Page:The New Europe - Volume 4.djvu/193

Rh tional society, the “Prosvita,” of Kiev. Russian Liberals in the Duma, especially Mr. Miljukov, spoke out boldly against this policy, and the Cadet party passed resolutions in favour of a wide measure of cultural autonomy for the Ukraine.

Previous to the Revolution it was difficult to estimate the strength of the Ukrainian movement. There was no real freedom of the Press, and, in the absence of Ukrainian representatives, it was left to the Cadets to plead their cause in the Duma. The policy of the Cadets, however, was not enough to satisfy the Ukrainians once the Revolution became a reality. During the early days of the Revolution the National movement in the Ukraine remained beneath the surface, and it was not until April that it began to attract public attention. On 6 April a deputation came from Kiev to Petrograd, requesting the Provisional Government to proclaim the principle of Ukrainian autonomy and to appoint a special Minister for Ukrainian affairs. On 19 April the Ukrainian National Congress was opened in Kiev. The opening address was given by Professor Hruševski of Lvov University, a native of the Russian Ukraine and the “little father” of the Ukraine movement. At this Congress the majority supported the idea of national territorial autonomy in the future Russian Republic. In attempting to define the boundaries of the future autonomous Ukraine, the following claims were made: The western frontiers were to be the Governments of Lublin and Grodno, the south-eastern the River Kuban, the northern the River Pripet, and the southern the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea without the southern shore of the Crimea. In other words eight Governments or provinces of Russia were claimed, viz., Kiev, Poltava, Podolia, Herson, Volynia, Harkov, Yekaterinoslav, and Černigov.

A few days after the opening of Congress elections took place for the Central Rada or Council. Hruševski was elected President, and Messrs. Vinničenko and Yefremov, Assistant Presidents. Vinničenko, like several of the present Russian Ministers, is still in his thirties. Born in 1880, in the Government of Herson, he was later a student at Kiev University, where he took an active part in politics. Since 1900 a member of the illegal Ukrainian Revolutionary Party, he has suffered exile in Siberia, whence he escaped and