The concept of human rights in the political and legal doctrine of the Ukrainian Party of Socialist-Revolutionaries of 1917-1921

Abstract

The genesis of rights and freedoms in the history of Ukrainian state-building is closely linked to the activities of Ukrainian political parties and their leaders. Today, in the face of the global economic crisis and the coronavirus epidemic, the concept of human and citizen rights and freedoms is subject to skepticism and criticism. Reassessing the experiences of previous generations can help find ways to overcome a crisis. The concept of the human rights of the UPSR can be characterized as a collectivist, which, in accordance with the idea of prioritizing the interests of the dominant class of workers over the interests of the individual, significantly limited the political and economic rights and freedoms of a large part of the population. At the same time, the concept contained, at the time, quite advanced provisions on equal rights between men and women and national minorities, the provision of equal suffrage, the right to free education and the use of cultural and economic institutions, etc. The concept did not contain a clear division of human rights and citizens into their types. In particular, some economic, social and cultural rights were included in the list of political rights. A significant influence on the formation of the list of rights and freedoms and their content was made by the model of the future socialist Ukrainian state M. Hrushevsky, who was in fact the ideological inspirer of the leadership of the UPSR throughout the party's existence. The basic principles of the concept of human rights of the UPSR were reflected in the Constitution of the UNR in 1918. Keywords: Ukrainian Party of Revolutionary Socialists, Human Rights and Freedoms, M. Hrushevsky, Ukrainian National Republic (UNR), Constitution of the UNR in 1918.