SOCIAL GUIDELINES OF THE UKRAINIAN PARTIES IN WESTERN UKRAINE (1923 – 1939)

Abstract

The article focuses on the analysis of the parties’ program priorities that concerned the main social groups of the then Ukrainian society of Western Ukraine in the context of the socio-political situation in the region. The purpose of the study is to elucidate and analyze the programmatic goals and principles of the socio-economic guidelines of the Ukrainian legal parties, as well as to outline their main practical results: defending the rights of the Ukrainian peasants, mainly in the context of the agrarian reform, which was also associated with the policy of the Polish settlement and parcelization; promotion of the cooperative movement, the use of socialist programs in terms of social protection, normalization of labour relations between peasants and workers. The research methodology is based on general scientific (systematic and comprehensive coverage of the issue) and special scientific methods. In the research there have been used the methods of synthesis and analysis, systematization and generalization. Historical, comparative and system-structural methods have been also used. Comparative analysis methods have been used to compare and contrast party programs. A problem-chronological approach has been used to outline key changes in the political life of Western Ukraine. More specifically, studying the problems of peasantry and workers, synthesis and analysis methods, in particular socio-structural, have been used. The scientific novelty of the research consists in outlining the links between the social structure of Ukrainian society during the interwar period and the actual programs of various ideological orientations parties, which were mainly focused on the Ukrainian peasantry and the resolution of national issues. The issue of social orientations of political parties in their program documents and in the context of changes in the Polish policy towards the Ukrainians has been also outlined. Conclusions. The social orientations of the Ukrainian legal parties of the interwar period in Western Ukraine were mainly determined by the predominance of peasantry in the social structure, which were combined with broader political problems of the Ukrainian community, which required a comprehensive solution due to the discriminatory policy of the Polish government, especially after the change of political regime in 1926 and the establishment of the “sanation” regime. The Ukrainian parties of the left and ideological orientation, in particular the Ukrainian Social Democratic Party and “Selrob”, were mainly inclined to promote the socialist order of society, but in which not only the working class, but mainly peasants, played an important role. The forces of the centrist and national democratic orientation, in particular the Ukrainian National Democratic Union, which played a leading role in the Ukrainian movement, were defined by their social orientations as the protection of peasantry and its comprehensive support, mainly of economic initiatives, along with the support of intelligentsia and entrepreneurs, which was combined with the struggle for broader rights of the Ukrainian community.

Key words: social orientations, peasantry, workers, cooperation, agrarian reform, Ukrainian National Democratic Union, Ukrainian Radical Party, Ukrainian Social Democratic Party, Ukrainian Socialist Radical Party, “Selsoyuz”, “Selrob”.