On the Issue of the Activities of the Polish Youth Organization «Corporation» in Right-bank Ukraine(1890 – 1904)

Abstract

Among the problems that are insufficiently studied in historical science remains the life of the Polish community inRight-Bank Ukraine in the 1890s – early 20th centuryin terms of its opposition to the imperial policy of demonopolization and Russification, the activities of youth opposition organizations, in particular the Polish student «Corporation», formed in Kyiv in the early 1890s, the main purpose of which was to fight against autocracy for the freedom of speech, assembly, to protect their rights and, as a final result, to prepare the fighters for the independence of Poland.

The purpose of the article is to study the process of the formation of the illegal youth socio-political organization of Kyiv youth «Corporation», as well as its activities and transformations.

To a large extent, this issue was dealt with in studies by B. Titlinov, A. Rafalskyi, V. Trohymovych, I. Shevchenko and others. The memoirs of the participants of the «Corporation»V.Verzheyskyi, S. Kosutskyiand of the olthersare also used. The basis for writing the article was the funds of the security organs of the Russian autocracy of the archive of the Central Information Agency of Ukraine in Kyiv (f. 274, etc.), the State Archives of the Russian Federation in Moscow (f. DP-OE).

In the activities of the «Corporation»in 90sof the XIX century – atthe beginning of the XXcentury two stages can be distinguished: 1) 1890–1897, when Polish students took an active part in legal and conspiratorial associations, fraternities and societies were operating in Right-Bank Ukraine, and were structured in the revolutionary and national-patriotic movement; 2) 1898–1904 – aperiod when the members of the «Corporation» moved from propaganda to the practice of revolutionary action, participating in All-Russian student strikes, speeches of working enterprises, rallies and demonstrations of workers in the struggle for economic, social and political rights and freedoms.

The article highlights the transformations that took place in the «Corporation» itself, as well as the participation of the Poles in other secret revolutionary societies and circles.

Keywords: polish ethnic minority, student youth, «Corporation», opposition movement, autocracy