved in eight different regions of Sweden with the largest amount - around 350 shelf-kilometers - at two different locations in Stockholm. The collection is ever-increasing with documents being continuously delivered from the Cabinet Office and other central agencies. The National Archives is subject to open government, which means that the holdings in general are available to the public including both professional and private researchers, though exceptions are made for confidential documents and, occasionally, fragile older material. Many of the oldest documents are reproduced on microfilm or as digital images.

Although the Swedish National Archives is said to have been founded in 1618, it is in fact built upon an archive from the century before comprised of documents drawn up in the Royal Office under King Gustav Vasa as well as even older material. These included a large number of charters from medieval times among which a first example of the tight link between Scandinavia and Kyivan Rus' can be found. A donation charter on parchment from 1135 by King Erik Emune of Denmark certifies the establishment of a canonical prebend and the grant of land holdings and estates to the church. The charter was approved and certified by Queen Malfride, princess of Kyiv, which testifies to the active participation of the princess in her husband's charitable activities ⁵. It is worth noting, that the most texts about the Swedish National Archives are in Swedish. Brief information about structure of the Swedish National Archives can be found on the institution's website, see: Riksarkivet. URL: www.riksarkivet. se (date of retrieval: 15.02.2023);

Some aspects of the institution's historical development were characterized in the article written and published in English by Swedish historian and archivist Ingvar Andersson in the min-1960s, see: Andersson I. Swedish archive, their history and organization // Journal of the Society of Archivists. 1965. Vol. 3. Issue 1. P. 7-14. URL:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00379816509513804? journalCode=cjsa (date of retrieval: 12.02.2023). Riksarkivet. SDHK, Medeltidsbrev 180. URL: https://sok.riksarkivet.se/ sdhk?SDHK=180&postid=sdhk_180;

https://sok.riksarkivet.se/bildvisning/Sdhk_180_180.jpg#?c=&m=&s=&cv= &xywh=-951%2C-162%2C6269%2C3235 (date of retrieval: 20.02.2023). Dr. Olena

The amount of sources increases in the early modem period and from then on you can find diplomatic documents and correspondence as well as unique and valuable maps. During the 17th and the 18th centuries, the Swedish and the Ukrainian leadership forged strong ties, formed alliances and cooperated in various ways to assert themselves on the international stage during periods of conflict and war. International trade and shipping were also of great importance. The negotiations generated large amounts of correspondence and other source material that cannot be found anywhere else in the world. This applies not least to the period 1630-1730. These documents also have great value as historical sources for a number of other European countries, such as Poland, Turkey, Russia, the countries around the Baltic Sea, Romania and Moldova, as well as for Sweden, but what makes them particularly unique is their importance in relation to self-government and the independence of Ukraine. Just recently a major part of this material has been scanned and published online ⁶. To mention specifically here is Diplomatica Muscovitica Cossacica (Representatives of the Ukrainian Government and the Cossack leadership)⁷. Here you will find correspondence, agreements and treaties with names such as Ivan Mazepa, Pylyp Olryk, Bogdan Khmelnytski and Ivan Wihovsky. It is in this context the Latin original version of Pylyp Olryks Constitution from 1710 is to be found ⁸.

The Military Archives (a section within the National Archives of Sweden) has one of the largest collections of maps and drawings from the 17th to the 19th century with around 35 000 items. Cartography played an important role in Sweden's early development of an efficient state administration. This has led to a unique historical collection of hand drawn and printed topographical maps for both civilian and military user. Sweden waged war for long periods Yasunetska, St. Sophia of Kyiv National Conservation Area, is currently researching within the framework of the topic «Ukraine - Sweden: Thousand years of kinship in matrimonial interaction, documents and monuments of cultural heritage». An introduction to the digitised archives with links can be found here, new archives are published continuously: Riksarkivet. Search the collection: The Political History of Ukraine. URL: https://sok.riksarkivet.se/ amnesomrade?infosida=amnesomrade-ukrainas-politiska-historia (date of retrieval:

