Libmonster ID: UA-12936
Author(s) of the publication: N. K. Kucherov

The heroic struggle of the working people of Western Ukraine for social and national liberation, for reunification with Soviet Ukraine, has long attracted the attention of many historians. 1 However, this topic has not yet been studied in all its aspects, and the documentary materials necessary for its research have not yet been fully introduced into scientific circulation. The purpose of this article is to show the process of struggle of the Galician masses for Soviet power in 1918 - 1923, which is still insufficiently covered in the literature.

For many centuries, the working people of the Western Ukrainian lands have waged a courageous struggle for their social and national liberation, for reunification with the entire Ukrainian people. After the first partition of Poland, Galicia became part of the Habsburg Empire, becoming its internal agricultural and raw materials colony. At the beginning of the 20th century, the majority of the population of Galicia (88%) was concentrated in rural areas. For every 100 inhabitants, there were only 9 people employed in industry, compared to 43 in central Austria. Galician workers accounted for only 6.5% of the total number of workers in Austria-Hungary. The Galician proletariat was subjected not only to heavy exploitation, but also to national discrimination: the working day in factories lasted 12-14 hours, wages were 2-3 times less than those of workers in the industrial centers of Austria-Hungary. 2 The working peasantry suffered from high taxes and landlessness. The best land was owned by the landlords and kulaks. A significant part of the peasants of Eastern Galicia (650,000 people) had no land at all3 . This enabled the landlords and kulaks to use semi-feudal methods of exploitation and force the peasants to work for the lowest wages. The Ukrainian population had no right to use their native language in official institutions. Social and national oppression caused a sharp aggravation of class contradictions and served as the basis for the rise of the revolutionary liberation movement of the working people of Galicia against the rule of the Habsburgs. An important factor contributing to the development of-

1 I. Bogodist. Боротьба трудящих Галичини за Радянську владу в 1918- 1920 pp. Львiв. 1952; П. Йова. Боротьба трудящих Захiдноi Украiни за возз'еднання з Радянською Украiною. Lviv. 1954; A. Yaroshenko. Комунiстична партiя Захiдноi Украiни - органiзатор i керiвник революцiйно-визвольноi боротьби трудящих захiдно-украiнських земель. Kiiv. 1959; M. Gerasimenko, B. Dudikevich. Боротьба трудящих Захiдноi Украiни за возз'еднання з Радянською Украiною. Киiв. 1960; I. Компанiець. Становище i боротьба трудящих маc Галичини, ;Буковини та Закарпаття на початку XX ст. Киiв. 1960; E. Галушко. Нариси icтоpii iдеологiчноi та органiзацiйноi дiяльностi КПЗУ в 1919 - 1923 pp. Львiв. 1965.

2 V. Осечiнський. Галичина пiд гнiтом Австро-Угорщини в епоху iмперiалiзму. Львiв. 1954, стор. 15; A. Yaroshenko. Decree, op., p. 4; "History of Lviv". Short charis. Львiв. 1965, стор. 168.

3 I. Компанiець. Op. ed. " p. 33.

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the purpose of this struggle was the penetration of the ideas of scientific communism into the Western Ukrainian lands. The establishment of links between the Galician socialist circles and the First International and the Emancipation of Labour group greatly contributed to their spread. Local socialists took an active part in the propaganda of Marxist literature among the advanced workers and progressive intelligentsia of the region. Thus, already at the beginning of 1884 in Lviv, the authorities confiscated G. V. Plekhanov's pamphlet "Socialism and the Political Struggle" from the workers .4
The ties of the leading people of Galicia with the revolutionary Russian social-democracy were especially strengthened in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when the center of the international revolutionary movement shifted to RUSSIA. From the progressive press of Galicia, the workers learned about the activities of V. I. Lenin and the Union of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class, which he led, and about the revolutionary movement in Russia. Galician workers and peasants read Lenin's Iskra, the works of V. I. Lenin. Iskra agents, with the help of the local population, transported the newspaper through the border regions of Galicia to Russia .5
The Great October Socialist Revolution had a decisive impact on the development of the political consciousness and activity of the Galician workers. After the first news about it, a wave of spontaneous demonstrations swept across the region, where participants declared their desire to follow the path of the working class of Russia. The working people of Galicia warmly welcomed the measures taken by the Soviet Government in the interests of the broad masses of the people. Soldiers of the Austrian army returning from Russian captivity played an important role in spreading the ideas of the socialist revolution. The Presidium of the Galician Governorate anxiously informed the Austrian government that former prisoners of war "are propagandists of Bolshevik ideas among the population." 6 In directive letters to the Galician governor, the Ministry of War pointed out the need to establish secret surveillance of former prisoners of war "who in Russia adopted the revolutionary ideas spread there" 7 .

