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19th Century - East Ukraine

Eastern Ukraine, occupied by the Russian monarchy, included the lands of the Left Bank, Slobodian, Right Bank Ukraine, and the region of the South. During the 19th century, Eastern Ukraine was subject to general imperial laws of socio-political and economic development. The validity of Russian law, the administrative-territorial system, and executive personnel expanded on this territory. The absolute power in all nine provinces (into which Eastern Ukraine was divided at the beginning of the 19th century) was delegated by a special edict from hand to hand of governor general who performed administrative and supervisory functions.

Tsarism pursued a course of Russification of the Ukrainian population of Eastern Ukraine. As a result of such a policy by the Russian government, the number of Ukrainians in this area decreased to 80% by the end of the century. In particular, the national element in the structure of urban population did not exceed the one third of the general number of people. As a result of intensification of industrial production in these recently agricultural lands, one could see the strengthening of the class of workers as well as the growth of the national bourgeoisie.

The liberation traditions of Ukrainians began their renaissance in the early 19th century. It first began in circles of national intellectuals - Ukrainian writers in particular. The activities of the Kharkiv romantics - Ukrainian subjects in works by M. Hohol - were of great significance for preserving the spirits of cossacks' victories. In the future, their cause was continued by Ivan Franko, Lesya Ukrainka, P. Hrabovskyi, and Taras Shevchenko. The Ukrainian national cultural renaissance was favored by the opening of the Kharkiv (1805) and Kyiv (1834) Universities by the founding of a popular paper, "Ukrainskyi vesnik" (1816-1863), the scientific literary journal, "Osnova" (1861-1863), and the first historical paper in Ukraine, "Kyivskaia starina" (1882-1906). Scientific activity of well-known Ukrainian historians was directed at maintaining wide circles of public and historical memory about old traditions of the national-liberation struggle of Ukrainian people for state independence and social justice.

From the first decades of the 19th century, the Ukrainian national culture movement was closely connected with the political one. A lot of Ukrainians were the acting members of general Russian Masonic organizations, which proclaimed the creation of "judicious society" of the people with equal rights - the target of their activities. They took part in secret officers' societies, oriented against the Russian monarchy. The population on the Left Bank region supported the liberation revolt of the Polish landlords of 1830-1831. Ethnic Ukrainians, together with the Poles, stood up for the freedom of Poland during the rebellion of 1863-1864.

The activities of the Brotherhood of St. Cyril and Methodius was the important point on the path of consolidation of the national liberation movement. That was a non-legal political organization created in Kyiv in 1846 by representatives of the Ukrainian national intelligentsia. Taras Shevchenko also spread the national liberation ideas in his poetic works. The attainment of state independence of Ukraine and the establishing of it as an equal member of the confederation of independent Slavic countries, with Kyiv as the political center, was the goal of the Brotherhood activities. The demand for liquidation of the monarchical system of the Russian Empire and the abolition of serfdom were the closest political requirements of the Brotherhood members. The practical activity was concentrated on education and search of the way to raise the economic development of Ukraine. Russian Tsarism savagely punished the Brotherhood members.

Having been spread in national consciousness, these ideas were developed in the social movement of the late 19th century. Members of these often illegal organizations were united by the calls of Ukrainism, the devotion to their people and pride in their history. The social workers were mainly busy in cultural and educational work. They organized schools, issues textbooks and popularized folklore.

The liberation and social ideas were also spread among the working class in Ukraine. The strengthening of national social pressure and economic exploitation on the part of the Russian monarchy met the firm resistance of peasants and town dwellers. Their refusal to work and armed uprisings became the most spread form of social protest in the 19th century. They demanded personal freedom, land and liberty.

The social struggle developed with new force in the late 19th century. In the mid-1850s, the peasants' movement embraced 422 villages of the Kyiv, Katerynoslav and Kherson provinces. Peasants' rebels were maintained by the students from the Kharkiv and Kyiv Universities. Agrarian reform of 1861, which abolished serfdom in Ukraine, simultaneously limited the peasants' land ownership. The former serfs answered to the next wave of revolts.

A new stage of the liberation movement in Ukraine was connected with the activities of Russian populists (narodniks). Their circles and organizations worked in Kyiv, Odesa, Chernihiv and other cities. The ideas of freedom and equality were spread by narodniks mainly among peasants. After 1885, narodniks lost their leading part in the liberation movement. It was intercepted by the social democratic intelligentsia, which made a lot of efforts to bring their political calls to the consciousness of workers. The first political organizations (i.e., Marxist circles) appeared in the 1880s and 1890s.

Notwithstanding the Draconian laws of Tsarism of 1863 and 1876 with regard to the Ukrainian language, the development of Ukrainian culture rose to a new level. It became an important factor of national renaissance. The creative work of M. Hrushevskyi, (e.g., the multi-volume "History of Ukraine-Rus"), works by B. Hrinchenko, A. Krymskyi, and M. Arkas were noticeable literary landmarks. Pressing social and national problems were addressed in the works of many poets.

The early years of the 20th century were marked by the considerable aggravation of the revolutionary struggle. First, Ukrainian political parties (the Revolutionary Ukrainian Party, Ukrainian Socio-democratic Workers' Party, the Society of Ukrainian Progressionists) were under its influence. Their leaders were D. Antonovych, O. Lototskyi, V. Vynnychenko, S. Petliura, S. Yefremov and others. Some of these individuals became prominent figures of the future Ukrainian revolution.