20.02.2023) . Riksarkivet. Search the collection: [Diplomatica Muscovitica Cosacica]. URL: [Diplomatica Muscovitica Cosacica] - NAD (riksarkivet.se) (date of retrieval:

20.02.2023) . The whole constitution as well as a film paging through the constitution visualising the document is published on Wikimedia Commons. URL: https:// commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Filip_Orliks_konstitution_front_1-crop. tif; https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File: Video_of_a_conservator_paging_ through_the_Constitution_of_Pylyp_Orlyk.webm (date of retrieval: 20.02.2023). An introduction in Swedish to the map collections can be found: Gussarsson W. M, Hoglund M., Lundstrom B. Med kartan i fokus: en vagledning till de civila och militara kartorna i Riksarkivet. Stockholm, 2013. 398 p. within and outside the country's borders adding to its need for maps. From 1814, however, peace has prevailed ensuring that the collection has not been threatened by war or risked being broken up.

The collection largely follows a geographical division based on the borders which were in place in the world in 1815. This means that earlier maps of Ukraine or part of Ukraine can be found under searches of Poland, Lithuania and Russia, depending on when the map was made. To look at a map of Kyiv with the search name of Russia does feel provocative but it is important to remember that archives are created contextually in their time, and as a rule, these orders are kept as a part of the history of a collection. In this particular instance it is worth noting that it has caused concern within the archives in terms of the message it sends. The bulk of the map collection has not been digitized but a few items have been published on Wikimedia Commons and more material is published continuously! Wikimedia common: Media in category «Maps of Ukraine in the National Archives of Sweden». URL: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Maps_ of_Ukraine_in_the_National_Archives_of_Sweden (date of retrieval: 20.02.2023). Riksarkivet: Svenska Roda Korset. SE/RA/730236 (not available online). Riksarkivet: Gammalsvenskbys kyrkoarkiv, 1783-1935. SE/ViLA/23094.

URL: https://sok.riksarkivet.se/nad?postid=Arkis%20c511cf91-f58e-4356-b419-

5462e151ff36 (date of retrieval: 25.02.2023). Riksarkivet: Statens utlanningskommission. SE/RA/420393 (not available online)..

Moving into the 19th and 20th centuries there is probably much more to explore within the archives concerning Ukraine than we are aware of today. Alongside a large amount of written records, the Red Cross' archives, contain a collection of 45 000 photographs. Although most of the photoraphs are from the 20th century, the very first album contains documentation from Gammelsvenskby (Старошведське) in Kherson Oblast from the 1880s!¹¹. There are also photos and documentation from the famine 1920-1921 and the journey to Sweden by those inhabitants of Gammelsvenskby who emigrated in 1929. Individuals can be searched in the parish registration, the archive is digitized until the year 1940І². In the Red Cross records, correspondences around the acute humanitarian disaster in these years are well documented through pleas for humanitarian aid and lists of what is actually sent. After this point Ukraine disappears from the index and from 1930 is conspicuous only in its absence. With that said, there are no doubt sources pertaining to Ukraine of individual stories and witnesses present particularly in the governmental agency, Statens utlanningskommisiont³. This agency was responsible for handling individual immigration cases between 1938 and 1978, including those of all political refugees. Extracting general information here, however, is more difficult as it requires searches by individual names. To mention here are also private archives donated or deposited that can contain material. Ukrainska sallskapet i Sverige, the Ukrainian Society in Sweden is a deposition with written records, photos but also audiovisual material from 1947 to 1999 connected to the Ukrainian diaspora in Sweden. Permission is needed to study the archive; it is not digitized!¹⁴. Slaviska missionen, the Slavic mission worked actively in the Soviet Union, they smuggled and translated bibles as well as documenting persecutions of Christians. There archive contains documentation from the whole of the Soviet Union!^{14 Riksarkivet: Ukrainska sallskapet i Sverige, SE/RA/730376 (not available online).}

¹⁵ Riksarkivet: Slaviska Missionen, SE/RA/730213 (not available online).

