SOCIO-POLITICAL ACTIVITY OF VASYL STEFANYK IN POKUTTIA IN THE EARLY XXth CENTURY

Abstract

The article analyzes the socio-political activity of the famous Ukrainian writer Vasyl Stefanyk in the early twentieth century.

The peculiarities of the formation of his ideology and social and political views are analyzed. During his studies at the Kolomyia gymnasium in the second half of the 1880s, a secret circle emerged. In the gymnasium, grammar school students promoted radical ideas, completed literature with works by I. Franko and M. Drahomanov, celebrated Shevchenko’s holidays, and deepened their knowledge of the history of their native land.

With the emergence of the first Ukrainian political party of the European model – the Russian-Ukrainian Radical Party (1890), Vasyl Stefanyk became involved in the development of the radical movement in Eastern Galicia.

Vasyl Stefanyk’s participation in the election campaigns to the State Council (Austrian Parliament) and the Galician Regional Diet is analyzed, and his direct participation in the work of these legislative branches of power is highlighted. The main directions of practical activity of a public and political figure in the Ukrainian Radical Party in the early twentieth century are considered: participation in the work of congresses of the URP, people’s eyes; campaigning in support of members of the URP during the elections to the Austrian Parliament and the Galician Regional Diet.

The Ukrainian writer supported the Ukrainian Sich movement, which expanded its activities in Pokuttia in the early twentieth century. He repeatedly performed at the Sich festivals and was the organizer of the sixth regional Sich festival in Sniatyn in the summer of 1912.

His contribution to the organization affiliate of the “Prosvita” in Sniatyn is shown. He was a co-founder of the affiliate of company, worked on the promotion of cultural and educational work of “Prosvita”.

Vasyl Stefanyk took part in honoring famous figures of Ukraine and the region (Ivan Kotlyarevsky, Taras Shevchenko, Mykhailo Pavlyk, Kyrylo Trylovskyi). In particular, the participation of the writer in the anniversary events on the occasion of the centenary of Taras Shevchenko’s birth was traced.

Keywords: Vasyl Stefanyk, Ukrainian Radical Party, Pokuttya, public meeting, State Council, Galician Regional Diet, “Sich”, “Prosvita”.