The words of Mykhailo Hrushevsky in the heading of this article aptly capture the significance of the Third Universal, which was adopted by the Ukrainian Central Rada and promulgated 90 years ago, on Nov. 7 (20), 1917. This historical act was the first one in the 20th century to realize the age-old yearnings of numerous generations of Ukrainians and the enduring national idea. This idea was advocated in the 19th century by Taras Shevchenko, who employed his poetic genius to encourage Ukrainians to build their own house, i.e., an equitable state, because “in your own house you will see true justice, strength, and liberty.”
The Universal proclaimed (citing the original archival document): “The Ukrainian Nation and all the peoples of Ukraine! The Russian Republic has entered hard and difficult times. In the northern cities a bloody internecine struggle is underway. The Central Government does not exist, and the country is plunging into anarchy, turmoil, and ruin.
Our land is also in danger. Without a strong, single, people’s government, Ukraine may also fall into the abyss of internecine warfare, massacres, and decline...
We proclaim: HENCEFORWARD UKRAINE SHALL BE THE UKRAINIAN NATIONAL REPUBLIC.”
“We were standing at the edge of the promised land, the land of liberation, Ukrainian statehood, and the realization of the age-long dreams cherished by the working people of Ukraine,” said Mykhailo Hrushevsky. “On this boundary we have installed our victorious banner, our Third Universal, which is probably the most important act ever to appear in our land.”
In the situation where there was no central government and the old state was falling apart, the Third Universal de facto proclaimed the creation of the independent Ukrainian National Republic (UNR). The Universal expressed the striving to “help all of Russia, so that the whole Russian Republic will become a union of free and equal peoples.” As we can see, the original document of the Universal does not even contain the term “federation.” In his Dec. 16, 1917, speech at a session of the Central Rada Hrushevsky stated that the Rada was the highest revolutionary body of independent Ukraine. “Circumstances are such that Ukraine has in fact become a sovereign, independent state. This is already incontrovertible.”
The text of the Third Universal contains references to legally binding documents that could be passed by the Central Rada as the governing body of independent Ukraine: to establish Ukraine’s borders, abolish the death penalty, launch peace negotiations to withdraw from the world war, etc. From mid-November 1917 until Jan. 9, 1918 (when the Fourth Universal was proclaimed) the Ukrainian Central Rada passed the laws “On the Elections to the Constituent Assembly of the UNR,” “On the Deferral of the Military Draft,” “On Amnesty,” “On the Exclusive Right of the Central Rada to Issue Legislative Acts of the UNR,” “On the Creation of the Ukrainian National Army,” “On the Creation of the Supreme Court,” and others.
The Fourth Universal, enacted by the Central Rada on Jan. 9 (22), 1918 was a de jure implementation of the events of November 1917. From November 1917 until the end of April 1918 over 50 laws were passed to develop the state and government agencies.
The Third Universal, which proclaimed the UNR, was the culmination of the 1917 revolutionary events in Ukraine which, in their turn, were the peak of the Ukrainian liberation struggle against the oppression of the tsarist Russian Empire and the rulers of other countries throughout the centuries. During the second half of the 19th century and the early part of the 20th century 10 legal and governmental acts were passed in the Russian Empire (in 1862, 1863, 1869, 1876, 1888, 1889, 1895, 1908, 1910, and 1914), which prohibited the use of the Ukrainian language and banned Ukrainian-language publications.
The revolutionary events of 1905-17 eased this pressure, but after the failed revolution Russian tsarism stepped up its harassment of the Ukrainian nation and its culture. The view was propagated that Ukrainians as a nation “had never existed and could not exist.” The 1919 edition of the official statistical publication The Russian Almanac contains a table entitled “The Tribal Composition of the Population” (the terms “people,” “nation,” and “nationality” were not even used by tsarist officials). The table listed the 12 “tribes” that populated the 160-million-strong Russian Empire of the day but failed even to mention Ukrainians. The terms “Ukraine,” “Ukrainians,” and the adjective “Ukrainian” were expurgated from all published sources. Ukrainians were not permitted to speak their native language in public places, and the use of Ukrainian was proscribed in lectures, concerts, plays, etc. In educational institutions the language of instruction was Russian, and the topic of Ukrainian statehood was not even raised.