¹⁶ Riksarkivet: Utrikesdepartementet och dess foregangare, Politiska (och handelspolitiska) avdelningens arenden, SE/RA/221/2210.03.1/HP/586. URL: https://sok.riksarkivet.se/arkiv/3qZm7tFcrX61q03Gjpu0Y3 (date of retrieval:

10.02.2023) .

¹⁷ Riksarkivet: Utrikesdepartementet och dess foregangare, Frammande diplomater i de forenade rikena, SE/RA/221/2210.02/16/1013. URL: https://sok. riksarkivet.se/arkiv/yyKNNsD99HF03xRXwDhXx5 (date of retrieval: 25.02.2023)..

Our journey through the archives ends at The Ministry of Foreign Affairs!^{18 Utrikesdepartementet och dess foregangare, Avd HP, Grupp 12, Vol. 895a. URL:} https://sok.riksarkivet.se/arkiv/H4dm7tFcrX61q03Gjpu0Y3 (date of retrieval:

25.02.2023) .. There are several volumes of diplomatic documents dealing with the recognition of former Soviet states and their self-government as well as sources relating to, for example, Circassia, Georgia, Transylvania, and their struggle for independence. Relevant collections which have now been digitized and published online include: Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, state forms and constitutions, diplomatic dossiers, documents relating to the recognition of new state formations, and diplomatic correspondence and reporting for Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine, Transcaucasia, Don Cossack Republic and Georgia, 1917-1950.

In November 1921, a letter signed by Dr. Dimand, Charge des affairs in Stockholm for the Mission Diplomatique Extraordinaire de la Republique Ukrainienne en Srnde et Norvdge, together with a four page record with the title Memorandum to Prime Minister Hjalmar Branting, is registered as an incoming message at the Ministry of Foreign Affair. We know, through Maurice Dimand's dossier in the archives of the Swedish Foreign Ministry, that he was from 1919 placed in Stockholm!⁷. Already a year later, in 1920, the Ukrainian diplomatic mission in Sweden ceased to exist. Still, the letter in French which introduced the memorandum, signed by Dimand, and where he briefly sets out its aims, namely to raise knowledge about the economic and political situation in Ukraine is written in 1921. In a document signed by Branting we learn that Dimand already on the 1st of November 1921 paid him a visit during a reception ¹⁸. The document gives a summary of the visit, Dimand's main message is that the Ukrainian diplomatic mission will continue its work in Europe despite the Bolsheviks occupation and that the struggle for independence is strong, an uprising is planned for the spring. The tense relation with Poland at the time is also mentioned and that the Bolsheviks' treasury seems to run short. Dimand's activity in the diplomatic field at this time is as Koval notes in her article about the mission, that after the official termination, the diplomatic mission continued their work in scientific, cultural and other spheres! Коваль О. О. Діяльність Дипломатичної місії УНР у Швеції: взаємодія без визнання... С. 135-143. URL: https://doi.org/10.32838/2663-5984/2022/3.20 (date of retrieval: 12.02.2023)..

The memorandum and the accompanying letter is dated 29th of November 1921. Hjalmar Branting has personally written his initials on the document, to indicate that he has read or at least seen it. The memorandum is written in Swedish which is puzzling. We don't know if it is the words of Dimand or someone in his circle, it remains to be solved. But foremost, the memorandum echoes frighteningly with the present and reminds us that Russian aggression against Ukraine has a long history and that the techniques of oppression follow familiar trajectories.

