Peasant Uprisings In Podolia in 1920–1921

Abstract

We investigate the features of the integration of Ukrainian territories into the Bolshevik state after October 1917, when the Soviet authorities perceived Ukraine as a key element of a centralized system possessing significant economic, demographic, and food resources. The change in the ideological orientations of the Ukrainian peasantry, which constituted the bulk of the state’s population, towards the petty-bourgeois owner is recorded. The circumstances of the formation of the Bolshevik government are noted: the Podolsk Provincial Revolutionary Committee and the Provincial Extraordinary Commission to Combat the «Counterrevolution». The features of the introduction of food distribution, the main reasons for the emergence of the insurgent movement in the early 1920s, and the application of the systems of hostage and defendant punishments are examined. The circumstances of the replacement of food distribution with a food tax under the new economic policy and the cruelty of the methods of its implementation are revealed. The performances of individual rebel detachments in 1920, which grew into a system of resistance of the Podolia peasantry to the Bolshevik government, gave hope to the leadership of the Ukrainian People’s Republic in the possibility of restoring power through a nationwide anti-Bolshevik uprising, are indicated. Chief Ataman Symon Petliura and Chief of Staff Yurko Tyutiunnyk developed an order «On the Insurgent Troops of the Ukrainian People’s Republic», which called on Ukrainians to “fight the last decisive battle». The nationwide anti-Bolshevik uprising was planned to begin with the Podolsk Group under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Mykhailo Palii-Sydoryansky, from which two detachments were formed. The nationwide anti-Bolshevik uprising was planned to begin with the action of the Podolsk group under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Mykhailo Palii-Sydoryansky, from which two detachments were formed. One of them was to reach Kamianets-Podilskyi, and the second was assigned to move through Lantskorun. The main task of the group was to conduct a raid on the territory of Podillia, and eventually connect with the main group. In November, the Podolsk group received an order to link up with the Volyn group, but it was impossible to carry it out because contact with the main forces was lost. In November, the Podolsk group received an order to link up with the Volyn group, but it was impossible to carry it out because contact with the main forces was lost. Therefore, the Podolsk group was forced to retreat west and, having crossed the Polish border, lay down their arms.