The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1918-03-30

way realized dates from 1916. 1t was started
by the Ukrainian organization of Kiev, known as
the Guild of Cyril and Methodius. They desired
a democratic and liberal constitution which would
abolish privileges and classes and everything in
fact of a nature to debase the people. Absolute
freedom of speech, of thought, and of religion
was to be guaranteed. Actually all this practical
activity was killed at birth. For, in the year
1S47 one of the students informed on the leaders
and denounced them, with the result that they
were arrested and condemned. This repression
put a stop to any development of political thought
In the Ukraine, now that the most talented and
active leaders were reduced to silence. When
they returned from their exile and assumed their
patriotic task, circumstances, such as the sup
preston of serfdom In Russia and the amellora-
ton of the lot of the peasantry, compelled them
to labor chiefly for the comfort of the peasants.
They were occupied in teaching the agricultural
classes and in educational work of various kinds
as well as in creating a popular literature, etc.
In spite of such moderation in thought, the
Russian government regarded this activity with
an unfavorable eye, because at the outset it hated
any national Ukrainian movement, however mod
crate it might be. Moscow held strongly to the
doctrine of "the unity of the Russian people,"
Moreover, it regarded as dangerous any desire
to establish a separate Ukrainian literature and
any endeavor to awaken national feeling in this
unfortunate race. For these several reasons then,
the activities of the Ukrainians of Kiev were sup
pressed, no matter how modest or how politically
innocent they might be. Any establishments or
organizations where Ukrainian scientific workers
congregated were forbidden, and in the spring of
1876 the celebrated ukase appeared determining
the fate of the movement for many years. This
ukase forbade the publishing in Ukrainlan Of
any work other than those of a historical or lit
erary nature.
The Ukrainian movement however, was not to
be extinguished by such coercive measures. The
educated classes of the Ukraine fought inces-
sanity In Russia for the national movement from
1880 to 1900, and endeavored to turn to their own
advantages any possibilities which offered them
selves. When the movement became no longer
possible in Russia, 1t sought an outlet beyond
the frontier in the territory of Austrian Ukraine.
The exodus of the Ukrainians or the d.
vergence of the national activity toward Austrian
Ukraine, toward Lemberg, which became a CEN
ter for the national life, was weighty with results
not only for the Ukrainian movement in Russia,
but also for the development of Austrian Ukraine
itself. Already, about the year 1860, after the
first prohibition of the Ukrainian language in
Russia, this event had contributed to the sus-
tenance of the Ukrainlan national life in Austria
at a very critical moment In the development of
this section Of the subject people. After the
movement had gradually grown weaker in the sec
ond quarter of the nineteenth century, under the
pressure of the general reactionary movement in
Galicia, the year 1913 poured a refreshing breath
over the Ukrainians of Austria. The Austrian
government sought In the Ukrainian population
something to set off against the Polish revolu-
tionary movement. The final liberation of the
serfs, the admission Of the moral and political
rights of the Ukrainian people Cor Ruthenians),
the creation of the first institution Of any import
ance In the domain OF culture and politics, the
naturalization of the schools, the formal promise
of a university for Lemberg, the administrative
separation Of the two Galicias (Ukrainian and
Polish), which had been artihcially united In
1772; all these influences assisted the birth Of a