Directorate of Ukraine
Encyclopedia
The Directorate, or Directory was a provisional revolutionary state committee of the Ukrainian National Republic, formed in 1918 by the Ukrainian National Union in rebellion against Skoropadsky's regime.
During the overthrow of Pavlo Skoropadsky was named as the Executive Council of the State Affairs . It dissolved on November 10, 1920. On November 12, 1920 by the 'Law on the Temporary Supreme Authority and the Legislative System of the UNR' the executive council was reformed into a single person government position.
Mykhailo Hrushevsky
and Vsevolod Holubovych
. The new council, the Labor Congress, appointed the Directory as the Extraordinary Government Body in the protection of the republic. It was charged to enact laws in the absence of the Labor Congress due to the political situation in the country, while the Council of the People's Ministers was invested with the executive powers. The Directory consisted of five delegates from various parties and representation groups.
. In light of that a new Prime-Minister was appointed as well, Serhiy Ostapenko
who headed his non-socialist government on February 11, 1919. When the talks have failed Ostapenko was replaced by Borys Martos on April 9, 1919.
in World War I, Skoropadsky could no longer rely on Germany and Austria-Hungary
's support. On November 13, 1918 Skoropadky's opponents set up a rival body known as the Directory, whose forces were headed by the newly reformed Sich Rifles. Most of Skoropadsky's troops joined with the Directory during a month long the Ukrainian Civil War. Skoropadsky then turned to some of the Russian officers who were fighting alongside Denikin, forming them into a Special Corps, but these troops were not able to face the Directory troops. On December 19, 1918, the Directory troops took Kiev
and overthrew Skoropadsky's regime.
The Directory re-established the Ukrainian People's Republic
(UNR). The new regime was torn between the pro-nationalistic, including the party of peasant-democrats, and the factions for the federal union with Russia. At the end the idea to reestablish the Central Rada was set aside as well as to recover all its legal acts yet the most important one were preserved. On December 26, 1918 the Directory released its declaration to eliminate the Hetman regime.
By the end of 1918 the Directory began to be dominated by the Ukrainian military leader, Symon Petliura.
Faced by many enemies on all sides the UNR's army was organised to face each threat. To the North-east were the Bolsheviks, to the south-east were the Russian Whites
, to the south-west Romania
ns who had claims on territory in Bucovina and Halychyna, and the French intervention force took Odessa
in December 1918 to fill the power vacuum left by the withdrawing Austrians and Germans. Coming quickly to some understanding with the French and the Romanians, the UNR's army was able to employ more men on other fronts.
on February 5, 1919. A political trick took place that the Directory tried to play with Volodymyr Vynnychenko
resignation to demonstrate a change of powers in the Ukrainian government and maybe attain a possible acceptance with the Entante. Symon Petliura has left the party and replaced the Vynnychenko's position who was too well known. Petliura has assumed the position of the Directory's chairman on February 11, 1919, a week after the government moved to Podillia
. The talks, alias, were proved to be without results. By May 1919, the Directory's armies had been squeezed into a narrow strip of land around Brody
. Soviets then negotiated with the Poles
, who were attacking the Ukrainians from behind, with this ceasefire, the Ukrainians were able to counter-attack and re-take Podilia and established a new capital in Kamianets-Podilskyi
. In June, the UNR's forces were joined by the Western Ukrainian Republic's forces, who had been pushed out of Galicia by the Poles. During that time (May 1919), General Denikin and his white army launched an offensive against the Reds, during the summer and autumn of that year. The White Guards forces pushed the Reds out of the Central and Eastern Ukraine, thus, given the Directory another chance to reclaim Kiev
. But the constant Red Guards counter-attacks and a deadly typhus epidemic caused the Petliura forces to be pushed out of Ukraine completely into the well established territory of Poland. A political crisis took place inside the Directory members of which were heavily interfered in the affairs of the Council of People's Ministers. Because of that Shvets and Makarenko were sent on the state matters abroad. Later in May 1920 on the request of Petliura to return they did not reply and were dismissed.
In 1920, the Polish Army reorganized with the help from the two new Ukrainian divisions to prepare an offensive against the Denikin's forces. A UNR-Polish Treaty
in April 1920 provided for combined operations between the two armies under overall Polish command while recognizing the Polish sovereignty over the territory of the former West Ukrainian People's Republic with the border passing along the Zbruch river
. In the Soviet-Polish war of 1920
, the Poles and Ukrainians advanced side by side, and the UNR was set up again when they re-took Kiev. But less than a month later the Soviet's summer counter-offensive left the Poles and Ukrainians retreating, an armistice was signed in late 1920. With this great disappointment, the UNR forces launched an attack on their own against the Reds from Polish territory, however that was quickly beaten. They were forced back into Galicia. In 1920 Poland concluded a border dispute by the Treaty of Riga with the Soviet Union, thus, canceling the Treaty of Warsaw (1920)
.