1921, November 13. - Memorandum to the Swedish Prime Minister Hjalmar Branting on the economic and political situation in Ukraine during the military occupation of the Bolsheviks

Royal Foreign Ministry

Incoming message

171/1676:a

30/11 1921

Memorandum to Prime Minister

Hjalmar Branting

At the end of last year, after a difficult three-year war, the Bolshevik groups of the Soviet government in Moscow occupied most of Ukraine. The legitimate democratic government of the Ukrainian Peoples' Republic, and its army, with the exception of the Frikarerna (Free Corps), have been expelled from the country. The same fate has also befallen neighboring Georgia and Armenia.

The European States, due to their lack of knowledge and understanding of the true political and national conditions and the details of the economic development in Eastern Europe, have been indifferent to these facts even though the consequences of the occupation are catastrophic, not only throughout the southern part of the former Russian Empire. These consequences will also reverberate throughout Europe.

They are namely:

1) The destruction of industry, trade and transport,

2) A complete decline of agriculture, which is the population's main source of livelihood,

3) The extinction of organized political life through terror,

4) The suffocation and suppression of all national culture.

Since the organization of production and distribution has been completely destroyed, the previously prosperous development in these countries has declined over several decades. Ukraine, especially, has suffered under these conditions. Under cover of the so-called «Ukrainian Soviet government», which is purely an exploitation agency for Moscow, the Bolsheviks are carrying out similar looting, which in recent years has taken place in the present famine-hit districts of the Volga.

Industrial technology, locomotives, vehicles, agricultural tools, indeed everything of value is being taken from Ukraine to the north. Most of the grain and agricultural products have been taken by force from the farmers, leaving not even seeds for spring. In order to carry out these measures, Moscow and the Bolsheviks in Ukraine, keep an occupation army of 1/2 million men (in Ukraine), which by the force of arms demands payment in goods; thereby further complicating the economic situation.

The Ukrainian people, who have also been abandoned by all who preach people's right to self-determination, have defended their national and stately rights, their economic and cultural values, by all available means. The resistance the Bolshevik occupation has met is clearly testified by the people that have repeatedly taken up arms after dozens of villages have been raised to the ground by artillery fire and their entire population killed.

In order to paralyze the powerful resistance of the peasants, the Bolsheviks have, for months, been carrying out the systematic destruction of the Ukrainian intelligentsia, on the pretext that they are fighting against revolution and sabotage. Most of the intelligentsia has been detained in Cheka's! concentration camps and prisons for a year now. In recent months, mass murders have taken place in Kyiv, Odessa, Kharkov, and other places. Among the victims are dozens of Ukrainian cultural workers, who are not politically active at all.

The terror of the barbaric regime of the Soviet government in Moscow naturally provokes reactions, and the natural drive for self-preservation has in various places led to armed actions on the part of the peasants. The threat posed by the occupiers and the invasion of starving people from Greater Russia have put the peasants in a position where they are having to arm themselves to defend their property. The Bolshevik foreign propaganda in the form of various missions and delegations seeks to disguise the evidence of resistance on the part of the people, using their wellknown methods; the neighboring states are being blamed for the uprisings and, in a tried and tested manner, they seek to distract Western Europe's attention from domestic affairs to the possibilities of foreign conflicts.

We are now facing the final act of this Eastern tragedy. After all the bread baskets of the former Russian Empire were destroyed by the Moscow Bolsheviks, namely Siberia, the Volga, Don and Kuban, the last remaining bread basket - Ukraine, Europe's richest country, along with Georgia and Armenia, is now in a state of complete material and cultural ruin. The consequences for the future are clear: famine. This is happening while the whole Western world is talking about Europe's economic reconstruction.

With these future perspectives in mind, the Government of the Ukrainian People's Republic can no longer silently ignore such horrific facts as the systematic assassination of the intelligentsia and the extinction of economic life, at a time when the country is threatened with complete spiritual and economic destruction and famine in the coming year.

The government of the People's Republic of Ukraine, which is fully entitled to speak for the nation, is therefore turning to all states with a solemn protest against the invasion by the Russian Bolshevik army, against the immense atrocities committed by the Russian Soviet government against the Ukrainian people and its intelligentsia, as well as against the country through the looting of material goods.

