West Ukrainian People's Republic

Name

Until November 13, 1918, the state was officially known as the Ukrainian State. After the Unification Act on January 22, 1919, the state became a part of the unified Ukrainian People's Republic and simultaneously became an autonomous region, known as the Western Oblast of the Ukrainian People's Republic.

The name of the West Ukrainian People's Republic is often abbreviated as ZUNR (as a direct translation of the Ukrainian abbreviation — ЗУНР). Sometimes it can also be abbreviated as WUPR (from West Ukrainian People's Republic) or WUNR (from West Ukrainian National Republic).

History

Background

According to the Austro-Hungarian census of 1910, the territory claimed by the West Ukrainian People's Republic had about 5.4 million people. Of these, 3,291,000 (approximately 60%) were Ukrainians, 1,351,000 (approximately 25%) were Poles, 660,000 (approximately 12%) were Jews, and the rest included Rusyns, Germans, Hungarians, Romanians, Czechs, Slovaks, Romani, Armenians and others. The cities and towns of this largely rural region were mostly populated by Poles and Jews, while the Ukrainians dominated the countryside. Out of this region's 44 territorial divisions, Poles were a majority in only one — Lviv county. This would prove problematic for the Ukrainians, because largest city and proclaimed capital Lviv had 49.4% Polish population compared to 19.9% Ukrainian population; and was considered by Poland to be one of its most important cities.

The oil reserves near Lviv at Drohobych and Boryslav in the upper Dniester River were among the largest in Europe. Rail connections to Russian-ruled Ukraine or Romania were few; these included Brody on a line from Lviv to the upper Styr River, Pidvolochysk on a line from Ternopil to Proskuriv in Podolia, and a line along the Prut from Kolomyia to Chernivtsi in Bukovina.

Independence and struggle for existence

The West Ukrainian People's Republic was proclaimed on 1 November 1918. The Ukrainian National Rada (a council consisting of all Ukrainian representatives from both houses of the Austrian parliament and from the provincial diets in Galicia and Bukovina) planned to declare the West Ukrainian People's Republic on 3 November 1918, but moved the date forward to 1 November due to reports that the Polish Liquidation Committee was to transfer from Kraków to Lviv. Shortly after the republic proclaimed independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire a popular uprising took place in Lviv, where half of the residents were Polish and did not want to be part of a non-Polish state. A few weeks later Lviv's rebellious Poles received support from Poland. On 9 November, Polish forces attempted to seize the Drohobych oil fields by surprise but were driven back, outnumbered by the Ukrainians. The resulting stalemate saw the Poles retaining control over Lviv and a narrow strip of land around a railway linking the city to Poland, while the rest of eastern Galicia remained under the control of the West Ukrainian National Republic.

The Polish population was hostile to the newly formed West Ukrainian state. They considered it a rule "by bayonet, cudgel, and axe". Polish officials resigned en masse, which undermined the Republic's ability to lead an effective administration. Poles dominated the urban areas and started an uprising against the Ukrainian rule not only in Lviv, but also in Drohobych, Peremyshl, Sambir and Yaroslav. This made the West Ukrainian government unable to exert control over the western half of its territory, and made the Polish offensive possible.

Two smaller states west of the West Ukrainian People's Republic also declared independence as result of the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The Komańcza Republic, an association of 30 Lemko villages based around Komańcza in eastern Lemko Region, existed between 4 November 1918 and 23 January 1919. Being pro-Ukrainian it planned to unite with the West Ukrainian People's Republic, but was suppressed by the Polish government. On 5 December 1918, the Lemko-Rusyn Republic, centred around the village of Florynka, declared independence. Western Ukrainian Russophiles sentiment prevailed among its inhabitants, who were opposed to a union with the West Ukrainian People's Republic and instead sought unification with Russia.

An agreement to unite western Ukraine with the rest of Ukraine was made as early as 1 December 1918. The government of the West Ukrainian People's Republic officially united with the Ukrainian People's Republic on 22 January 1919, after which the former was known as the Western Oblast of the Ukrainian People's Republic. This was mostly a symbolic act, however. During the Polish–Ukrainian War, the West Ukrainian army was able to hold off Poland for approximately nine months, but by July 1919, Polish forces had taken over most of the territory claimed by the Western Oblast.

Exile and diplomacy

Part of the defeated army (Mountain Brigade of UGA) found refuge in Czechoslovakia and became known there under the name Ukrajinská brigáda (Czech). On 16 July 1919, the remaining army consisting of about 50,000 soldiers, crossed into the territory of the Ukrainian People's Republic and continued the struggle for Ukrainian independence there.