The strengthening of the Republic of Soviets had a strong impact on the Galician revolutionary movement. Workers ' speeches became more frequent, during which, along with economic ones, political demands were put forward. A particularly large strike of Lviv railway workers in early 1918 was supported by the workers of Przemysl, Stryi, Drohobych, Boryslav and other cities .8 In the spring and summer of 1918, mass strikes, rallies, and demonstrations were held almost everywhere, with participants making revolutionary demands. The peasant movement expanded. Following the example of their Russian brothers, the Western Ukrainian peasants smashed up estates and began to divide the landlords ' lands. The headman of Dobromilsky Uyezd reported to the Galician governor on July 17, 1918, that "the uyezd chiefs are powerless against peasant revolts caused by Bolshevik tendencies." 9 In this regard, the Presidium of the Galician Viceroyalty ordered the district elders and gendarmerie chiefs to act "with all determination, up to and including the military courts" 10 .

4 Central State Historical Archive of the Ukrainian SSR (Lviv), f. 146, op. 4, ed. hr. 3683, l. 11.

5 M. Volapyuk, V. Malanchuk. Поширення марксистсько-ленiнських iдей на Захiднii Украiнi. Львiв. 1960, стор. 65.

6 State Archive of the Lviv region (hereinafter - GALO), f. 102, op. 1, ed. hr. 76, l. 44.

7 Там же; ед. хр. 28, л. 28; "Пiд прапором Жовтня". Львiв. 1957, стор. 60.

8 GALO, f. 3, ed. hr. 272, l. 813; f. 102, op. 1, ed. hr. 3, l. 21; "Pid praporom Zhovtnya", stor. 61 - 62.

9 HALO, f. 102, op. 1, ed. hr. 3, l. 45.

10 Ibid., ed. chr. 28, l. 17.

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In some places, it came to armed clashes with the troops.

In Galicia, as in the whole of Austria-Hungary, a revolutionary situation was brewing. However, the absence of a Marxist party delayed the consolidation of revolutionary forces here, which allowed the Ukrainian bourgeois nationalists to weaken the front of the class struggle of the working people. After the fall of the Habsburg Monarchy in November 1918, power in Galicia was temporarily seized by the Ukrainian nationalist bourgeoisie, which proclaimed the so-called Western Ukrainian People's Republic (WUNR). The counter-revolutionary Government of the ZUNR left bourgeois-landowner property untouchable. At the same time, through demagogic promises of reform and the preaching of "national unity", it tried to delay the growth of the class struggle. The working people of Galicia took up arms against the Ukrainian bourgeois nationalists, for Soviet power and reunification with Soviet Ukraine. The peculiarity of their struggle was that they were forced to oppose not only their own exploiting classes and their bourgeois-nationalist parties, but also the intervention of bourgeois-landlord Poland, which was supported by international reaction.

Exposing the aggressive policy of the imperialists, V. I. Lenin wrote: "Now, despite the general hatred of the bourgeois states for the Soviet government, everyone sees a direct interest in the possession of eastern Galicia by the Polish landlords." 11
The vanguard role in the revolutionary liberation movement was played by the working class of Eastern Galicia. In the fire of struggle, the first communist groups were born and strengthened in Lviv, Drohobych, Stryi, Ternopil, and Stanislav. Unlike the old social-democratic organizations, which were built on a national basis, the new communist organizations were created on an international basis and united in their ranks workers of different nationalities-Ukrainians, Poles, Jews and others. The Galician Communists were faced with the task of uniting all communist circles and groups into a single party. Active revolutionary work was carried out by the Stanislav group, whose members M. Bandura, I. Kindrat, K. Savrich (Maksimovich) and others initiated the convocation of the first regional party conference, which was important in the history of the communist movement in Galicia. The conference was held illegally in February 1919 in Stanislav (now Ivano-Frankivsk) with the participation of a representative of the Central Committee of the CP (b)By V. Sirko. It was attended by delegates from various communist organizations in Eastern Galicia. The conference proclaimed the creation of the Communist Party of Eastern Galicia (CPVG) and elected its Central Committee headed by K. Savrich12 . The conference helped unite the communist forces of the region around a single center.

