The 19th Century

Russia continually expanded their control in a westward direction, dominating larger and larger regions of Ukraine.

Russia, fearing separatism, imposed strict limits on attempts to elevate the Ukrainian language and culture, even banning its use and study. The Russophile policies of Russification and Panslavism led to an exodus of a number of Ukrainian intellectuals into Western Ukraine. However, many Ukrainians accepted their fate in the Russian Empire and some were able to achieve great success there.

The Ukrainian populist movement that emerged in the second half of the 19th century, first in Russian-ruled Ukraine and soon afterwards in Western Ukraine, played a crucial role in the evolution of Ukrainian national life and the formation of modern Ukrainian national identity. The populists, who included primarily members of the Ukrainian intelligentsia, idealized the people (narod), which, practically speaking, meant the peasantry. The main tenets of Ukrainian populism were federalism, the emancipation of the peasantry, and the recognition of the cultural distinctiveness of the Ukrainian people. While some populists became involved in revolutionary activities, the dominant trend was for peaceful change and the majority of populists focused on the "organic work" among the peasants

A cultural movement initiated in the 1860s by the young Ukrainian intelligentsia in Galicia (known commonly as narodovtsi, or populists). It arose in counterpoint to the clerical conservatism of the older intelligentsia, who had become disillusioned with the possibility of independent Ukrainian national development after the failure of efforts to secure full national emancipation and had begun to orient itself increasingly (both culturally and politically) to Russia.

The narodovtsi sought to help Ukrainians better themselves through their own resources. They identified themselves with Ukrainians in the Russian Empire and insisted on the use of vernacular Ukrainian language in literature and education. Their movement, deeply influenced by the writings of Taras Shevchenko, Markiian Shashkevych, Panteleimon Kulish, and others, built on the traditions of the Ukrainian national revival of the 1830s and 1840s

Later Ukrainian writers and intellectuals were inspired by the nationalistic spirit stirring other European peoples existing under other imperial governments and became determined to revive the Ukrainian linguistic and cultural traditions and re-establish a Ukrainian nation-state, a movement that became known as Ukrainophilism.

Ukrainophilism or Ukrainophilia arose as a movement in Poland in the first half of the 19th century, among Polish writers of the so-called "Ukrainian school" and later among ethnic Poles in Ukraine, who wrote poems and songs in the Ukrainian language. The Ukrainophile movement also developed among ethnic Ukrainian intellectuals in the Russian Empire and Galicia in the second half of the 19th century.

Ukrainophiles sought to preserve and develop the Ukrainian language, literature and culture. They called for the introduction of the Ukrainian language in Ukrainian schools and the autonomy from the Russian Empire, that would allow for national self-determination of Ukrainians and free development of Ukrainian culture.

Ukrainophilia in the 19th century included various degrees of intensity, from the simple love of one's people all the way to passionate nationalism and independence.

Co-operative associations are based on the ideas of economic co-operation and mutualism. By participating in a co-operative enterprise the members seek either to minimize their costs or to maximize their profits. The main features of co-operative associations are an unrestricted number of members, voluntary membership, equality of rights and obligations, and the election of officers. A co-operative attempts to gain for its enterprise lower interest rates on capital, a fair price for goods and services, and adequate wages. Some co-operatives try to improve the cultural life or the moral and civic virtues of their members. The co-operative movement in Western Europe emerged in response to the needs of industrial workers. The Ukrainian co-operative movement, however, emerged in the late 1860s in response to the socioeconomic needs of the recently emancipated peasants and the petty artisans and laborers in the towns. The Ukrainians attributed greater importance to the movement than did most nations. Under the political conditions of the time, it served as a means of social and economic self-defense and became an integral part of the struggle for national independence. The self-governing economic associations not only strengthened the people's economic power and taught the masses civic responsibility, but also trained large numbers of civic leaders, who played a prominent role in the period of Ukrainian statehood in 1917-20.

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MODERN HISTORY

The Revolution of 1905 in the Russian Empire had an important impact on the development of the Ukrainian movement in Russian-ruled Ukraine. In the face of widespread social unrest Tsar Nicholas II made concessions to the people in a manifesto of 30 October 1905. Among other things, the October manifesto established a limited parliament, the State Duma, in which Ukrainians participated in 1906-17. The manifesto also promised fundamental civil rights, including freedom of the press and freedom of association, which did much to accelerate the development of the Ukrainian movement in the Russian Empire. In the wake of the October manifesto Ukrainian newspapers and journals, previously banned by Petr Valuev's circular and the Ems Ukase, began to appear in Kharkiv, Kyiv, Lubny, Odesa, Poltava, and elsewhere. In 1906, 18 Ukrainian periodicals appeared. Several Ukrainian political parties--from the liberal nationalist Ukrainian Democratic Radical party to the Marxist Ukrainian Social Democratic Spilka--vigorously expanded their activity. By 1908, however, government restrictions against the rapidly spreading Ukrainian movement had mounted again. Attempts made during the revolution to introduce the Ukrainian language into educational institutions were thwarted by the Russian government. Most Ukrainian-language periodicals were banned and few of the voluntary Ukrainian associations, such as branches of the adult educational and cultural society Prosvita, survived the reactionary period... Learn more about the Revolution of 1905 and the subsequent development of Ukrainian political life in Russian-ruled Ukraine by visiting the following entries:

REVOLUTION OF 1905. A period of revolutionary unrest and radical reform in the Russian Empire in 1905-7. The revolution broke out on 22 January 1905, when the tsarist authorities opened fire on a peaceful demonstration of workers in Saint Petersburg. During the next few weeks workers throughout the empire went on strike, including those in the Ukrainian cities of Katerynoslav, Kharkiv, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, and Odesa. The revolution spread to the military, particularly the Black Sea Fleet. In June 1905 the crew of the battleship Potemkin in Odesa harbor mutinied; one of the chief leaders of the mutiny was the Ukrainian P. Matiushenko, and another prominent mutineer was Oleksander Kovalenko, who had been a founder of the Revolutionary Ukrainian party. Peasant unrest was a characteristic feature of the revolution in Ukraine. A wave of agricultural laborers' strikes engulfed Right-Bank Ukraine in the spring and summer of 1905, 1906, and, to a lesser extent, 1907.

The chaos of World War I led to significant changes for the people of Ukraine. Witnessing the downfall of the age-old empires, Ukraine made an attempt to build its own nation-state in 1917-1921.

Together with the Poles, Ukrainians managed to protect Europe from communism and defeat the Russian Bolshevik troops near Warsaw.