THE CZECH COMMUNITY OF VOLYN ON THE EVE AND DURING THE UKRAINIAN REVOLUTION OF 1917–1921

Abstract

The article is devoted to the problem of the activity of the Czech community on the territory of the Volyn province in the second half of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The author highlights the main milestones of the life of the Volyn Chekhs and their role in the processes that took place in the province during the specified period. Considerable attention is paid to the issue of regulating the settlement of the Czechs in the Volyn province. The article analyzes the provisions of the main legislative acts concerning the Czechs and their influence on the dynamics of migration of colonists into the territory of the region. The evolution of the policy of the Russian government from the protectionist measures against the Volyn Czechs has been traced to limiting the number of foreigners in the region and actually equalizing them with the local population. In order to achieve a reduction in the flow of migration, the Czechs, besides those who accepted the Orthodox faith, were forbidden to buy land in their property. Thus, the colonists who rented land were put to the choice either to accept a new faith or to leave already occupied places. The sharp change in policy regarding Czech migrants was due to the transformation at the end of the nineteenth century. Volyn province from the region in which they moved, to the region from which they were evicted. The author pays particular attention to the issues of the socio-political life of the Czech community of Volhynia during the period of the beginning of the 20th century, the First World War and the Ukrainian national revolution of 1917–1921. At the beginning of the twentieth century. the conditions for the national and cultural development of the Czechs have become more favorable. In the Volhynia and other regions, there were Czech cultural and educational, charitable and sports associations, the Ruský Čech and Čechoslovan newspapers were published. The study used general principles of scientific knowledge: systemicity, objectivity, historicism, generalization of the obtained data.