The main arena of the revolutionary struggle of the working class and the activities of the CPVG was the Drohobych oil basin. In the autumn of 1919, a district party committee was established in Stanislav, which directed the work of communist organizations of industrial enterprises in the Carpathian region. Party committees were established in Drohobych, Boryslav, Lviv, Stryi, Ternopil, Przemysl, Kolomyia, Kalush, Sambor, Brody, Chertkov, Buchach and other cities .13 The CPVG Central Committee and district party committees paid much attention to working among the rural population. At the beginning of March 1919, an underground organization was established.

11 V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 42, p. 19.

12 "Киiвський комунiст", 8.II.1919; "Наша правда" (Львов), 1928, N 1 - 2, стр. 72.

13 См. "Комунiст" (Харкiв), 14.III.1919.

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communist organization in the village of Voynilov, Kalush district, which included peasants and intellectuals. The same organization existed in the village of Podbereztsy, Zborovsky uyezd 14 . Describing the state of the communist movement in Galicia, an organ of the Central Committee of the CP (b)The Russian newspaper Komunist wrote on March 14, 1919:"Now the Galician circle of communists is conducting intensive agitation among the peasants, there are cells in all the towns and villages of Galicia."

Under the leadership of the Communists, the proletariat launched a struggle to improve its situation. Stryi railway workers, Kalush workers, Boryslav and Drohobych oil workers went on strike. Workers 'and peasants' Soviets sprang up in a number of towns and villages. In March 1919, an underground Council of Workers ' Deputies was established in Lviv, which led the strike struggle .15 An underground communist newspaper was published in the city for more than five months. "According to the latest information, "wrote the newspaper Galitsky Komunist (organ of the Regional Committee of Eastern Galicia and Bukovina), published in Kiev, on May 16, 1919," Galicia is on the eve of huge events. The revolutionary forces of the peasantry and workers are being rapidly organized. Agitation against the present bourgeois government engages ever wider circles of people. The mood is extremely tense." It is characteristic that the workers ' struggle was carried out under the slogan of reunification with Soviet Ukraine. Former CPVG activist I. N. Sirko writes in his memoirs that in March 1919 Galicia hosted congresses of workers and peasants. Under the influence of the Communists, "at all these congresses, as a rule, decisions were made on the immediate reunification of Galicia with Soviet Ukraine." 16
March-April 1919 The Red Army, crushing the troops of the Petliura directory, reached the Zbruch River. At the same time, Soviet power was established in Hungary. These events caused a new upsurge in the revolutionary movement in Western Ukraine. Its culmination was the Drohobych uprising of April 14-15, 1919, led by a local organization of communists led by V. F. Kotsko, I. M. Kushnir and G. I. Mikhaets. Workers and soldiers captured the city. They were supported by the peasants of the surrounding villages. The rebels created a revkom, which announced the overthrow of the ZUNR government and the transfer of power in the city to the hands of the workers 'and Soldiers' Council. It was planned to raise an uprising in Borislav and seize the southern part of the Carpathians. But in the course of the movement, its leaders, who did not have enough experience, made a number of mistakes. The revolt was not supported by other cities and was defeated 17 . The massacre of its participants, primarily communists, began. Over a thousand workers were arrested and jailed. The Drohobych uprising, the first armed action of the workers of the Western Ukrainian lands, despite its failure, was of great importance: it showed the determination of the workers and peasants to follow the example of their Russian brothers and influenced the further development of the revolutionary liberation struggle in Galicia.