Until the complete solution of the Land Reform, the Directory of the Ukrainian People's Republic declares that all small peasant's holdings and all worker's holdings to be left for use of their previous owners, while the rest of lands to be transferred to the peasant with little or no land holdings with the priorities to those joined the Republican forces against the struggle with the former Hetman
. The Supreme subordination over the land carries the Directory of the Ukrainian People's Republic. This statement concerns also the monastery, church, and government land holdings. For introduction of the Reform there was organized the People's Land Committee...
The Directory canceled all the codes of the former Hetmanate government concerning workers policies. The eight-hour working day was reestablished as well as the practice of cooperative agreements, the rights on coalition and activist strikes, and various other normative acts.
During the overthrow of Pavlo Skoropadsky was named as the Executive Council of the State Affairs . It dissolved on November 10, 1920. On November 12, 1920 by the 'Law on the Temporary Supreme Authority and the Legislative System of the UNR' the executive council was reformed into a single person government position.
Overview
The Directory was formed until a new council was to be elected to form the professional government. It was decided not to restore functioning of the Central Rada which was favored by the SR-centristsUkrainian Socialist-Revolutionary Party
Ukrainian Socialist-Revolutionary Party was a political party in the Russian Empire from 1907-1917. It was simply referred as Essery and was one of the most influential in Ukraine as it was representing the interest of the major social class - peasants...
Mykhailo Hrushevsky
Mykhailo Hrushevsky
Mykhailo Serhiyovych Hrushevsky was a Ukrainian academician, politician, historian, and statesman, one of the most important figures of the Ukrainian national revival of the early 20th century...
and Vsevolod Holubovych
Vsevolod Holubovych
Vsevolod Oleksandrovych Holubovych was born in the village of Poltavka, Balta uyezd, Podolie Governorate. Holubovych was the Prime Minister of the Ukrainian People's Republic from January to March.-Early period:...
. The new council, the Labor Congress, appointed the Directory as the Extraordinary Government Body in the protection of the republic. It was charged to enact laws in the absence of the Labor Congress due to the political situation in the country, while the Council of the People's Ministers was invested with the executive powers. The Directory consisted of five delegates from various parties and representation groups.
Members
Vynnychenko left the government in hope for the Directory to establish friendly talks with representatives of the Entante while Petliura left the SDPists, thus demonstrating that the Ukrainian government has changed its political agenda and is not the same that signed the treaty in Brest-LitovskBrest, Belarus
Brest , formerly also Brest-on-the-Bug and Brest-Litovsk , is a city in Belarus at the border with Poland opposite the city of Terespol, where the Bug River and Mukhavets rivers meet...
. In light of that a new Prime-Minister was appointed as well, Serhiy Ostapenko
Serhiy Ostapenko
Serhiy Ostapenko was economist, statesman, and political activist of Ukraine. In the beginning of 1919 he directed the Council of People's Ministers of Ukrainian People's Republic .-Early years:...
who headed his non-socialist government on February 11, 1919. When the talks have failed Ostapenko was replaced by Borys Martos on April 9, 1919.
- Volodymyr VynnychenkoVolodymyr VynnychenkoVolodymyr Kyrylovych Vynnychenko - Biography :Vynnychenko was born in Yelisavetgrad , the Kherson Governorate of the Russian Empire in a family of peasants. His father Kyrylo Vasyliovych Vynnychenko earlier in his life was a peasant-serf has moved from a village to the city of Yelisavetgrad where...
(EsdekUkrainian Social Democratic Labour PartyThe Ukrainian Social Democratic Labour Party was the leading party of the Ukrainian People's Republic and was also known as SDPists or Esdeky. The party was reformed in 1905 at the Second Congress of the RUP and was pursuing the Marxist ideology...
, Chairman; November 14, 1918 - February 11, 1919) - Symon Petliura (EsdekUkrainian Social Democratic Labour PartyThe Ukrainian Social Democratic Labour Party was the leading party of the Ukrainian People's Republic and was also known as SDPists or Esdeky. The party was reformed in 1905 at the Second Congress of the RUP and was pursuing the Marxist ideology...
, delegate of the Sich RiflemenSich RiflemenThe Sich Riflemen Halych-Bukovyna Kurin were one of the first regular military units of the Army of the Ukrainian People's Republic. The unit operated from 1917 to 1919 and was formed from Ukrainian soldiers of the Austro-Hungarian army, local population and former commanders of the Ukrainian Sich...