The life of the Ukrainian people in Galicia, Bukovyna, and Transcarpathia under the Austro- Hungarian Empire was not much better. Although Ukrainians were represented in parliament and they had certain opportunities to use the Ukrainian language and create a handful of Ukrainian public and educational institutions, they were still considered a nationality of the fourth (not even second!) category (after Austrians, Hungarians, and Poles) and were subjected to a variety of official and unofficial restrictions.
The tide began to turn after the autocratic regimes of Russia and Austria-Hungary failed and the “spring of nations” and national liberation began. In Ukraine this movement was called a “national revival,” which led all societies and organizations to adopt decisions and resolutions unanimously demanding the “Ukrainization of all spheres of life.”
The cultural heritage and example set by the heroes of the Ukrainian national and social liberation struggle, above all by Shevchenko, played an important part in this development. In 1917 Shevchenko was the figure to whom all Ukrainians looked up. His portraits were hung next to national flags, his fiery poems were constantly recited, and his “Testament” and other poems, set to music, were sung everywhere.
A landmark event in this process was the active involvement of the Ukrainian military. They joined political parties and various public associations in the struggle to liberate the nation and restore the Ukrainian state, and soon became the avant-garde force in this cause. In March 1917 the Ukrainian Military Viche took place in Kyiv. This was an assembly of soldiers, officers, and other Ukrainian servicemen, who proclaimed themselves the Ukrainian Military Organizing Committee and called for “the creation of the Ukrainian National Army.” This committee recommended that “all regiments where Ukrainians are in the majority immediately switch to the language of the Ukrainian State, that such regiments be reinforced with Ukrainians, and officers of Ukrainian origin be appointed to the command staff.”
At this time, four million Ukrainians were serving in the Russian army. It did not take them long to organize a volunteer military unit called the Khmelnytsky Regiment (commander: Capt. D. Putnyk-Hrebeniuk) and the Ukrainian Military Club (commander: Lieutenant Mykola Mikhnovsky). Following their example, Ukrainian military units, assemblies, clubs, societies, and committees sprang up in many places.
The Ukrainian military took an active part in the Ukrainian National Congress on April 6-8, 1917, which legitimized the Ukrainian Central Rada. Some soldiers-Privates Ovdiienko, Haidai, and Kolos, Colonel Hlynsky, and the sailors Pylyshenko and Krupsky-were elected to its presidium. The presidium also included peasant representatives (Baranovsky and Yefremov), workers (Vynnychenko), intelligentsia (Levytsky and Shteinhel), and the clergy (Rev. Pohorilko). The congress was presided over by S. Erastiv, a representative of the Kuban Ukrainians. Hrushevsky was unanimously elected the honorary head of the congress. The composition of this forum, its governing bodies, and, most importantly, the resolutions that it adopted testified to the universal support that various strata of Ukrainian society gave to the cause of national revival, the development of the state, social liberation, and Ukrainization in all spheres of life.
The general situation was difficult. The Russian Provisional Government, its subordinate structures, army command, and various anti-Ukrainian parties and unions mounted resistance to the self- determination of the Ukrainian people, the restoration of their state, and the development of a Ukrainian army. Political maneuvering was required, which is why the Central Rada pursued a careful and calculated tactic in creating the Ukrainian state and army and Ukrainizing all spheres of life in order to avoid the threat of the immediate military suppression of the Ukrainian revolution by the Russian government.
Another factor that worked against consistent national, state, and military development was the different approaches advocated by Ukraine’s leading politicians. For example, while they concurred on the need to Ukrainize military units, they failed to see eye to eye on the future of the Ukrainian army. Mikhnovsky advocated a regular army, while Volodymyr Vynnychenko, although he emphasized the need to “defend our liberty,” envisioned the armed forces in the form of a “people’s militia that would be democratic in composition and the goals it will set for itself.” His term “militia” was a derivative of the Latin militia, an army or armed people. This was to emphasize that efforts were being made to avoid creating a caste-like military force isolated from the people and, instead, to organize a military unit that would be inseparable from and subject to the people and which enjoy wide popular support. It was an acknowledged fact that the military units stationed in Ukraine, including Ukrainized units, were subordinated to Russia’s High Command. An alternative to this dangerous situation was perceived in new approaches to organizing the army, which were aimed at creating forces capable of defending the Ukrainian revolution, if need be.