In the second half of July, 1919. Eastern Galicia was captured by the troops of bourgeois-landowner Poland, establishing a brutal terrorist regime. For spreading Bolshevik ideas, the occupiers were punished with the death penalty. But even under these conditions, underground communist organizations continued their activities. They created steam-

14 Central State Archive of the October Revolution of the Ukrainian SSR, f. 2189, op. 1, ed. hr. 54, l. 7; GALO, f. 43, op. 1, ed. hr. 39, l. 20.

15 "Пiд прапором Жовтня", стор. 212, 218; "Известия", 25.111.1919.

16 "КПЗУ - органiзатор революцiйноi боротьби". Львiв. 1958, пор 26.

17 I. Kupryanets. Дрогобицьке повстання. "Радянський Львiв", 1949, N 8, стор. 48 - 51.

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Tizan detachments and sabotage groups that caused serious damage to the occupation forces 18 .

Leading the workers ' liberation movement, the Communists of Galicia sought to strengthen ties with the Communist Party of Ukraine in order to unite the forces of Ukrainian workers and peasants in the struggle for Soviet power. The Communist Party of Ukraine, for its part, considered it its fraternal duty to provide comprehensive assistance to the workers of Western Ukraine and their vanguard, the Communist Party of Eastern Galicia. On May 17, 1919, the Galician Revolutionary Committee was created on the territory of Soviet Ukraine from representatives of former prisoners of war-Galicians and Bukovinians, renamed in June as the Revolutionary Committee of Galicia and Bukovina 19 . In the autumn of 1919, the Revolutionary Committee of Galicia and Bukovina was transformed first into the Organizing Bureau, and then into the Committee of the Communist Party of Eastern Galicia and Bukovina under the Central Committee of the CP(b)At. This body published the newspaper "Galitsky Komutst", carried out a large propaganda work among former prisoners of war-Galich", who were on the territory of Soviet Ukraine, and also provided the necessary assistance to underground communist organizations that operated in Eastern Galicia, sending there their representatives, leaflets, appeals.

On April 23-24, 1920, a party conference of Galician Communists was held in Kiev, which elected the regional Organizing Committee of the Communist Party of Eastern Galicia and Bukovina under the Central Committee of the CP (b)Y - Galorkom. Its members included F. Kon, V. Poraiko, M. Baran, M. Levitsky and others. The conference delegates sent greetings to V. I. Lenin, in which they vowed "to give all our strength and life for the cause for which Comrade Lenin led us for so many years." Lenin... We promise to be as inflexible and firm in this struggle as Comrade Lenin. " 20 A greeting was also sent to the Central Committee of the CP (b)U, in which delegates expressed the hope that in the near future workers 'and peasants' Galicia will be reunited with the entire workers 'and peasants' Ukraine 21 . In May, the Central Committee of the CP (b)U approved by the Galician Organizing Committee of the CP(b)elected at the conferenceWu yi invited all the party organizations of Soviet Ukraine to "render him all-round assistance and comradely support." 22
The Central Committee of the RCP (b) headed by V. I. Lenin provided great assistance to the communist organizations of Eastern Galicia. In April 1920, the Central Committee of the RCP (b) announced the mobilization of Galician Communists who were on the territory of the RSFSR to work in Eastern Galicia. In February 1920, the Galbyuro 23 was created under the Central Committee of the RCP (b), which was tasked with organizing extensive oral and printed propaganda among Galicians, helping Galician communists to establish party education and work. Relying on the help of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) and the Central Committee of the CP(b)The communists of Eastern Galicia united the workers of the region under the banner of the struggle for the power of the Soviets, for national liberation.

In July 1920, when the Soviet troops fighting against the Polish interventionists entered the territory of Eastern Galicia, Galorkom addressed the Red Army soldiers with a proclamation. It read: "Comrades of the Red Army, the Galician working people, through the mouth of their Communist Party, address you in the name of the five millionth-

18 "Znamya Sovetov" (organ of the Revolutionary Military Council of the 12th Army), 1920, No. 30.

19 Party Archive of the Institute of Party History of the Central Committee of the Communist Party( hereinafter-PAIIP of the Central Committee of the Communist Party), f. 9. op. 1, ed. hr. 3, l. 7.