The same month, the Western Oblast established a government-in-exile in the city of Kamianets-Podilskyi. Relations between the exiled West Ukrainian government and the Kyiv-based government continued to deteriorate, in part because the Western Ukrainians saw the Poles as the main enemy (with the Russians a potential ally) while Symon Petliura in Kyiv considered the Poles a potential ally against his Russian enemies. In response to the Kyiv government's diplomatic talks with Poland, the Western Ukrainian government sent a delegation to the Soviet 12th Army, but ultimately rejected Soviet conditions for an alliance. In August 1919, Kost Levytsky, head of the Western Ukrainian state secretariat, proposed an alliance with Anton Denikin's White Russians which would involve guaranteed autonomy within a Russian state. Western Ukrainian diplomats in Paris sought contact with Russian counterparts in that city. The Russian Whites had mixed views of this proposed alliance. On the one hand, they were wary of the Galicians' Russophobia and concerned about the effect of such an alliance on their relationship with Poland. On the other hand, the Russians respected the discipline and training of the Galician soldiers and understood that an agreement with the Western Ukrainians would deprive Kyiv's Ukrainian People's Army, at war with the Russian Whites, of its best soldiers. In November 1919 the Ukrainian Galician Army, without authorization from their government, signed a ceasefire with the White Russians and placed their army under White Russian authority.

In talks with Kyiv's Directorate government, Western Ukrainian president Petrushevych argued that the Whites would be defeated anyway but that the alliance with them would strengthen relations with the Western powers, who supported the Whites and would help the Ukrainian military forces for their later struggle against the victorious Soviets. Such arguments were condemned by Petliura. As a result, Petrushevych recognized that the West Ukrainian government could no longer work with Petliura's Directorate and on 15 November the West Ukrainian government left for exile in Vienna. The Directorate informed Poland on 2 December that it had no interest in western Ukraine. The West Ukrainian government-in-exile then "rejected the joint institutions" with the Directorate and on 20 December unilaterally repealed the Unification Act. The exiled government resumed the name West Ukrainian People's Republic at the beginning of 1920.

Relationship with the Entente

The Paris Peace Conference approved the provisional administration of the Second Polish Republic on the territory of Eastern Galicia on 25 June 1919. The Entente states and the bodies appointed by them (Council of Ambassadors, Council of the League of Nations) recognised Eastern Galicia as disputed territory not belonging to the Polish state until 14 March 1923, over which sovereignty was to be exercised by the Entente states under the peace treaty with Austria. The Entente also never recognised the Western Ukrainian People's Republic. With regard to the territory of eastern Galicia, it attempted to introduce a makeshift solution, a long-lasting (25 years) mandate for Poland to administer Galicia, with the territory being granted the status of autonomy. The expiry of the mandate period was to be followed by a plebiscite. The political intention of the Entente states at the time was to preserve the territory of eastern Galicia for White Russia. Poland opposed these ideas, while at the same time pursuing a policy of establishing its own governance on the disputed territory, integrating it into the Polish state.

Following the consolidation of Soviet power in Russia and the restoration of non-Bolshevik Russia becoming unachievable, the Council of Ambassadors recognised the sovereignty of the Second Polish Republic over the territory of Eastern Galicia on 15 March 1923, with the reservation that Poland introduce autonomous status for this territory, a surrogate for which was the Act on Provincial Self-Government of September 1922, stating in its very title the special character of the territory of Eastern Galicia within the Polish state.

Following a decision by the Council of Ambassadors, the West Ukrainian government in exile led by Sydir Holubovych in Vienna dissolved on 15 March 1923, and most of its members returned to Poland, being actively involved in the political and social life of the Ukrainian minority in the Second Polish Republic.

Government

From 22 to 25 November elections took place in Ukrainian-controlled territory for the 150-member Ukrainian National Council that was to serve as the legislative body until the convention of a constituent assembly. Yevhen Petrushevych, the chairman of the Council and a former member of the Austro-Hungarian parliament, automatically became the Republic's president. Subordinated to him was the State Secretariat, whose members included Kost Levytsky (president of the secretariat and the Republic's minister of finance), Dmytro Vitovsky (head of the armed forces), Lonhyn Tsehelsky (secretary of internal affairs), and Oleksander Barvinsky (secretary of education and religious affairs), among others. The country essentially had a two-party political system, dominated by the Ukrainian National Democrats and by its smaller rival, the Ukrainian Radical Party. The ruling National Democrats gave some of their seats to minor parties in order to ensure that the government represented a broad national coalition. In terms of the Ukrainian National Council's social background, 57.1% of its members came from priestly families, 23.8% from peasant households, 4.8% from urban backgrounds, and 2.4% from the petty nobility. In terms of the identified council members' vocational background, approximately 30% were lawyers, 22% were teachers, 14% were farmers, 13% were priests, and 5% were civil servants. Approximately 28% had PhD's, mostly in law.

The West Ukrainian People's Republic governed an area with a population of approximately 4 million people for much of its nine-month existence. Lviv functioned as the Republic's capital from 1 November until the loss of that city to Polish forces on 21 November, followed by Ternopil until late December 1918 and then by Stanyslaviv (present-day Ivano-Frankivsk) until 26 May 1919. Despite the war, the West Ukrainian People's Republic maintained the stability of the pre-war Austrian administration intact, employing Ukrainian and Polish professionals. The boundaries of counties and communities remained the same as they had been during the time of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The county, regional, and local courts continued to function as they had while the country had been a part of Austria, as did schools, the postal service, telegraphs and railroads. Austrian laws remained temporarily in force. Likewise, the government generally retained the Austrian system of tax collection, although war losses had impoverished the population and the amount of taxes collected was minimal. Most of the government's revenue came from the export of oil and salt.

