THE INFLUENCE OF STATE POLICY OF THE AUSTRIAN MONARCHY ON THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN GALICIA (SECOND HALF OF XVIII–XIX CENTURIES)

Abstract

The article deals with the impact of the state policy of the Austrian monarchy on the socio-economic development in Galicia (second half of XVIII–XIX centuries). Galicia was in a state of economic decline from 1772 to the time of its incorporation in the structure of Austria. Industrial revival in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth since the mid-eighteenth century almost didn’t have an effect on Galicia. The main indicators of the economic backwardness of Galicia were the low level of social division of labor, stagnation in industry and trade, although in Europe there were significant economic shifts in connection with the onset of the industrial revolution. The Austrian authorities considered Galicia and Bukovina as the source of replenishment of the state treasury, cheap labor and recruits for the Austrian army, as well as a buffer zone with the Russian Empire. At the end of the eighteenth century Austrian officials took over the initiative in the socio-economic development of Galicia, Bukovina and Transcarpathia. At the beginning of the twentieth century the industry related to military production began to develop actively in Galicia, The craft came out from the state of decline, there were created the enterprises of the manufactory type. The largest state investments in Galicia were railways and fortresses – Przemysl, Krakow and other cities. Economic development in the region was mainly associated with private oil and salt industry. The period of the XIX–XX centuries was marked by the significant increase in the social activity of the Ukrainian peasantry. The economic basis of this phenomenon was the emergence and development of a cooperative movement in Galicia. It was due to the fact that the Western Ukrainian intelligentsia tried to improve the situation of the peasantry and the urban poor, involving them in the creation of cooperation. At the same time, in the Austrian period in Galicia there were also positive changes in the socio-economic development of Galicia and in particular its main city – Lviv. It is concluded that the Austrian Empire, compared to the Russian Empire, had a more liberal political regime. Being of Galicia as the part of Austria from the last quarter of the eighteenth century influenced the renewal of spiritual life of the Ukrainians of Halychyna, there were introduced into the public consciousness and practice many elements inherented to the culture of Germans, Czechs, Croats and other European nations. In other words, Galician Ukrainians were involved in a single territorial and ideological space with inhabitants of other territories, – which is called Europe nowadays. The reformist policy of Maria Theresa somewhat restricted the tyranny of the Polish ruling elite on the Western Ukrainian lands, provided conditions for raising the material and educational level of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic and Orthodox clergy and peasantry. Reforms of the «enlightened absolutism» have led to important changes in the field of education, which received the state funding. As belonging to the largest coronal territories, the Galicia became a peculiar legislative area, the test site of the new legal acts of the Austrian Parliament. And only after such sort of approbation provided to positive results, the validity of these legal acts spread to other parts of the Austrian monarchy. Galicia, one of the first in the Austrian monarchy, was influenced by the Western European policy of «enlightened absolutism», the state and legal reforms of the second half of the eighteenth century. After the revolution of 1848–1849 it was adopted a separate Constitution of 1850 for Galicia, which showed the significant role of Galicia in the history of the Austrian monarchy.