20 Ibid., f. 37, op. 1, ed. hr. 1, l. 1; "Pid praporom Zhovtnya", stor. 314.

21 "Червоний стрiлець", 27.IV. 1920.

22 PAIIP of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine, f. 38, ed. chr. 26, l. 4.

23 E. Galushko. Decree, op., p. 41.

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new population of Galicia... You, the children of heroic Russian and Ukrainian workers and peasants, who bore and still bear the main burden of the great revolution on your own shoulders, do not refuse us your powerful fraternal help." 24 The Red Army, with the support of rebel detachments created by the Galician Communists, liberated 20 counties of Eastern Galicia. August 3, 1920 in Ternopil, the temporary capital of Soviet Galicia, a meeting of representatives of the underground Central Committee of the CPVG and the Galorkom of the CP (b)was heldU, at which it was decided to unite the leading centers of the communist organizations of Galicia. The joint body includes representatives from the Central Committee of the CP (b)U V. Zatonsky, from Galorkom KP (b)U-M. Baran and K-Litvinovich, from the underground Central Committee of the CPVG-M. Levitsky, A. Baral (V. Savka), K. Savrich and others, from the Politburo of the Central Committee of the RCP ( b) - I. Krasnokutsky (Levchenko) 25 . The joint governing body became known as the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Eastern Galicia. His education contributed to the implementation of a single line in the activities of party organizations in the Carpathian region. On August 11, at the first plenum of the CPVG Central Committee, the Politburo consisting of V. Zatonsky, M. Baran, I. Krasnokutsky, M. Levitsky, A. Baral, as well as the Organizing Bureau and the Secretariat of the CPVG Central Committee were elected. The Plenum approved the composition of the Provisional Workers 'and Peasants' Government of Soviet Galicia-Galrevkom, which was established on July 8, 1920. Members of the Galrevkom were V. Zatonsky (chairman), M. Baran (Deputy chairman), M. Levitsky, A. Baral, K. Litvinovich. The Plenum recorded in its resolution that the Communist Party of Eastern Galicia, through the organs of Soviet power, exercises the direction of all life in the Galician Socialist Soviet Republic and sets as its goal the building of a communist society .26
V. I. Lenin closely followed the activities of the Communist Party of Eastern Galicia and the Galrevkom. During the Second Congress of the Comintern, the CPVG delegation met with V. I. Lenin, and through the Galician delegates, V. I. Lenin conveyed greetings to the Galician Communists.: "Galrevkom received a special order from Lenin:' Do everything possible so that the broad masses of the workers and the poorest peasantry will immediately and vividly feel that the Soviet government is bringing them life.' In a telegram to V. Zatonsky dated August 19, 1920, V. I. Lenin stated:: "Mercilessly smash the lords and kulaks, so that the labourers, as well as the mass of peasants, will feel a sharp change in their favor." 27
Shortly after its creation, the Galrevkom adopted a decree "On the establishment of Socialist Soviet power in Galicia", which proclaimed the transfer of power to the hands of the working people in the person of the provisional revolutionary committees. All laws of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, the ZUNR and the Polish administration were abolished, an eight-hour working day was established, and universal labor service was introduced. Landlords ' lands, forests and meadows, all former imperial, as well as church and monastery land holdings were subject to seizure and free transfer to the use of working peasants .28 With the establishment of Soviet power, the village and county revolutionary committees organized the harvest on the former landowner fields, and began dividing the land taken from the landlords between landless and low-land peasants. During the existence of Soviet power in Galicia (August-September 1920), 20 uyezd party committees were created in the liberated uyezds, uniting urban and rural cells and numbering 232 members

24 "Пiд прапором Жовтня", стор. 349 - 350.

25 PAIIP of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine, f. 9, op. 1, ed. hr. 1, l. 1.

26 Ibid., ed. chr. 4 "a", l. 1; ed. chr. 14, l. 1.

27 V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 51, pp. 264-265.

28 "Пiд прапором Жовтня", стор. 372.

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and 246 candidates for party membership 29 . A large number of Communists worked deep underground behind enemy lines, in the territory occupied by bourgeois landlords in Poland. The first Komsomol organizations appeared in the uyezds. Communist literature was published in large numbers. At this time, the newspaper Bilshovik, an organ of the CPVG Central Committee, began to appear.