To a certain extent, these views reflected the events that were taking place in Ukrainian society. In 1917 paramilitary units were springing up everywhere, supplementing the regular army — “free Cossacks,” “sichovyks,” “haidamakas,” “people’s militia,” etc. However, this approach was not enough to meet the need for military training (in the use of weapons and sophisticated military equipment) and developing special personality traits (discipline, subordination, courage, bravery, and the ability to put one’s life at risk in order to carry out military orders in defense of one’s country). A country’s defense involves having a military strategy and tactic and employing the means and methods of military confrontation with the enemy. This task requires professional training, regular service, appropriate military formations, permanent army, and government control and care. The creation of a national army requires financing and time, which the Central Rada did not have owing to historical circumstances.
The general national revival, including the one that took place in the Ukrainian military, had an effect. The First All-Ukrainian Military Congress was held on May 10-15, 1917. Its decisions bear witness to the enthusiasm of its 900 participants: on behalf of 1.5 million Ukrainian servicemen this forum passed a vote of confidence in the Ukrainian Central Rada and demanded autonomy for Ukraine and the creation of the Ukrainian National Army.
On June 5-11 the Second All- Ukrainian Military Congress, attended by 2,500 delegates and held in the Opera Theater in Kyiv, explicitly suggested “translating the foundations of Ukraine’s autonomy into life” in conformity with the national minorities. This proposal was implemented in the First Universal, which was presented at one of the congress’s meetings on June 10. The All- Ukrainian Council of Military Deputies, composed of 132 representatives, was elected and all its members became members of the Central Rada, forming an influential faction in this body. The Universal was announced again on June 12 in the Troitsky National House (now the Operetta Theater) in the presence of the forum’s delegates and members of the Central Rada. It was proclaimed for the third time at a huge meeting and parade of Ukrainian regiments on St. Sophia’s Square. Here, for the first time in Kyiv, a solemn church service was held in Ukrainian and the traditional song “Long May They Live” was sung to “the people and government of Ukraine.” Kneeling, people sang “eternal glory to the champions of Ukraine’s liberty.” The meeting also featured a prayer “for the Ukrainian army and its command,” Shevchenko’s “Testament,” and the singing of the national anthem “Ukraine’s Glory Has Not Perished.” The First Universal was an important step toward restoring the Ukrainian state.
The evolution of the Central Rada was expressed in the titles and contents of the documents that it issued. Initially, they had the character of appeals and recommendations — “proclamations,” “decisions,” and “resolutions.” After the Central Rada was legitimized by the National Congress, it passed legal acts, such as “orders” and “regulations” that pertained distinctly to the Ukrainian state, and they bore mandatory signatures. Since June 1917 it followed the example of Bohdan Khmelnytsky and other hetmans in issuing “universals,” which functioned as constitutional acts.
The First Universal explicitly stated: “May the People’s Ukrainian Assembly (diet) elected by universal, equal, direct, and secret vote establish order in Ukraine. Only our Ukrainian Assembly shall pass binding laws that should bring about this order in Ukraine.” This document is the first to mention the term “laws” regarding a Ukrainian institution and refers to the supreme legislative body (People’s Ukrainian Assembly), and the division of power into legislative and executive branches. A commission charged with preparing the Statute — Ukraine’s Constitution — was formed. On July 16, 1917, the Central Rada approved the Statute of its General Secretariat, “the supreme government body in Ukraine.” The term “law,” referring to specific legislative acts, gained currency after the proclamation of the Third Universal in November 1917. After the UNR was created, a total of nearly 90 laws and legislative acts, including the Constitution of the Ukrainian National Republic, were passed.
To be continued in the next issue of Ukraine Incognita