. Chairman, February 11, 1919 - November 10, 1920) - Fedir ShvetsFedir ShvetsFedir Shvets was a Ukrainian geologist, public activist, and statesman.- Biography :Shvets was born in Zhabotyn, Cherkasy povit, in the Kiev Governorate of the Russian Empire. From 1909 after finishing the Natural Studies College of the University of Tartu continued to work as an assistant at the...
(Non-Partisan member, delegate of the Peasant Associations) - Andrii Makarenko (Non-Partisan member, delegate of the Railway Workers)
- Opanas Andrievsky (UPSI)
- Shvets and Makarenko left the country on the state matters on November 15, 1919, but on the Petliura's request May 21, 1920 to return they never responded and were excluded from their duties and obligations.
- Andrievsky quit the Directory because of the Otaman Volodymyr OskilkoVolodymyr OskilkoVolodymyr Panteleimonovych Oskilko was a Ukrainian military activist and administrator. He became famous for the historical Oskilko's Affair .-Biography:...
Affair (April 29, 1919). - Yevhen PetrushevychYevhen PetrushevychYevhen Petrushevych was a Ukrainian lawyer, politician, and president of the Western Ukrainian National Republic formed after the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian empire in 1918.-Biography:He was born on June 3, 1863, in the town of Busk, of Galicia in the clerical...
, the dictator of the West Ukrainian People's Republic, joined the Directory, in accordance with a resolution of the Labor Congress, but he did not actually participate in the Directory's work and eventually resigned from it.
Post-Hetmanate recovery
With the defeat of the Central PowersCentral Powers
The Central Powers were one of the two warring factions in World War I , composed of the German Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Bulgaria...
in World War I, Skoropadsky could no longer rely on Germany and Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
's support. On November 13, 1918 Skoropadky's opponents set up a rival body known as the Directory, whose forces were headed by the newly reformed Sich Rifles. Most of Skoropadsky's troops joined with the Directory during a month long the Ukrainian Civil War. Skoropadsky then turned to some of the Russian officers who were fighting alongside Denikin, forming them into a Special Corps, but these troops were not able to face the Directory troops. On December 19, 1918, the Directory troops took Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
and overthrew Skoropadsky's regime.
The Directory re-established the Ukrainian People's Republic
Ukrainian People's Republic
The Ukrainian People's Republic or Ukrainian National Republic was a republic that was declared in part of the territory of modern Ukraine after the Russian Revolution, eventually headed by Symon Petliura.-Revolutionary Wave:...
(UNR). The new regime was torn between the pro-nationalistic, including the party of peasant-democrats, and the factions for the federal union with Russia. At the end the idea to reestablish the Central Rada was set aside as well as to recover all its legal acts yet the most important one were preserved. On December 26, 1918 the Directory released its declaration to eliminate the Hetman regime.
By the end of 1918 the Directory began to be dominated by the Ukrainian military leader, Symon Petliura.
Faced by many enemies on all sides the UNR's army was organised to face each threat. To the North-east were the Bolsheviks, to the south-east were the Russian Whites
White movement
The White movement and its military arm the White Army - known as the White Guard or the Whites - was a loose confederation of Anti-Communist forces.The movement comprised one of the politico-military Russian forces who fought...
, to the south-west Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
ns who had claims on territory in Bucovina and Halychyna, and the French intervention force took Odessa
Odessa
Odessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement,...
in December 1918 to fill the power vacuum left by the withdrawing Austrians and Germans. Coming quickly to some understanding with the French and the Romanians, the UNR's army was able to employ more men on other fronts.
Change of powers 1919-1920
With major fighting breaking out in January 1919, the Ukrainians were pushed back and Kiev fell in February 1919. The government moved to VinnytsiaVinnytsia
Vinnytsia is a city located on the banks of the Southern Bug, in central Ukraine. It is the administrative center of Vinnytsia Oblast.-Names:...
on February 5, 1919. A political trick took place that the Directory tried to play with Volodymyr Vynnychenko
Volodymyr Vynnychenko
Volodymyr Kyrylovych Vynnychenko - Biography :Vynnychenko was born in Yelisavetgrad , the Kherson Governorate of the Russian Empire in a family of peasants. His father Kyrylo Vasyliovych Vynnychenko earlier in his life was a peasant-serf has moved from a village to the city of Yelisavetgrad where...
resignation to demonstrate a change of powers in the Ukrainian government and maybe attain a possible acceptance with the Entante. Symon Petliura has left the party and replaced the Vynnychenko's position who was too well known. Petliura has assumed the position of the Directory's chairman on February 11, 1919, a week after the government moved to Podillia
Podolie
Podolie is a village and municipality in Nové Mesto nad Váhom District in the Trenčín Region of western Slovakia.-Geography:The municipality lies at an altitude of 180 metres and covers an area of 17.266km². It has a population of about 2056 people....