The activities of the KPVG and Galrevkom in the liberated areas were, however, short-lived. The Polish bourgeoisie and landlords, with the help of international imperialism and Ukrainian bourgeois nationalists, succeeded in re-establishing themselves throughout Eastern Galicia in the autumn of 1920. The CPVG went deep underground, leading the revolutionary liberation struggle from there. In July 1921, in an address to the workers and poor peasants of Western Ukraine, the CPVG stressed that "only a socialist revolution, which will hand over all power to you, the workers and peasants, can bring the Polish and Ukrainian working masses out of the difficult political and economic situation to which the present masters, the Polish gentry, have brought them."30
The struggle of the workers of the Western Ukrainian lands for national and social liberation, for the unification of Eastern Galicia with Soviet Ukraine, was supported by the leading representatives of the Polish people and, above all, the Communist Workers ' Party of Poland (KRPP). Due to the fact that the Western Ukrainian lands were recaptured by bourgeois-landowner Poland, the Communist Party of Eastern Galicia faced more complex tasks that could be solved only in the course of the joint struggle of the workers of Western Ukraine and Poland. There was a need to resolve the issue of relations between the CPVG and the Communist Party of Poland. The interests of the revolutionary struggle demanded the closest unity of the Polish and Ukrainian workers, and above all the unity of their Marxist vanguard. This task became one of the main tasks of the Communist Workers ' Party of Poland and the Communist Party of Eastern Galicia. Already in 1921, an agreement was reached on the entry of the KPVG into the KRPP as an autonomous regional organization. At the same time, the CPVG continued to maintain close ideological and organizational ties with the CP(b)At 31 . The CPVG had to overcome certain difficulties and resolve the differences that arose on the basis of certain programmatic, tactical and organizational differences between the PKK and part of the CPVG, which were mainly caused by the youth of both Communist parties. But over the years, cooperation between the CPVG and the Communist Party of Poland grew stronger, being tempered in heavy class battles against the common enemies of the Polish and Ukrainian peoples.

The revolutionary struggle of the working people of Galicia developed as an integral part of the general Polish revolutionary struggle. At the same time, it had the characteristics of a national liberation movement. The Communists called on the workers and peasants of the Western Ukrainian lands to fight resolutely against the oppression of the landlords and capitalists, for reunification with Soviet Ukraine. In the editorial "Our Tasks", the organ of the CPVG Central Committee, the newspaper Nasha Pravda, wrote: "Our party wants to destroy the entire present system in Eastern Galicia, overthrow the government, create workers 'and peasants' Soviets in its place, and build a Galician Soviet Socialist Republic free from all lords and independent of all bourgeoisie. " 32 May 18, 1921 G. oil industry workers held a general strike and were supported

29 PAIIP of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine, f. 9, op. 1, ed. chr. 26, l. 1.

30 "Манiфест ЦК КПВГ до украiнських робiтникiв i бiдних селян". Львiв. 1921, стор. 13.

31 "For the correct coverage of the history of the Communist Party of Western Ukraine". "Kommunist", 1963, N 10, p. 40.

32 "Пiд прапором Жовтня", стор. 36,

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workers in other industries. More than 20 thousand people participated in this performance. The strike was held under the slogan of reuniting Eastern Galicia with Soviet Ukraine. The organ of the Galician communist youth, the magazine Nash Styag, which was published illegally, wrote at the time that this slogan was one of the "most popular and most militant appeals" among the workers and peasants of Galicia .33
The struggle of the workers and peasants of Galicia under the leadership of the Communist Party was particularly intense in 1921-1923. At the beginning of 1921, a general strike of railway workers was held in Poland. Its participants, along with economic demands, put forward political ones - the release of political prisoners, the end of political and national discrimination, the abolition of militarization of railways, and others. Railway workers of the Western Ukrainian lands took an active part in the strike. "During the general strike in March 1921," Our Banner noted, " the communist Polish proletariat met not only in Eastern Galicia, but also in Lodz, Warsaw, the Dombrow Basin, and other industrial centers of Poland... adopted resolutions demanding the abolition of colonization of Eastern Galicia and Volhynia. " 34 The strike ended with the satisfaction of the workers ' demands - the abolition of the militarization of railways and the return to work of the dismissed.

