AGRARIAN REFORM OF P. WRANGEL IN THE SOUTH OF UKRAINE (1920)

Abstract

The purpose of the article – to reveal that P. Wrangel's agrarian reform was widely understood as a system of measures that influenced the socio-economic situation in the countryside, the socio-political activity of the peasantry. The research methodology is based on such principles of historical knowledge as scientificity, historicism, objectivity, system analysis, etc., as well as on the application of general scientific, special historical study methods. The scientific novelty consists in the following: it has been justified that P. Wrangel did not limit his agrarian reform by the redistribution of land among peasants. He considered as its cornerstone the intensification of agriculture as an industry, improving the material wealth of peasants, transforming the peasantry into a leading social class. Being aware of the need for quality changes aimed at intensifying agriculture as a sector of the economy, P. Wrangel worked in this direction. In our estimation of efficiency of this work, in our opinion it is necessary to consider the conditions under which it was carried out. Despite the adverse circumstances, P. Wrangel's agrarian reform in southern Ukraine was fruitful. Its conduct, firstly, testifies that the Commander-in-Chief took care of improvement of land management, improvement of agro-technical cultivation of land, provision of peasant farms with agricultural machinery, seed fund, working cattle, etc. Secondly, the measures taken by the government officials did not seek to exacerbate the authorities' relations with the peasantry. On the contrary, every effort was made to minimize confrontation in the countryside. Thirdly, the agrarian reform was based on the principles of state protectionism of the peasantry. The Conclusions. Among the clear achievements of P. Wrangel's agrarian reform there were the following results: 1) the pro-peasant character of agrarian legislation and agrarian reform in general, aimed at preserving livestock, including breeding stock, providing peasant farms with agricultural machinery and equipment, seeds etc.; 2) the complimentary attitude of the peasantry of the South of Ukraine to the activities of the White civil authorities during the sowing, harvesting, normalization of lease relations, intensification of the agrarian sector as an economic sector; 3) during the time of implementation of agrarian reform in the South of Ukraine, 3145 peasants became the real owners of the land, which was confirmed by the relevant legal documents, according to which 66 725 des. of land were secured into a private ownership. None of the governments that took part in the Ukrainian Revolution of 1917 – 1921 achieved this.