REGIONALISM AS A COMPONENT OF THE POLISH NATIONAL POLICY IN INTER-WAR VOLHYNIA

Abstract

The purpose of the research is to highlight the essence and forms of regionalism as a defining component of the Polish national policy towards the Ukrainian population of Western Volyn. The focus has been on the made attempts in order to implement the “Volhynia program” in 1928 – 1938, there has been analyzed its content and the reaction of the Ukrainian and Polish societies to it. It has been proven that the policy of regionalism aimed at weakening the unity of the Ukrainian national movement and accelerate the integration of Western Ukrainian lands into the Polish state. The methodology of the research is based on analytical, chronological methods, structured and critical approaches, which allowed us to consider the content and consequences of regionalism as a defining feature of the Polish national policy towards the Western Ukrainian community. The scientific novelty of the article consists in the fact that documents and interwar periodicals have been found and studied, which enabled us to show theoretical differences in attitudes towards the policy of regionalism in Volhynia, in particular regarding the idea of the “Sokal border”, as well as to prove that attempts to divide the Ukrainian society became dominant in the implementation of the national policy of the Polish governments during the interwar period. Conclusions. An essential factor in the Polish national policy of the interwar period was the attempt to split the Ukrainian community into separate parts and pit them against each other. There were laid foundations of the regionalism policy in 1923 aimed at accelerating the integration of the non-Polish national groups into the state structure of Poland. In of spite of the numerous tactical approaches to resolving the national issue, the strategic goal of all Polish governments of the interwar period was focused on the close incorporation of the territories into Poland, where the national groups lived. The idea of regionalism played a decisive role in it. There was “Volyn experiment” carried out by Voivode Henryk Józewski, was the apogee of the regionalism policy in Volyn, which envisaged changes in all spheres of life in the voivodeship with an emphasis on ensuring the Ukrainian-Polish coexistence and cooperation. The essential thesis of the “Volhynia policy” was the idea of the “Sokal border”. It was created with the aim of separating Western Ukrainian lands and isolating Volhynia from the influence of Galicia, which was entirely in line with the policy of regionalism. This program was supported by a group of former UNR figures, who settled in Volhynia as political emigrants. At the same time, the Ukrainian political and public figures in Galicia opposed it. Despite criticism from some Polish intellectuals and the offers to abolish the “Sokal border” and fight for psychological rapprochement between Eastern Galicia and Volhynia, the idea of regionalism was not subject to revision. In general, the national policy of governments aimed at stabilizing relations with the Ukrainian population could be implemented only on condition that Poland’s state interests, among which was regionalism, were preserved.

Key words: national policy, Poland, Volhynia, regionalism, “Volyn experiment”, “Sokal border”.