In the course of the revolutionary battles, the Communists paid special attention to the implementation of Lenin's United Workers ' front tactics. On this path, they have achieved serious success. The proletariat of Lviv already celebrated May 1, 1922, under the slogans of the United Proletarian front. A rally of many thousands was held, which adopted a joint resolution approved by the Communist Party of Eastern Galicia, the Polish Socialist Party( PPP), the Ukrainian Social Democratic Party (USDP), the Bund, and others .35 The resolution stated:"Against the united front of the imperialist bourgeoisie, the proletariat of the city of Lviv will stand together with the proletariat of the whole world in a united front with the entire organized working class." 36 In 1922, according to police records, there were 16 strikes in the Lviv Voivodeship alone, involving 3,236 people .37 The strikes were the best proof that the opportunists had failed to deter the workers from a decisive struggle against the bourgeoisie.

Under the influence of the proletarian struggle, the peasant movement, whose main form at that time was partisan action, reached a great scale. In October 1922 alone, 53 partisan actions took place on the territory of Eastern Galicia .38 Far beyond the borders of Eastern Galicia, the news spread about the heroic detachment "Chervona Dvodatka", which operated in the Ternopil region. The detachment was led by Communists P. Sheremeta, S. Melnichuk and I. Tsepko. "Faith in our final victory," wrote S. Melnychuk, "does not fade for a moment, and we are sure that the red banners will soon fly on the High Castle (in Lviv - NK) and on the peaks of the Carpathians." 39 The Communist Party of Eastern Galicia paid great attention to the peasant movement, tried to give it an organized character and link it with the struggle of the working class - the leader and organizer of the peasant and national liberation struggle.

33 GALO, f. 102, op. 1, ed. hr. 78, l. 28; ed. hr. 28, l. 144.

34 "Our banner", 1921, N 2, page 12.

35 М. Кравець. Нариси робiтничого руху в Захiднiй Украiнi в 1921 - 1929 pp. Киiв. 1959, стор. 47.

36 "У боротьбi за комунiзм". Львiв. 1964, стор 27.

37 HALO, f. 200, op. 1, units hr. 1603, ll. 5-6.

38 "Земля i воля" (Львiв), 12.XI.1922.

39 "Захiдна Украiна". Almanac. Киiв. 1927, стор. 312 - 313.

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The strike struggle became most widespread in 1923. In response to the authorization of the Entente Council of Ambassadors for the seizure of Eastern Galicia by bourgeois-landowner Poland, protest demonstrations were held in Lviv, Przemysl and a number of other cities. Participants in a demonstration of many thousands held in Lviv on March 18, 1923, vowed not to submit to foreign imperialists, not to recognize the power of Polish landlords and capitalists, and to fight for the overthrow of bourgeois oppression. 40 The effort of bourgeois-landlord Poland to stifle the revolutionary liberation struggle with the help of nationalist parties was not successful. The workers and peasants of Eastern Galicia did not stop fighting for social and national liberation. In the summer of 1923, a general strike of workers of the woodworking industry of the Carpathian region was held, in which more than 10 thousand people took part. The strikers, along with economic demands, put forward political ones. In many cities, demonstrations were held under the slogans " Down with the police power!", " Long live the socialist Revolution!". In some industrial centers, such as Kalush, there were clashes with the police 41 . Rallies and demonstrations were held in all the counties of Eastern Galicia. From June 23 to July 9, a general strike of railway workers took place .42 The movement of chemical industry workers in Kalush was highly organized. As a result of a month-and-a-half struggle, they achieved an increase in wages and reinstatement of the dismissed employees .
The KPVG has always remained the leader and organizer of the workers of the Western Ukrainian lands. Its influence on the masses grew as it overcame mistakes and assimilated Lenin's organizational and ideological principles. With the help of the Comintern, CP (b)The Communist organizations of Western Ukraine and Poland have established a correct relationship with the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and the KRPP. On June 23, 1923, the fourth (united) regional Party Conference of the CPVG was held illegally in Lviv. A new composition of the Central Committee was elected and a decision was made on the new name of the party - the Communist Party of Western Ukraine, as well as delegates were elected to the Second Congress of the CPSU, which was held on September 12-October 2, 1923 in Bolshev (near Moscow). The Congress helped resolve disagreements within the CPSU and adopted Leninist resolutions on peasant and national issues, as well as proclaimed the right of nations to self-determination. Its resolution stated: "The Polish working masses must recognize and support the desire of Ukrainian and Belarusian workers and peasants to liberate themselves from the yoke of landowner-capitalist Poland and reunite their lands with Soviet Ukraine and Belarus." 44 The decisions of the Congress promoted unity of action among the workers of Western Ukraine and Poland in the struggle against their common oppressors. KPZU became an autonomous regional organization of the Communist Workers ' Party of Poland. Having overcome its mistakes, as well as differences with the Polish Communists, it strengthened itself ideologically and organizationally, and led the workers of the Western Ukrainian lands to new battles for freedom and reunification with Soviet Ukraine.