The Ukrainian Government realizes that not only in Europe but also elsewhere in the world, normal economic conditions can remerge only if the whole of the former Russian Empire's territory begins to produce and consume, and therefore chooses the view that it is the duty of all European States to determine a soundly based solution to the Eastern European problem and immediately act upon it.

The two main points are as follows:

1) to enable economic reconstruction,

2) to ease and end the famine.

It is not necessary to further prove the incompetence of the Soviet government in this respect, since it has declared itself unable to solve these tasks Cheka - a short title (abbreviation) of the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission that was the first of the Soviet secret-police organizations.

Translation by Fries Markiewicz (2022). and has requested foreign help. It is clear that a government whose methods after a four-year operation have only led to the destruction of the economy and famine cannot with these methods set any industry in motion or provide bread.

It must be made clear, however, that emergency aid, in the form of hunger relief for children and food convoys, is not enough to restrict the further spread of the famine. On the contrary, we need to focus on the true cause of the evil, namely the Bolshevik system. It would be naive to think that the Bolshevik government in Moscow has realized and, through the so-called reforms and concessions, has abandoned the communist principles that revived peasants and workers' desire to work, which is the driving force in any healthy economy.

As the legitimate representative of the Ukrainian people, the Ukrainian government wants to cooperate to make this happen. In the interests of rebuilding the world economy and saving the peoples of Eastern Europe, it therefore calls on all States, with the help of their political and economic means, to bring pressure to bear on the Soviet government in Moscow's military imperialism with the following categorical demands:

1. the withdrawal from Ukraine, Georgia and Armenia of the Soviet government in Moscow's occupying troops,

2. repatriation of all evacuated factory facilities, machinery, transport and agricultural equipment,

3. that Ukraine and Georgia be subordinated to the Protectorate of the League of Nations as security and pledge for the debts of the former Russian Empire applicable to these countries.

The task of the League of Nations would then be to unite the forces inherent in these countries into a state life and, by granting credits from international syndicates, make industry and agriculture productive and export-oriented.

If the European states, America, Japan, China are not able to force these measures on the Soviet government in Moscow, they have to expect:

1) that the Bolsheviks on-going destruction of all property will, on the one hand, indefinitely increase the world economic crisis and, on the other hand, make impossible any reconstruction of the economy of Eastern Europe in the foreseeable future;

2) that the famine areas in the next year will increase to at least % million square kilometers and affect 50 million people, for whom the other states will thus have to provide, as is now the case in the Volga area.

The political, economic and cultural consequences will be such that no State will have to suffer a similar fate. It is therefore an obligation of the League of Nations and each individual State to protect Ukraine, Georgia and Armenia from extinction, in the name of the world, and to help these countries return to a normal, stately and economic life ².

Text in Swedish

Kungl. Utrikesdepartementet

inkommande arende

171/1676:a

30/11 1921

Memorandum till statsminister

Hjalmar Branting

Efter ett trearigt svart krig har Sovjetregeringen i Moskvas Bolchewikgrupper i slutet av forra aret ockuperat storsta delen av Ukraina. Ukrainska folk republikens rattmatiga demokratiska Regering och dess arme med undantag av frikarerna, har fordrivits utom statens granser.

Samma ode drabbade aven grannstaterna Georgie n och Armenien.

Mot dessa fakta har de europeiska staterna forhallit sig likgiltiga, och detta pa grund av sin obekantskap det sanna politiska och nationella forhallandena i Osteuropa och grundvalarna for dess ekonomiska utveckling.

Ty foljderna av denna ockupation, vilka aterverka pa hela Europa, aro katastrofartade i hela den sydliga delen av det forutvarande ryska riket. De aro namligen:

1) Forintandet av industri, handel och transportvasende,

2) Ett fullstandigt forfall av jordbruket, vilket ar befolkningens huvudnaring,

3) Forintandet av det organiserade politiska livet genom blodig terror,

4) Forkvavning och undertryckandet av all nationell kultur.