Of the 100 types of postage stamps issued by the republic, all but two were overprints of existing stamps produced by Austria, Austria-Hungary or Bosnia.

Policies towards national minorities and inter-ethnic relations

Historian Yaroslav Hrytsak stated that the Ukrainian nationalism that developed before the First World War in Austria was anti-Polish, but neither "very xenophobic" nor antisemitic. In November 1918 a decision was made to include cabinet-level state secretaries of Polish, Jewish and German affairs. According to Hrytsak during the entire time of its existence there were no cases of mass repressions against national minorities in territories held by the West Ukrainian People's Republic, Hrytsak states that this differentiated the Ukrainian government from that of Poland. Katarzyna Hibel writes that while officially West Ukrainian People's Republic like Poland declared guarantees of rights of its national minorities, in reality, both countries were violating them and treated other foreign nationalities like fifth column. On 15 February 1919 a law was passed that made Ukrainian the state language. According to this law, however, members of national minorities had the right to communicate with the government in their own languages.

Polish historian Rafał Galuba writes that Polish population was treated as second class citizens by West Ukrainian authorities. On 6 November, a ban on Polish press and publications was issued in Lviv by Ukrainian authorities and printing presses demolished. (Poles had similarly banned Ukrainian publications in territories they controlled). Ukrainian authorities tried to intimidate Polish population in Lviv by sending soldiers and armed trucks into the streets and dispersed crowds that could turn to Polish demonstrations. Initially, the Ukrainian government refused to take Polish hostages but as both the Polish civilian and military resistance to Ukrainian forces grew, Polish civilians were threatened with summary executions by Ukrainian commander in chief for alleged attacks and shots on Ukrainian soldiers. In response, the Polish side proposed a peaceful solution of the conflict and joint Polish-Ukrainian militia to oversee the public safety in the city.

In Zolochiv, 17 Poles were executed by the Ukrainian authorities. In Briukhovychi, Polish railwaymen who refused to comply with Ukrainian orders to work were executed.

On 29 May 1919, the archbishop Józef Bilczewski sent a message to Ignacy Paderewski attending the Peace Conference in Paris, asking for help and alleging the brutal murders of Polish priests and civilians by the Ukrainians.

Administrative divisions

After the annexation of Transcarpathia and Bukovina, the WUPR consisted of 40 povits, headed by the State Povit Commissioners. Initially, they were elected by the local communities at the Povit National Councils. Later, this function was transferred to the State Secretariat of Internal Affairs. The Povit Ukrainian National Councils served as advisory bodies to State Povit Commissioners.

State Povit Commissioners had power over effectively all civil organizations and affairs in the povit, except the military, courts, railways, the post, and the telegraph (those functions were performed by special povit and regional commandants). There were povits where the Councils had the decisive vote; those near the frontline did not assemble at all. The State Secretariat developed the «Law on Povit Labour Councils», according to which the new povit government was elected by popular vote and the Commissioners became subordinate to them. This law was never implemented due to the advance of Polish forces.

Public policy doctrine

Public order was protected by the Gendarmerie, formed in November 1918 with headquarters in Lviv. The first commandant was Lev Indyshevskyi; in February 1919 he was replaced by lieutenant colonel Oleksandr Krasitskyi. Later it came under the direct command of the State Secretariat of the Military affairs. In spring 1919 it had 6 chief sergeants, 25 master sergeants, 1000 gendarmes, 4000 recruits, and 3000 policemen. Ethnic Poles and Germans served side-by-side with Ukrainians. There are were problems due to the lack of professional gendarmes, newly formed units often performed their duties poorly. Many people joined the Gendarmerie in order not to go to the front line.

In Lviv, Husiatyn, Shchyrets, Chortkiv, Stanislav and Ternopil the special Jewish Police Units were active.

Military

The Ukrainian Galician Army served as the combined military force of the WUPR. Unlike the Ukrainian People's Army of the Ukrainian People's Republic, the UGA managed to create a solid organizational structure. The WUPR was divided into 3 military districts, with headquarters in Lviv, Stanyslaviv and Ternopil. They were further divided into 12 military counties, which were based in the following cities: Lviv, Przemyśl, Rava-Ruska, Sambir, Stanyslaviv, Stryi, Kolomyia, Chernivtsi, Ternopil, Zolochiv, Chortkiv, Berezhany.

Economy

Currency

The republic did not have its own currency, but rather used the Austro-Hungarian crown. After the act of unification with the Ukrainian People's Republic, the banknotes in circulation were overprinted with nominals in the Ukrainian hryvnia.

Along with these official issues, some cities printed their local contingency banknotes (Notgeld) since 1914.