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Hetman government was an antisocialist
Ukrainian government formed after the coup d'état of Gen Pavlo Skoropadsky in
Kyiv on 29 April 1918, during which the congress of the conservative
All-Ukrainian Union of Landowners proclaimed Skoropadsky hetman of Ukraine. This
coup was backed by the generals of the German and Austrian armies that
occupied Ukraine
after the Peace Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
and by former tsarist officers.
On the day of the coup Skoropadsky issued two edicts—Manifesto to the Entire
Ukrainian Nation and Laws Concerning the Provisional State System of
Ukraine—that together constituted a provisional constitution for the new
regime. The Central Rada and the Council of National Ministers of the Ukrainian National Republic
and their laws and land reforms were abolished, and the right of private land
ownership was reinstated. All legislative and executive powers were
transferred to the hetman, who at the same time was proclaimed commander in
chief of the military. The edicts created a Council of Ministers with
executive and legislative functions, to be appointed by the hetman and to be
responsible solely to him. Although decrees and orders of the hetman were to
be countersigned by the prime minister or another appropriate minister, the
hetman was to ratify all decisions of the council, thus reinforcing his
dictatorial power. Civil rights were to be guaranteed ‘within the limits of
the law’ (ie, newspapers were strictly censored or shut down, and most public
gatherings and strikes were banned), and a supreme court was to be created,
with the hetman retaining the authority to commute sentences. The name of the
Ukrainian National
Republic was changed to the Ukrainian State (Ukrainska Derzhava). The legal
structure of the Ukrainian
State was a distinctly
Ukrainian variant of a constitutional monarchy, based on some aspects of the
traditional Cossack Hetman state of the 17th and 18th centuries. The name
appeared on official seals and currency until the fall of the Hetman
government on 14 December 1918.
The Great Seal of the Hetman government
Click on the minimaps for proper
resolution
Skoropadsky appointed Mykola Ustymovych and, after he failed, Mykola
Vasylenko to form a government from representatives of moderate Ukrainian parties,
particularly the Ukrainian Party of Socialists-Federalists (UPSF). Neither
succeeded because of a boycott of the undemocratic regime by the major
Ukrainian political parties, including the UPSF. Nonetheless, a Council of
Ministers was formed on 10 May with the following ministers (many of them
Russophile): premier and minister of internal affairs, Fedir Lyzohub;
external affairs, Dmytro Doroshenko; army, Aleksandr Rogoza; finance, Antin
Rzhepetsky; trade, S. Gutnik; land affairs, Vasilii Kolokoltsov; food
provisions, Yurii Sokolovsky; cults, Vasilii Zenkovsky; national health,
Vsevolod Liubynsky; education, Vasylenko; communication, B. Butenko; justice,
Mykhailo Chubynsky; labor, Yu. Vagner; state controller, Yurii Afanasev; and
state secretary, Ihor Kistiakovsky. During the summer some changes were made
in the Council of Ministers. Sergei Gerbel became minister of food
provisions; A. Romanov, minister of justice; Kistiakovsky, minister of
internal affairs; and S. Zavadsky, state
secretary. The ministries that existed during the Ukrainian National
Republic were
reorganized; most deputy ministers were replaced, although the majority of
officials from the previous government remained. Local administration was
entrusted to gubernial and county
starostas (see
Gubernial commissioners) appointed by the hetman.
Although its social and
economic policies were a failure, the Hetman government did achieve certain
successes in diplomacy in establishing a consular service and, particularly,
in education and culture. It normalized diplomatic relations with the Central
Powers and several neutral countries, strengthened relations with the Kuban,
the Don region, and Crimea, and was even
formally recognized by Soviet Russia, with which it signed a preliminary
peace treaty on 12 June 1918. The government established the Ukrainian state
universities of Kyiv (see Kyiv University) and Kamianets-Podilskyi (see
Kamianets-Podilskyi Ukrainian State University); chairs of Ukrainian
philology and history at other Ukrainian universities; the Ukrainian Academy
of Sciences, a national library (today the Central Scientific Library of the
National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine), state archives, the State Drama
Theater, a state museum, and a state music and drama institute in Kyiv; it also
opened or Ukrainianized over 150 gymnasiums and made the teaching of
Ukrainian language, history, and geography compulsory in Russian schools.
Despite German hindrances, it made strides in the organization of an
effective military force (see Army of the
Ukrainian National Republic); many of its senior officers were, however,
pro-White Russians and hostile to the Ukrainian cause.