Dessa forut blomstrande landers utveckling har gat tillbaks med flera artionden, organisationen av produktion och konsumtion har helt och hallet forstorts. I all synnerhet har darvid Ukraina att lida under dessa forhallanden. Under tackmanteln av den s.k. «ukrainska sovjetregeringen», hvilken endast ar en exploaterings-agentur for Moskwa, bedriver bolsjevikerna samma och en liknande utplundring, som under de sist forslutna aren agt rum i de nuvarande hungersdistrikterna vid Wolga. Fabriksmaskiner, lokomotiv, vagnar, lantbruksredskap, - allt av varde fors fran Ukraina norrut. Den storsta delen av spannmalen och av landtbruksprodukterna har avpressats bonderna varvid inte ens utsade till varen kvarlamnats. For att genomfora dessa atgarder halla Moskva-bolsjevikerna i Ukraina en ockupationsarme pa 1/2 million man, som med vapenmakt utkraver rekvisitionerna och vars underhall ytterligare forsvarar det ekonomiska laget.

Det ukrainska folket, som av alla forkunnare av folkets sjalvbestammanderatt lamnats i sticket, har av alla krafts forsvarat sina nationella och statliga rattigheter, sina ekonomiska och kulturella varden. Folket har upprepade ganger gripit till vapen och dussintals byar, som genom artillerield jamnats med marken och vars hela befolkning nedgjorts, vittna tydligt om det motstand varmed den bolsjevikiska ockupationen motts.

For att forlama den kraftiga bondeklassens motstandskraft foretaga bolsjevikerna sedan manader tillbaka huvud for huvud en systematisk nedslaktning av den ukrainska intelligensen, under forevandning att bekampa motrevolution och sabbotage. Den storsta delen av intelligensen befinner sig sedan ett ar i Tschekas koncentrationslager och fangelser. I Kiew, Odessa, Charkow m.m har under de senaste manadernas av myndighetema anordnade massmord agt rum, bland vars offer dussintals av politiskt fullkomligt overksamma ukrainska kulturarbetare befinna sig.

I trots av terrorn framkallar sovjetregeringens i Moskva barbariska regim helt naturligt reaktioner och den naturliga sjalvbevarelsedriften har a olika platser foranlett bevapnade aktioner ifran bondernas sida. Utpressningen ifran ockupanternas sida och invasionen av hungriga manniskomassor ifran Stor-Ryssland har forsatt bonderna i ett manniskovardigt lage och de gripa till vapen for att forsvara sin egendom. Den bolsjevikiska utlands-propagandan i form av olika beskickningar och delegationer soker besloja dessa fakta av nodvarn ifran folkets sida enligt sina kanda metoder; grannstaterna goras ansvariga for upproren och enligt beprovad satt soker man leda Vasteuropas uppmarksamhet ifran tillstandet i det inre pa mojligheter af utrikes-politiska konflikter.

Vi star nu infor slutakten av denna Osterns tragedi. Sedan alla det forna ryska rikets kornbodar forstorts av Moskvabolsjevikerna, namligen Sibirien, Wolga, Don och Kuban, prisgives nu den sista kornbod, Ukraina, Europas rikaste land, tillsammans med Georgien och Armenien en fullstandig materiell och kulturell ruin. Foljderna for framtiden aro klara: hungersnodoch detta sker medan den hela kulturvarlden talar om Europas ekonomiska ateruppbyggnad.

Med dessa framtidsperspektiv for ogonen kan den Ukrainska folkrepublikens Regering icke langre med tystnad forbiga sadana forskrackliga fakta som mordandet av intelligensen och det ekonomiska livets forintande, vilka antagit en systematisk karaktar, da landet harigenom hotas med fullstandig andlig och ekonomisk tillintetgorelse och en hungerkatastrof under det narmaste aret.