. The talks, alias, were proved to be without results. By May 1919, the Directory's armies had been squeezed into a narrow strip of land around Brody
Brody
Brody is a city in the Lviv Oblast of western Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Brody Raion , and is located in the valley of the upper Styr River, approximately 90 kilometres northeast of the oblast capital, Lviv...
. Soviets then negotiated with the Poles
Poles
thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...
, who were attacking the Ukrainians from behind, with this ceasefire, the Ukrainians were able to counter-attack and re-take Podilia and established a new capital in Kamianets-Podilskyi
Kamianets-Podilskyi
Kamyanets-Podilsky or Kamienets-Podolsky is a city located on the Smotrych River in western Ukraine, to the north-east of Chernivtsi...
. In June, the UNR's forces were joined by the Western Ukrainian Republic's forces, who had been pushed out of Galicia by the Poles. During that time (May 1919), General Denikin and his white army launched an offensive against the Reds, during the summer and autumn of that year. The White Guards forces pushed the Reds out of the Central and Eastern Ukraine, thus, given the Directory another chance to reclaim Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
. But the constant Red Guards counter-attacks and a deadly typhus epidemic caused the Petliura forces to be pushed out of Ukraine completely into the well established territory of Poland. A political crisis took place inside the Directory members of which were heavily interfered in the affairs of the Council of People's Ministers. Because of that Shvets and Makarenko were sent on the state matters abroad. Later in May 1920 on the request of Petliura to return they did not reply and were dismissed.
In 1920, the Polish Army reorganized with the help from the two new Ukrainian divisions to prepare an offensive against the Denikin's forces. A UNR-Polish Treaty
Treaty of Warsaw (1920)
The Treaty of Warsaw of April 1920 was an alliance between the Second Polish Republic, represented by Józef Piłsudski, and the Ukrainian People's Republic, represented by Symon Petlura, against Bolshevik Russia...
in April 1920 provided for combined operations between the two armies under overall Polish command while recognizing the Polish sovereignty over the territory of the former West Ukrainian People's Republic with the border passing along the Zbruch river
Zbruch River
Zbruch River is a river in Western Ukraine, a left tributary of the Dniester.It flows within the Podolia Upland starting from the Avratinian Upland. Zbruch is the namesake of the Zbruch idol, a sculpture of a Slavic deity in the form of a column with a head with four faces, discovered in 1848 by...
. In the Soviet-Polish war of 1920
Polish-Soviet War in 1920
The Polish–Soviet war erupted in 1920 in the aftermath of World War I. The root causes were twofold: a territorial dispute dating back to Polish-Russian wars in the 17–18th centuries; and a clash of ideology due to USSR's goal of spreading communist rule further west, to Europe...
, the Poles and Ukrainians advanced side by side, and the UNR was set up again when they re-took Kiev. But less than a month later the Soviet's summer counter-offensive left the Poles and Ukrainians retreating, an armistice was signed in late 1920. With this great disappointment, the UNR forces launched an attack on their own against the Reds from Polish territory, however that was quickly beaten. They were forced back into Galicia. In 1920 Poland concluded a border dispute by the Treaty of Riga with the Soviet Union, thus, canceling the Treaty of Warsaw (1920)
Treaty of Warsaw (1920)
The Treaty of Warsaw of April 1920 was an alliance between the Second Polish Republic, represented by Józef Piłsudski, and the Ukrainian People's Republic, represented by Symon Petlura, against Bolshevik Russia...
.
Normative Acts
At the first stage the Directory recovered all of the rights of peasants and workers that were established by the laws passed by the Central Rada.Until the complete solution of the Land Reform, the Directory of the Ukrainian People's Republic declares that all small peasant's holdings and all worker's holdings to be left for use of their previous owners, while the rest of lands to be transferred to the peasant with little or no land holdings with the priorities to those joined the Republican forces against the struggle with the former Hetman
Pavlo Skoropadsky
Pavlo Petrovych Skoropadskyi 3 May 1873, Wiesbaden, Germany – 26 April 1945, Metten monastery clinic, Bavaria, Germany) was a Ukrainian politician, earlier an aristocrat and decorated Imperial Russian Army general...
. The Supreme subordination over the land carries the Directory of the Ukrainian People's Republic. This statement concerns also the monastery, church, and government land holdings. For introduction of the Reform there was organized the People's Land Committee...
The Directory canceled all the codes of the former Hetmanate government concerning workers policies. The eight-hour working day was reestablished as well as the practice of cooperative agreements, the rights on coalition and activist strikes, and various other normative acts.