The collapse of the Petliura regime and the chieftaincy (the power of the field commanders and their bands) almost immediately provoked local resistance directed against the Directory and the political camp of the UPR as a whole. Troubles in Little Russia flared up with renewed vigor.
The Directory and its defeat
Having seized power, the Directory initially tried to follow a leftist course, in the interests of the workers and peasants. Decisions were made against the landlords, the bourgeoisie and the old bureaucracy. On December 26, 1918, the government of the Social Democrat V. Chekhovsky was formed. By the declaration of December 26, the legislation of the Central Rada was restored, they planned to restore democratically elected local self-government bodies, created cultural and national autonomy for national minorities, restored the 8-hour working day, promised workers' control at enterprises, state management of leading industries and the fight against speculation.
In the course of the agrarian reform, it was planned to withdraw state, church and large private lands for their redistribution among the peasantry. The seizure of the landlord's land was announced without redemption, but the expenses for the agrotechnical, land reclamation and other work were compensated, the landowners remained with their houses, pedigree cattle, vineyards, etc. Lands of foreign nationals, industrial enterprises and factories were not subject to confiscation. Until the land issue was fully resolved, the Directory announced that all small peasant farms and all labor farms remained intact in the use of the previous owners, the rest of the land was transferred to the possession of landless and land-poor peasants, and primarily those who fought against the hetman's regime. That is, the land issue was not finally resolved. Everyone was offended - the landlords, the bourgeoisie, and the peasants. And the Bolsheviks, who had already given away the land without any delays and references to the future parliament, seemed preferable to the peasantry. Therefore, the peasant war in Little Russia continued.
The government planned to hold elections to the Working People's Congress. The peasants were supposed to elect delegates to congresses in provincial cities, workers - from factories and enterprises (then a fifth of the seats were assigned to them). The intelligentsia could participate in the elections with its “labor” part (employees, educators, health workers, etc.). The bourgeoisie was deprived of voting rights. Congress was to receive the rights of supreme power before the convocation of the Constituent Assembly, which was going to convene after the end of the war. In reality, local power passed to those who had more armed fighters - to the atamans. And the supreme power was in the headquarters of the Sich Riflemen, with whom Petliura also found a common language. The military (Petliurists) were in charge of everything, canceled the meeting, introduced censorship, etc.
As a result, the Directory and the government only played the role of a screen for the new military dictatorship. And in January 1919, when the war with Soviet Russia began, the military dictatorship was formalized - Petliura was appointed chief chieftain. The Petliurists, like the hetman of Skoropadsky before that, tried first of all to create a new army of the UPR. If the hetman made the main stake on the personnel of the former Russian tsarist army, then Petliura and his supporters - on the basis of the bandit formations of already noted field commanders and chieftains. The peasant army, which helped topple Skoropadsky's regime, was disbanded. Atamans and fathers established their personal dictatorship on the ground and were not going to coordinate their policy with the Directory and observe any democratic principles. This turned into a new wave of arbitrariness, violence, chieftaincy and chaos. Even more than before, various negative manifestations of unrest have blossomed - raids, robberies, requisitions, extortion and violence. Reckless bandits robbed the rich who fled to Kiev from all over Russia. In fact, no one could punish the bandits.
In general, the course of creating a Ukrainian army from field detachments (bands) failed. When the offensive of the Red Army began, some atamans went over to the side of the Soviet regime. For example, ataman Zeleny (Daniil Terpilo) in 1918 fought against the Germans and the hetman's supporters, created the Dnieper rebel division, supported the Directory uprising and helped the Petliurists take Kiev in December, and in January 1919 broke with Petliura and opposed the Directory on the side Reds, his division became part of the Ukrainian Soviet Army (in March 1919 he had already opposed the Bolsheviks). Other field commanders knew how to rob and arrest ordinary people, but did not know how to fight and did not want to. Therefore, the UPR army had low combat effectiveness and quickly disintegrated, fled when, in early 1919, the offensive of the Red Army began.
Unlike the hetman regime, which is generally indifferent to Ukrainization, Ukrainization has reached a new level. There was a massive replacement of signs in Russian (sometimes just forwarded letters). The mainstay of the Ukrainians were soldiers who had arrived from Galicia. Petliura showed adherence to the "national idea", in January his decrees were issued on the expulsion from the UPR of its enemies, noted in agitation against the Ukrainian government, on the arrest and prosecution of citizens who wear the shoulder straps of the tsarist army and its awards (except for St. George's crosses), as "Enemies of Ukraine".
Chief Ataman of the UPR army Simon Petliura in Kamyanets-Podolsk. 1919 year
The directors of the UPR F. Shvets, A. Makarenko and S. Petliura. 1919 year
The Petliurites destroyed the residence of the Kiev trade unions and dispersed the Soviets. This intensified the conflict situation, multiplied the number of opponents of the Directory. In the east of Little Russia, the supreme power was in the hands of the military command under the leadership of Bolbochan, as before the defeat of the hetmanate. He broke up the local council and trade unions. It is not surprising that in the east of the country, the masses, who were previously not inclined to support Ukrainian nationalists, quickly became enemies of the Directory and the Petliurists. Thus, the folding of the Petliura regime and the atamanschina (the power of field commanders and their bands) almost immediately provoked local resistance directed against the Directory and the political camp of the UPR as a whole. Troubles in Little Russia (Ukraine) flared up with renewed vigor.
In early January 1919, an uprising broke out against the Petliurists in Zhitomir. It was suppressed, but uprisings and riots continued to break out here and there. In January, the All-Ukrainian Council of Peasant Deputies came out for the power of the Soviets.