Ukrainska folkrepublikens regering som ar fullt berattigad att fara nationens talan, vander sig darfor till alla stater med en hogtidlig protest mot den storryska bolsjevikarmens invasion i Ukraina, mot de oerhorda grymheterna, som av den ryska sovjetregeringen begas mot det ukrainska folket och dess intelligens, liksom aven mot landets materiella utplundring.

Ukrainska regeringen inser, att icke blott i Europas utan aven i hela varldens ekonomi normala forhallanden endast kunna aterintrada, om hela det forna ryska rikets omrade ater borjar att producera och konsumera, och foretrader darfor den asikten, att det ar alla europeiska staters skyldighet att stalla det Osteuropeiska problemets losning pa en real grundval och genast ta itu med densamma. De bada huvudpunkterna aro foljande:

1) att mojliggora ett ekonomiskt ateruppbyggande,

2) att lindra och begransa hungersnoden.

Att ytterligare bevisa sovjetregeringens oformaga hartill ar ju icke erforderligt, da den sjalv forklarat sig icke kunna losa dessa uppgifter och anhallit om utlandets hjalp. De ar ju klart att en regering, vars metoder efter en fyraarig verksamhet endast har till folje ekonomins forintelse och hungersnod med dessa sina metoder icke kan satta nagon fabrik igang eller skaffa brod. Med all tydlighet maste dock framhallas att hungersnoden vidare utbredning icke kan begransas genom barnutspisningar och livsmedelstag. Man maste tvartom ha blicken riktad pa de ondas egentliga upphov, vilket ar det bolsjevikiska systemet. Det vore naivt att tro, att bolsjevikregeringen i Moskva insett detta och genom de s.k. reformerna och koncessionerna uppgivit de kommunistiska principerna, for att bland bonder och arbetare atervacka arbetslusten, som ar drivkraften i all sund ekonomi.

Sasom legitimerad representant for det ukrainska folket vill den ukrainska regeringen medarbeta dartill. I intresse av varldsekonomins ateruppbyggande och till raddning av folken i Osteuropa ber den darfor alla stater att med stod av sina politiska och ekonomiska maktmedel vanda sig till sovjetregeringens i Moskva militariska imperialism och med foljande kategoriska fordringar:

1) utrymmandet av Ukraina, Georgien och Armenien av Sovjetregeringens I Moskva ockupationstrupper,

2) aterlamnandet av alla evakuerade fabriksanlaggningar, maskiner, transportoch lantbruksmateriel,

3) att Ukraina och Georgien understallas folkforbundets protektorat sasom sakerhet och pant for den a dessa lander utfallande delen av det forutvarande ryska rikets statsskulder.

Folkforbundets uppgift skulle sedan bliva att sammanfora dessa lander inneboende krafterna till ett statligt liv och genom beviljande av krediter av internationella syndikat ater gora industri och lantbruk produktionsoch exportkraftiga.

Skulle de europeiska staterna, Amerika, Japan, China icke kunna framtvinga dessa atgarder av sovjetregeringen i Moskva maste de rakna med:

1) att den fortskridande forintelsen av all egendom genom bolsjevikerna kommer att a ena sidan stegra den ekonomiska varldskrisen i det oandliga och a andra sidan att omojliggora varje ateruppbyggnad av ekonomin i Osteuropa inom overskadlig framtid;

2) att hungeromradena under nasta ar kommer att okas med minst % millionkvadratkilometer och med 50 miljoner manniskor, om vilka saledes de andra staterna maste draga forsorg liksom det nu ar fallet i Wolgaomradet.

De politiska, ekonomiska och kulturella foljderna kommer att vara sadana att icke nagon stat kommer att blifva forskonad for detsamma. Det ar darfor folkforbundets och hvarje enskild stats skyldighet att i varldssamvetets namnskydda Ukraina, Georgien och Armenien mot forintelsen och forhjalpa dessa lander till ett normalt, statligt och ekonomiskt lif.

References

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