FORMATION OF THE WEST UKRAINIAN PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC AS A SIGNIFICANT EVENT IN THE MILLENNIAL HISTORY OF NATIONAL STATE-BUILDING

Abstract

The article deals with the preconditions for the establishment of the West Ukrainian People’s Republic (further – ZUNR) and its state-legal development. It was noted that this was a significant event in the millennial history of national state formation, which testified to the realization by the Ukrainian people of their right to political self-determination and corresponded to that time European and world standards and traditions that recognized the right of the people to self-determination. It is substantiated that ZUNR was a full-fledged state that ensured the integrity of the Ukrainian people of the time, its functioning and development through the management and coordination of the interests of various social groups. The signs of the revived West-Ukrainian National Republic were: the presence of its own territory, in which the Ukrainian people lived for millenniums; was democratically formed and operated by public authorities, who performed their functions and distributed their authority to citizens residing in the ZUNR; the existence of sovereignty, law, language, state symbols and own name. It was argued that a major obstacle to the state-building activities of the ZUNR was the military aggression originally from Poland, and later Romania. The fate of Ukraine for decades has again been decided by strangers. The policy was dictated by the one who had the power. ZUNR was defeated, being left without any support. Many guilty of these leaders of the ZUNR, who, although they did everything they could to save their native land, but at the same time the state made a lot of miscalculations. This is primarily a certain political hesitation, a policy of waiting, postponing to later times the resolution of acute socioeconomic problems, unhealthy, indecisive warfare, military and strategic miscalculations, unsuccessful command of the troops at the first stages of the war, when even then it was possible and necessary to achieve a serious success that would serve as a solid guarantee of the struggle for statehood; as well it's excessive tolerance for ruthless enemies. One of the main mistakes of the ZUNR was an almost blind belief in the omnipotence and justice of the Entente, that is, hope for someone, not for their own strength and for their people. Later, while on emigration, the president of the ZUNR, E. Petrushevych, realizing the mistake and speaking at a meeting of the League of Nations in 1923, said fateful words, which are relevant at our time: «The most loathsome statements and protests, the most passive expectation of the grace of the world, the Ukrainian people will have nothing to grasp, unless they prove their will to an independent state by an active struggle». It is substantiated that the main reason for the fall of the ZUNR was the military aggression of Poland and Romania, the extremely complex international circumstances, support for post-war Europe expansionist, and invading actions of Poland and Romania against the ZUNR. Actually, foreign policy factors were the main cause of the death of both Ukrainian states: in relation to the UPR, it is an offensive against the Russian Bolshevik forces supported by the local Bolsheviks who occupy a significant part of the Ukrainian lands; regarding the ZUNR, it is the seizure of its territory by Poland and Romania. With internal troubles and problems, both Ukrainian states could probably have cope, but with external aggression from the side of significantly stronger neighbors could not. The proclamation of the ZUNR had an epoch-making effect on the formation of the Ukrainian nation and the struggle of the Ukrainian people for national dignity and state independence in the twentieth century. The Western Ukrainian People’s Republic had an important historical significance. This was another attempt by the Ukrainian people to restore the national state, an attempt to free themselves from the long-term powers of foreigners, authorities, which in various ways imposed their rule, their law, their ideology, their history. A great positive thing was the fact that Ukrainians declared themselves to the whole world as a separate nation, which has the right to own state; the level of national consciousness of that time Ukrainian people has increased considerably; the Ukrainians gained experience of state-building, which was firmly rooted in the historical memory and became the feature of the subsequent generations of fighters for the Ukrainian state, including the twentieth century. The historical significance of the ZUNR also lies in the fact that the identity of the Ukrainian nation and the deepening of process of Ukrainian statehood, which originates from the times of the early Ukrainian state of Kievan Rus, have been preserved.