The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1918-03-30
UKQAtNC,9 STRUGGLE
E~ SClGGOVCRNMcNT
By Professor r1ichaeIo Arusheusky

national Ukrninian life. About the middle of the
sixteenth century Ukrainlan life had lost much
of its strength. The aristocracy, deprived Of any
participation in politics, was forced to submit to
the paramount race (Poles and Lithuanians),
while the middle classes were subjected to every
kind of v~exation.
The peasant had lost the right to possess either
house or land. He had become a serf. Numer-
Gus taxes weighed him down till he was a mere
accessory of the earth. The Orthodox church,
which in those times was the representative of
the nation, had become dependent upon a govern
ment as ill-disposed toward 1t as to the peasants.
1t underwent a crisis which nearly brought about
its dissolution. Up to this period Lithuanian
Ukraine had progressed slowly, but from the
middle Of the sixteenth century 1t progressed
more rapidly under the influence of the Polish
institutions. Moreover, about 1909, nearly all
the districts of Lithuanian Ukraine were taken
from its rule and simply annexed to the Polish
republic. They were Volhynia, Eastern Podolia,
Podlachje (the western Bug district), and
Kyjever. The Polish aristocracy came in num-
bers to reside In its new territory, the Ukrainian
aristocracy became influenced by the Poles, and
the individual life of the Ukraine ceased to exist.
This die not take place without a reaction and
a desire for a national renaissance. Having re-
gard to the special circumstances in western
Ukraine, where the aristocracy in particular had
been nearly demolished, one will see that the
intellectual and national regeneration could not
hope to succeed in the long run. 1t found sup
port, however, III u new social ana pOIlLcal rae
tor which at this critical moment appeared in
eastern Ukraine, that is to say, the Cossacks.
The Cossacks did not hesitate to proclaim the
immunity from all Jurisdiction, all foreign suzer.
ainty, all taxes, and all personal service of those
who submitted to the power and Jurisdiction of
the Zaporogue (Cossack) army. Thus they drew
toward them an enormous number of peasants,
who at the end of the sixteenth century were
leaving western and northern Ukraine for the
east in order to escape the heavy burdens of
serfdOm. About 1890 the Cossacks came into
conflict with the Polish government, and their
disagreements grew more serious as time went on.
Each struggle inspired fresh energy in the Uk-
rainians, till at last prolonged reprsals (163S-4O
led to a revolution. In 164S the people rose, led
by Bohdan Chmielnitzky.
The Polish army was beaten, and the rising
spread over the Ukraine, even to the distant re-
giOns of the west. In spite of the number of in
surgents, who totaled about 0 $1,000 men at the
beginning of the war in 164S, their leaders did not
consider the liberation of the people possible by
the means at their disposal. Chmielnitzky hest
tated between two methods. The one was to
create q federation of the orthodox states, Mus
COvy, Ukraine, Moldavia, and the Slavs of the
Balkans. This alliance would have been directed
against Poland and Turkey. Several reasons,
and above all the weakness of the Turkish gov
eminent, inclined Chmielnttzky to decide for Mus
covy. For some time Muscovy had not dared to
accept the prOtectOrate of the Ukraine. 1t feared
war with Poland and remembered the cruel de-
feats which that nation had inflicted at the be-
ginning of the seventeenth century. Not till 1868
did MiscOvy decide to extend its protection to the
Cossack army and to the Ukraine by committing
itself to war with Poland. In March, 1854, the
treaty was signed bearing the name, Articles of
Bohdan Chmielnitzky :" therein was defined the
position of the Ukraine TO Muscovy.
From the moment the Empress Catherine came
to the throne the days of the Ukrainian autonomy
were, however, over.
In 1872, when Poland was first divided up, west
en Ukraine, now eastern Galicia, became part
of the Hapsburg kingdom in virtue of certain
lons-standing claims Of the Hungarian crown to
this country. Some years later, Bukowina (the
present region), which formerly belonged to
Moldavia, was added to it. This passing of
western Ukraine into the rule of Austria awoke
a new national fervor in the country. lnsignif-
cant as were in reality the reforms brought about,
this attitude nevertheless created a deep impress
sion upon the Ukralnian population, which once
again enjoyed a sense of nationality and lost the
feeling of despair with which 1t was stricken
during the later years of Polish supremacy. Even
after the Austrian government, under the influ-
ence of the Polish arlstocracy, had characterized
its Ukrainian policy by a strongly reactionary
feeling, the energy of the national movement was
not completely dissipated.
On the other hand, the Ukrainian territory
which had fallen to the share of Russian rule on
the partition of Poland had no cause TO look for
any revival of nationalist aspirations. The rigor
with which the Polish or Polonized aristocracy
ruled the Ukrainian peasantry became now more
L.erciless still, supported as the Poles were by
the authority of Russia.
The longing TO see the old constitution restored
! made itself manifest from time to time, especially
ON such occasions as the Russian government
sought to recruit the Cossack militia in the
Ukraine.
The study of ethnography, and dialects, the re-
searches into the life of the people, the renais-
sance of the Ukrainian language and literature,
such as we see at the end of the eighteenth CEN
fury and especially in the first half Of the nine
teenth century, brought together the intellectual
classes.
Under the influences of which we have Just
snoken. and thanks TO the ideals imported from
western Europe, Ukrainian political thought
abandoned its aspirations toward an i~ndepend-
once that was no longer feasible In order to re-
Mace them by a realizable political program.
n 80 Ora fhof MN In anU