THE «POLISH QUESTION» IN THE POLITICS OF RUSSIAN TSARISM ON THE RIGHT-BANK OF UKRAINE (LATE 18TH - MIDDLE 19TH CENTURY)

Abstract

Annotation: In the article, taking into account the achievements of Ukrainian and foreign historiography, the results of the research of the policy of Russian tsarism concerning the Polish population of the Right-Bank Ukraine since the annexation of the land to the Russian Empire and the Polish uprising of 1863 - 1864 were presented.It is established that in the late XVIII century on the territory of the Right-Bank Ukraine lived icon is the number of poles, which the vast majority belonged to the nobility which has been characterized by economic and social equality. However, all of them were Polish patriots. The Poles in the region were the second largest after the Ukrainians. They occupied a dominant position in both economic and political and cultural life. Therefore, immediately after the annexation of the region, "the Polish question" became a priority problem of the Russian tsars. Because the Empire was desperately needed to blow up on the Right Bank of Ukraine, the economic position of the Polish nobility, to eliminate its political clout, cultural opportunities, and to destroy even the memory of the existence of the Polish state.The author distinguishes five periods of activity of the institutes of state administration of the Russian Empire in the ethnopolitical space of the Right Bank Ukraine and analyzes three of them that fall into the chronological boundaries of this study. In particular, the steps taken by St. Petersburg to limit the access of the Poles to the authorities of the province, and to reduce the economic potential by reducing their land tenure have been analyzed. On the basis of the analysis of the legislative framework, the steps of the Russian tsarist regime have been defined for the transfer of the vast majority of the Polish gentry to tax regimes, the attraction of the Russian population to the right bank of the Russian Federation and an increase in its land tenure at the expense of the lands of the Polish nobility. It was established that the result of such a policy was the practice of leaving a part of the Polish elite of the territory of the Right-bank Ukraine. As a rule, they were representatives of the gentry, who did not abandon the idea of restoration of the Polish state. All this led to a decrease in the number of Polish population in the region. However, as evidenced by further events, the spirit of Poles failed to break. A large part of them supported a new uprising against the rule of the Russian Empire.