Supreme Ruthenian Council Головна Руська Рада | |
|---|---|
 Austrian Empire | |
.svg) | |
| Type | |
| Type | |
| History | |
| Established | 2 May 1848 |
| Disbanded | 30 June 1851 |
| Leadership | |
Chair | |
| Meeting place | |
 | |
| Metropolitan Palace, Lviv[1] | |
Supreme Ruthenian Council (Ukrainian:Головна Руська Рада,romanized: Holovna Ruska Rada) was the first legalRuthenian[a] political organization that existed from May 1848 to June 1851.
It was founded on 2 May 1848 in Lemberg (todayLviv),Austrian Empire, as the result of the 1848Spring of Nations and in response to the establishment of the Polish Central National Council, which claimed itself to be the representative body of the wholeKingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria. Established on the premises ofSaint George's Cathedral, the metropolitan cathedral of theUkrainian Greek Catholic Church,[3] in its manifest of 10 May 1848 the council declared the unity of all 15 million Ruthenians (Ukrainians) and declared them to be a distinct people from bothPoles andRussians.[4]
The organization's political program consisted of three main demands:
Supreme Ruthenian Council consisted of 30 members who were representatives of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church andintelligentsia. Head of the council wasbishop of PremisselHryhoriy Yakhymovych, followed by canonMykhailo Kuzemsky [cs;pl;ru;uk]. Yakhymovych's assistants were Mykhailo Kuzemsky andIvan Borysykevych [pl;ru;uk]. The council consisted of several departments and developed 34 branches around Galicia.[4]
On 15 May 1848, with financial support of Austrian authorities, the Supreme Council started publishingZoria Halytska, the firstUkrainian newspaper, which would be issued until 1857.[4]
Three members of the organization attended thePrague Slavic Congress in June 1848. At the congress Ukrainian representatives recognized the status of Galicia as part of Austria and opposed its inclusion into a restored Poland, and supported the use of Ukrainian language in schools.[5]
On 18 May 1848 the Council declared that "the flag of local Ruthenian land consists of thelion, and the colors of Ruthenia are yellow and blue" (знамя земли рускои тутейшои єсть левъ, а цвѣты руски жовтый и синый).[6] On 25 May 1848 "a banner of Ruthenian colors, and next to it, on the left side, a Polish banner" (хоруговъ рускои барвы, а при ней зъ лѣвои стороны хоруговъ польску) was hoisted on the tower of theLviv Town Hall. The Supreme Ruthenian Council disassociated itself from the event and in its newspaperZoria Halytska claimed: "it was not Ruthenians who have done it, and we even do not know who did" (то не Русини оучинили, и наветъ не знаютъ, кто тоє оучинивъ).[6]
During theJuly 1848 election 10 members of the Council were elected to theReichsrat, most of them clergymen. In its social policies the Council attempted to balance the interests of the predominantly conservative church leadership with the ones of liberal intelligentsia and local clergy, as well as peasantry. It adopted a liberal program characteristic of theSpring of Nations, including liquidation of class privileges, guarantee of political and civic freedoms,free trade and industry, protection of private property, but at the same time protected the rights of peasants for free use of landowners' properties.[3]
Next year, the Supreme Ruthenian Council ordered to held festivities in Lviv Town Hall, including hanging of the "Ruthenian blue-yellow andAustrian black-yellow" banners.[6] During theHungarian Revolution of 1848, the Austrian government approved the creation of a Ruthenian national guard in the form of the Battallion of Ruthenian Mountain sharpshooters, which was tasked with guarding the border withHungary in theCarpathians. The battallion was dissolved following the suppression of the revolt.[3]
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Aside from its political activities, the Supreme Ruthenian Council supported the creation of a cultural association known asNarodnyi dim ("National Home"), which engaged in publishing, provided student scholarships and became a venue for Ukrainian cultural events in Lviv.[7]
The Council lobbied the introduction of Ruthenian (Ukrainian) language in local schools and gymnasiums, and managed the chair of Ruthenian language and literature at theLviv University, which was created in September 1848. Headed byYakiv Holovatsky, the chair is considered to be the first Ukrainian-language university department.[3]
In June 1848 members of the Council created the Galician-RuthenianMatica - an educational organization tasked with the publishing of popular books and promotion of teaching among the common folk. In October the Congress of Ruthenian Scientists convened in Lviv with the participation of over 100 delegates.[3]
Following the introduction ofstate of emergency in Galicia following the failed rebellion of 1 November 1848, the Council continued its activities, although its political role lost its actuality. On 30 June 1851 the organization was transformed into a commission dedicated to the construction of Lviv's National Home, which would serve as the city's main Ruthenian cultural institution in the following decades, and ceased to exist as a political institution.[3]
Despite failing to achieve most of its initial goals, most prominently the partition of Galicia, the Supreme Ruthenian Council played an important role in Galician politics, signifying the entry of Ruthenian population onto the political arena. The Council's pro-Austrian orientation had a long-lasting influence for the emerging Ukrainian national movement, and its adoption of blue and yellow as national colours was followed by the wider Ukrainian community. The competition for power in Galicia with the Polish national movement, which was initiated by the Supreme Ruthenian Council in 1848, would eventually lead to full-scale military confrontation during thePolish-Ukrainian War of 1918.[3]
...2 травня 1848 р. [...] в консисторії собору Св. Юра відбулись установчі збори Головної Руської Ради.
