«UKRAINIAN ISSUE» IN THE ACTIVITIES OF THE WESTERN UKRAINIAN ASSOCIATION OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS

Abstract

In the 1920-1930s, the «Ukrainian issue» remained unsolved. None of the European states defended the right of the Ukrainian people to create their own independent and united country. Declaring the ideals of independence and unity of Ukraine, established in 1922, the Western Ukrainian Society of the League of Nations (ZUTLN) had two important tasks. Firstly, to update the "Ukrainian issue" in the international arena, and secondly, to revise the decision of the Council of Ambassadors of March 14, 1923, and with strong condemnation of the Polish national and cultural policy in the first half of the 1920s. The study notes that in the early 1920s, the ZUTLN was almost the only emigration structure created by famous Ukrainian public and political persons to expand the international influence of the exile government of the Western Ukrainian People's Republic (ZUNR) to address the state status of Eastern Galicia. In 1922–1924, the ZUTLN defended the national and state interests of Ukrainians in Galicia in the international arena and promoted the idea of restoring Ukrainian statehood after World War I. The foreign policy activities of the society on dealing with the «Ukrainian issue» is analyzed. The efficiency of ZUTLN governing bodies, the activities of its representatives in the Union of Societies of the League of Nations (STLN), is characterized. Cooperation with political parties of Western Ukraine and a similar Dnieper society is emphasized. It was concluded that thanks to the ZUTLN leaders' efforts, the "Ukrainian" or, more accurately, the «Eastern Galician issue» was repeatedly discussed at meetings of the Grand Council and the Political Committee of the General Assembly of the League of Nations international obligations. That's how world politicians could obtain reliable information about national minorities rights violations by the Polish authorities