The communists of Eastern Galicia resolutely fought against the Ukrainian bourgeois nationalists, who in every possible way imposed on the working people the slogan of "independence" of Galicia. Exposing the anti-national

40 M. Gerasimenko, B. Dudikevich. Decree, op., p. 54.

41 "Zemlya i volya", 7. V. 1923; " U borotbi za masi. Дiяльнiсть КПЗУ на Прикарпaттi". Киiв. 1966, стор. 17.

42 GALO, f. 193, op. 1, ed. hr. 10, l. 62.

43 "Zemlya i volya", 29. VII. 1923.

44 " KRR. Uchwaiy i rezolucje". T. I. Warszawa. 1954, s. 228.

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the essence of this slogan, "Robitnicha Gazeta", the organ of the CPVG, wrote on October 9, 1921: "Independent Galicia is not liberation for us, not freedom, it is only a lawyer-priest muzzle for us, the poor, a conspiracy against our brothers naddnipryantsev. The real liberation will not come from the lords in Vienna, but we will achieve it ourselves, taking power into our own hands and closely uniting with our brothers." The Communists contrasted the nationalist slogan of "independence" with the slogan of the reunification of Western Ukrainian lands with Soviet Ukraine .45 They resolutely fought to distinguish the proletarian communist ideology from the nationalist one, and educated the working people in the spirit of proletarian internationalism. The CPSU's struggle against the Ukrainian bourgeois nationalists was conducted from the standpoint of Leninist national policy. The Communists used legal trade union, peasant, cultural, educational, and sports organizations to consolidate their influence among the masses and guide their revolutionary struggle.

The liberation struggle of the working people of the Western Ukrainian lands especially intensified on the eve of the 6th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution. On November 5, 1923, a political strike was held throughout Poland. Only on the territory of the Lviv Voivodeship, the number of strikers reached almost 46 thousand people .46 The strike participants demanded the preservation of the 8-hour working day and all the social gains of the working class, political freedoms, and the release of political prisoners .47 The newspaper Zemlya i Volya wrote about this strike on November 11: "The workers went out to fight. Workshops and factories stopped everywhere. The proletariat has taken to the streets." But as a result of the brutal, bloody terror and complicity of the PPP, the bourgeois-landowner government succeeded in liquidating the revolutionary crisis in the country.

The struggle of the workers and peasants of Eastern Galicia in 1918-1923 left a deep impression on the minds of the working people. It enriched them with revolutionary experience and prepared the ground for the reunification in September 1939 of the Western Ukrainian lands in the united Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.

45 E. Galushko, B. Dudikevich. КПЗУ - органiзатор боротьби трудящих Захiдноi Украiни за возз'еднання з Радянською Украiною. "Украiнський iсторичний журнал", 1964, N 4, стор. 53; см. также "Процес комунiстiв у Львiв". (Стенографiчнi звiти з розправи). Львiв. 1923, стор. 109.

46 М. Кравець. Decree, op., p. 66.

47 GALO, f. 102, op. 1, ed. hr. 11, l. 39.

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