HISTORIOGRAPHY OF UKRAINIAN LEGAL THOUGHT IN THE PERIOD OF NATIONAL STAREHOOD IN YEARS 1917–1923

Abstract

The necessity of the distinction made approaches in the study of the history of Ukraine, history of law and state of Ukraine and the Ukrainian legal thought in analyzing events, phenomena and ideas 1917–1920 years, their role, significance and impact of the following periods of Ukrainian history, was emphasized. In terms of Ukrainian legal thought crucial are three ideas that in this period became nationwide: the idea of the right to self-determination and its implementation in the creation of a national state of the Ukrainian people in the Ukrainian lands that were part of the Austro-Hungarian and Russian empires, and accordingly, formation Ukrainian people's Republic and the Western Ukrainian people's Republic, and the idea of unity of the Ukrainian people and the united state realized in the Act of Unification. The definition «Ukrainian revolution of 1917–1921», used in history of modern Ukraine and the current legislation does not convey the essence of the content of the events that took place in the outlined period. Myhailo Hrushevsky, Volodymyr Vinnichenko, Simon Petliura, Dmytro Doroshenko, other creators of Ukrainian statehood and national participants in these events did not use the term «revolution» for their performance. The value of the period that most accurately can be described by the term Ukrainian national statehood 1917–1923 years. (From the creation of the Central Council and the decision to terminate the existence West Ukrainian People's Republic) for the development of Ukrainian legal thought is that the idea of state independence, as implementation of the Ukrainian people their right to self-determination has become a national and seen as the only possible future development of the Ukrainian people.All the other ideas that were directed against the state independence of the Ukrainian people have or general anti-national and anti-legal character, like Bolshevism with the idea of the dictatorship of the proletariat and the world socialist revolution, or were anti-Ukrainian and aimed at denationalization and assimilation of the Ukrainian people, the denial of its independence and isolation, which was typical for the Russian monarchist movement and the state ideology Poland and Romania. Ukrainian historiography of legal thought Ukrainian national statehood period of years 1917–1923 can be divided into chronological (Contemporary sources and later publications), spatial (publications, which appeared in Ukraine and abroad), ideological (democratic, conservative, social democratic, communist and other direction) and substantive (historical, political, legal research) criteria. These criteria, along with conventional historiographical approaches should be used to form a coherent history of Ukrainian legal opinion given period.