All this happened against the backdrop of an ongoing economic disaster and transport collapse. The directory failed to stabilize the economy. Left-wing radical statements and actions continued the collapse of the administrative apparatus, led to opposition and the flight of industrialists, specialists and managers. Coal production fell sharply, and the fuel hunger worsened. Many industries have either practically collapsed or severely degraded. Even the food industry (traditionally strong in Little Russia), including the production of sugar, was deplorable. Trade has degraded. The situation of the urban population deteriorated sharply, thousands of workers, fleeing starvation, fled to the countryside, where it was still possible to somehow subsist on subsistence farming.
At the congress of the Ukrainian Social Democratic Party (USDRP) on January 10-12, 1919, the leftists proposed to establish the power of the Soviets in Ukraine, begin the socialization of the economy, make peace with Soviet Russia and participate in the world revolution. The position of the transition to Soviet power (but without the dictatorial methods of the Bolsheviks) was also supported by the head of the government, Chekhovsky. The slogan of the power of the Soviets was popular among the people and the Directory wanted to intercept it. However, the right wing of the party, headed by Petliura, Mazepa and others, sharply opposed the Sovietization of power. Vinnichenko hesitated, but not wanting to split the Directory, did not support his left-wing supporters. Thus, in general, the party supported the idea of parliamentarism and the convocation of the Labor Congress. The minority left ("independents") split off, created their own Ukrainian Social Democratic Labor Party (independents), and then took part in the creation of Ukrainian communist parties.
Ukrainian Social Democrats hoped that the situation would be normalized at the Labor Congress, which was to proclaim the reunification of Ukraine. During the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Western Ukrainian People's Republic (ZUNR) with its capital in Lvov arose on the territory of Galicia. It was headed by the General Secretariat of K. Levitsky. The formation of the Galician army began. Ukrainian nationalists immediately grappled with the Poles, who considered Lviv and all of Galicia an integral part of Poland. So, in November 1918, the Ukrainian-Polish war began. The Poles recaptured Lviv and the ZUNR leadership fled to Ternopil. At the same time, Romanian troops appeared in Bukovina, and Czechoslovak troops in Transcarpathia. On December 1, 1918, the delegates of the ZUNR and the UPR signed an agreement on the unification of both Ukrainian states into one. In early January 1919, the treaty was ratified and on January 22, on the eve of the convocation of the Labor Congress, the unification of the ZUNR with the Ukrainian People's Republic was solemnly announced in Kiev. The ZUNR was part of the UPR with the rights of broad autonomy, and was renamed the Western Region of the Ukrainian People's Republic (ZUNR). ZUNR President E. Petrushevich became a member of the Directory. But until the convocation of the Constituent Assembly, the Western Region retained de facto independence and continued hostilities with Poland and Czechoslovakia. This made it difficult for the Directory to establish contacts with the Entente. The Galician army in January 1919 tried to attack in Transcarpathia, but was defeated by the Czechs. In February - March 1919, the Galician army was defeated by the Polish troops.
The Directory's relations with the Entente were complicated. During the fall of the hetman's regime and the beginning of the evacuation of the Austro-German troops from Little Russia, the landing of the Entente troops began in Odessa. Here the French played the main role. The Petliurites, not daring to enter into conflict with the great powers, cleared the area of Odessa. At the beginning of 1919, the interventionists took control of Kherson and Nikolaev. The allied command, using the “divide, play and rule” strategy, began to support the Denikinites, who professing the idea of “one and indivisible Russia” were hostile to the Petliurists. General Timanovsky's rifle brigade (as part of Denikin's army) is being formed in Odessa. And the ataman Grigoriev (under his command there was a whole rebel army), who was formally subordinate to the Directory and was the owner of the Kherson-Nikolaev region, fought against white volunteer units and was against concessions to the interventionists. As a result, concessions to the interventionists from the Directory led to the fact that at the end of January 1919, Grigoriev declared war on the Directory and went over to the side of the Soviet troops.
Intervention ships in the roadstead and in the Odessa port on the days of evacuation
On January 8, 1919, the Directory passed the land law. Private land ownership was abolished. The land was transferred for use to owners with the right of inheritance to those who cultivate it. A land maximum of 15 acres was established with the possibility of increasing this plot by land committees if the land was recognized as low-fertile (swamp, sand, etc.). With the consent of the land committee, the owner could transfer the plot to another. Surplus land was subject to redistribution, but before that it was necessary to study this issue. The land of sugar, distillery and other enterprises was not subject to seizure.
The assembled Labor Congress (more than 400 delegates, the majority belonged to the Socialist-Revolutionary Party) as a whole could not reverse the crisis situation. The Socialist-Revolutionary Party was in a split, therefore the Social Democrats dominated the Congress (their main positions then coincided with the Socialist-Revolutionaries). At the same time, the Red Army, with massive support in the east of Little Russia, quickly approached Kiev. And the power of the Directory, as before the hetmanate, was already limited to the capital district, the province was ruled by atamans, field commanders with their gang detachments. And their power was mainly expressed in arbitrary arrests, violence and arbitrary robberies. Therefore, on January 28, 1919, the Labor Congress called for the preparation of parliamentary elections and retained power for the Directory. After that, the delegates hastily left for their homes, and the Directory fled to Vinnitsa on February 2.
Thus, the power of the Ukrainian Social Democrats, nationalists (Petliurists) and local chieftains led Little Russia to complete disaster. It is not surprising that the Red Army regained power in the Ukraine with relative ease. On many points - Ukrainization, the intervention of external forces interested in the destruction of the Russian world, a criminal revolution with the power of field commanders-atamans, the collapse of the economy, the savagery of the population, civil war, etc. - we see a complete analogy with modern events. History punishes ignorance of the lessons.
