hromada

A hromada (, "community") was one of a network of secret societies of Ukrainian intelligentsia that appeared soon after the Crimean War. The societies laid a groundwork for appearance of the Ukrainian political elite and national political movement. The Ukrainian national and anti-oppressive movement intensified with the January Uprising and issuing of the Valuev Circular. Many were former members of the disbanded Brotherhood of Saints Cyril and Methodius. In parallel to the development of hromoda networks in the Russian Empire, Prosvita (Enlightenment) societies sprang forth in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Important hromadas existed in Saint Petersburg, Kyiv, Poltava, Chernihiv, Odesa, Ternopil, Lviv, Chernivtsi and Stryi. The first hromada was established in Saint Petersburg when the first members of the Brotherhood of Saints Cyril and Methodius returned from their exile. An important publication of the Petersburg hromada was the magazine Osnova (Basis) that was published for a short time in 1860s.