Socio-economic "program" of the Peasant Revolution in Naddniprainska Ukraine: cultural and economic foundations, form of existence and content (beginning of the 20th century)

Abstract

Abstract. Introduction. In recent decades, among the approaches to the explanation of the revolutionary events of the beginning of the 20th century the concept of peasant revolution is used in Ukraine. The essence of the concept consists in seeing the political behavior of the peasantry of the specified period as self-active and not subject to the control of other social forces and political parties. Among the problems developed by supporters of this concept is the problem of the content of the social consciousness of Ukrainian peasants, which determined the independence of their revolutionary behavior.

Purpose of the articles is to reveal the historical and cultural basis of the Ukrainian peasantry's vision of the main problems of socio-economic life and the formation of the peasant version of the optimal economic system and ways to achieve the latter.

Results. The Ukrainian peasantry at the beginning of the 20th century was not monolithic in terms of cultural outlook. However, in general, it adhered to ancient values, led a traditional way of life. Historically long-standing and characteristic of all strata and socio-cultural groups of the peasantry was the belief in one's right to the landowners' land holdings and the determining social significance of one's own labor activity. The peasantry considered landlords' ownership of land illegal and immoral. The reason for this was the historical memory of the ownership of all land by peasants, the developed customary right to land areas, and the belief in the justice of the land being held only by those who cultivate it with physical labor for sustenance. Such mass ideas were the cultural and ideological basis of the political behavior of Ukrainian peasants at the beginning of the 20th century, which resulted in the phenomenon of the peasant revolution. The program of actions of this revolution became the solution of the agrarian question by force, and the transfer of landlord estates to the peasantry. The removal of large landowners from the socio-economic life gave the thoughts and actions of the peasant masses a revolutionary character.

The "program" of socio-economic transformations developed among uneducated farmers turned out to be suitable for implementation in practice. It was carried out by the peasants themselves on the basis of their economic and ethical ideas and social and political activity.

Originality. A special study of the formation and form of existence and content of peasant aspirations regarding the transfer of landlord land holdings into the possession of peasants was conducted. The issue of the general peasant character of the belief in the illegality of landlord ownership of land and the desire of all strata of the peasantry to seize it has been updated. It was shown that peasant claims to landed estates are the product of a long historical development, recording in the social memory of peasant ownership of land holdings.

Conclusion. Program principles of the peasant revolution of the beginning of the 20th century arose as a result of the spontaneous mobilization in the historical memory of the most essential elements of the peasants` social experience, connected with the provision of livelihood and traditional legal relations. The "program" of the peasant revolution included beliefs about the peasants' right to land, substantiation of the morality of their claims, and ideas about the fair distribution of landed property and the forceful means of achieving the latter. The objective basis for the formation of such beliefs was the impossibility of improving one's position, except by increasing the area of land use. However, such a "program" of the revolution was objectively aimed at preserving the peasant as an independent economic entity, and potentially opened the way to modernization and commodity production.