Kaiser Wilhelm II
of Germany
and Hetman Pavlo Skoropadsky
From the very beginning, the Hetman regime was opposed by most Ukrainian
organizations (see, eg, the All-Ukrainian Union of Zemstvos). Ukrainian
nationalists criticized it for the following reasons: its pro-Russian
orientation; its reliance on Russians, including individuals closely
identified with the tsarist regime and members of the Constitutional
Democratic (kadet) party and the Octobrist party, to staff important
positions in the government and military; its indifference to
Ukrainianization of the government and to Ukrainian autonomy; and its
reliance on the German army (see Germany), which oppressed the population and
exploited Ukraine economically. Socialists, meanwhile, criticized its
reactionary policies, particularly its repressiveness, condoning of the
landlords' terrorization of the peasantry, and unwillingness to effect
comprehensive land reforms, as well as its support by the Russian capitalist
Union of Industry, Trade, Finance, and Agriculture. The peasants reacted to
the regime's excesses with numerous rebellions and guerrilla warfare (eg,
that directed by Nestor Makhno and Yurii Tiutiunnyk), arson, and
assassinations (eg, of Hermann von Eichhorn). Soon after the coup,
representatives of various Ukrainian parties, unions, and civic-cultural
associations formed the Ukrainian National-State Union, later renamed the
Ukrainian National Union, to co-ordinate opposition to the Hetman government
and revive Ukrainian democracy and independence.
The imminent defeat of the Central Powers, the deteriorating domestic
situation, and the Bolshevik consolidation of power in Russia led to
a series of political crises in the fall of 1918. Six members of the cabinet,
led by Dmytro Doroshenko, increased their efforts to Ukrainianize the regime,
which included terminating German overlordship and seeking international
recognition of an independent Ukrainian state. This effort was opposed by the
other 10 ministers, who published a memorandum advocating the federation of Ukraine with a non-Bolshevik Russia, and stating that Ukraine's
most important role was as a base of operations against the Bolsheviks. The
ministers also hoped that this policy would find favor among the Entente
Powers, which supported the re-establishment of a united Russia.
At this time Skoropadsky began serious negotiations with the expanded
Ukrainian National Union (UNU) to broaden his base of support. The UNU
demanded eight ministerial portfolios, the convocation of a diet, political
amnesty, and the end of censorship and restrictions on freedom of speech.
Although a consensus was not reached, five members of the UNU belonging to
the Ukrainian Party of Socialists-Federalists agreed to participate in the
Council of Ministers. In the manifesto of 22 October, the hetman proclaimed
his support of the principle of an independent Ukrainian state and promised
to accelerate agrarian reforms and the convocation of a diet. On 24 October a
new cabinet, representing a compromise between Ukrainian nationalist and
pro-Russian forces, was formed: Fedir Lyzohub, premier; Dmytro Doroshenko,
external affairs; Aleksandr Rogoza, military affairs; V. Reinbot, internal
affairs (acting); Antin Rzhepetsky, finance; Oleksander Lototsky (UNU),
religious affairs; Petro Stebnytsky (UNU), education; Volodymyr M. Leontovych
(UNU), agriculture; Sergei Gerbel, food provisions; Andrii Viazlov (UNU),
justice; Maksym Slavinsky (UNU), labor; Sergei Mering, trade and industry; B.
Butenko, communications; Vsevolod Liubynsky, health; S. Petrov, state
controller; and S. Zavadsky, state secretary.
The final capitulation of the Central Powers (11 November 1918) and the
withdrawal of their armies, the mainstay of the hetman's authority, led to a
dramatic change of policy. Hoping to please the victorious Entente nations,
Skoropadsky proclaimed, in his manifesto of 14 November, his intention to
federate with a non-Bolshevik Russian state. At the same time he formed a new
cabinet, composed mostly of Russian monarchists: premier and minister of
agriculture, Sergei Gerbel; external affairs, Yurii Afanasev; army, D.
Shchutsky; navy, Andrii Pokrovsky; internal affairs, Ihor Kistiakovsky;
education, Volodymyr Naumenko; religious affairs, Mykhailo Voronovych;
finance, Antin Rzhepetsky; communication, V. Liandeberg; trade, Sergei
Mering; justice, V. Reinbot; health, Vsevolod Liubynsky; labor, Volodymyr
Kosynsky; food provisions, G. Glinka; and state controller, S. Petrov.
These developments triggered the popular uprising co-ordinated by the
Ukrainian National Union. It had been prepared long in advance with the
support of the Sich Riflemen, who had defeated the hetman's forces at
Motovylivka on 18 October and had begun advancing on Kyiv. On 14 December
1918, after German troops abandoned Kyiv, Skoropadsky abdicated and fled to Germany, and the Council of Ministers
surrendered power to the Directory of the Ukrainian National
Republic. Some of
Skoropadsky's ministers were later arrested by the new republican government.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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1917–1920 rr., 3 (Vienna 1921; New York 1969)
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Derzhava 1918 roku (Uzhhorod 1930; New York 1954)
Dolenga, S. Skoropadshchyna (Warsaw
1934)
Reshetar, J. The Ukrainian Revolution, 1917–1920: A Study in Revolution
(Princeton 1952; New York 1972)
Shapoval, M. Het’manshchyna i Dyrektoriia: Spohady (New York 1958)
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okupantiv i Het’manshchyna v 1918 rotsi (Kyiv 1960)
Fedyshyn, O. Germany's Drive to the East and the Ukrainian Revolution,
1917–1918 (New Brunswick, NJ 1971)
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1917–1921: A Study in Revolution (Cambridge, Mass 1977)
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Soldatenko, V. Ukraïns’ka revoliutsiia: Kontseptsiia ta istoriohrafiia (Kyiv
1997)
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