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Directory of the Ukrainian National Republic

(Директорія УНР; Dyrektoriia UNR). The
temporary, revolutionary, state authority
created by the Ukrainian National Union on
14 November 1918 for directing the

overthrow of Hetman Pavlo Skoropadsky.

The uprising against the hetman was
hastened by his declaration of a ‘federative
union’ with the future non-Bolshevik Russia on that day. At the beginning the

Directory was headed by Volodymyr Vynnychenko (representative of the

Ukrainian Social Democratic Workers' party), and included the following
members: the supreme otaman Symon Petliura (Ukrainian Social Democratic
Workers' party and delegate of the Sich Riflemen), Fedir Shvets (representing
the Peasant Association), Opanas Andriievsky (Ukrainian Party of Socialists-

Independentists), and Andrii Makarenko (non-partisan member, delegate of

the railway workers). The Directory formed a temporary government—the
Executive Council for State Affairs (Rada Zaviduiuchykh Derzhavnymy
Spravamy). The uprising led to Skoropadsky's abdication in favor of his
council of ministers, which, in turn, yielded power to the Directory. A new government—the
Council of National Ministers of the Ukrainian National Republic—was established by the
Directory's decree of 26 December 1918 and was chaired by Volodymyr Chekhivsky. The
Directory abolished many of the Hetman government's laws and institutions and restored the
legislation of the Central Rada. The most important of these laws dealt with land
distribution, the establishment of Ukrainian as the official language, the autocephaly of the
Orthodox church, and the convening of the Labor Congress. The Labor Congress met on 23–8
January 1919, and the Directory submitted its powers to the congress—the legislature of the
Ukrainian National Republic. In view of the state of war, the Labor Congress empowered
the Directory to act as the ‘supreme power and enact laws that are necessary for the defense
of the Republic’ and invested the Council of National Ministers with executive power. The
ministers were appointed by the Directory and were responsible to it between sessions of the
Labor Congress. At the end of March Yevhen Petrushevych, the president of the Ukrainian

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Directory of the Ukrainian National Republic

National Rada of the Western Oblast of the Ukrainian National Republic, joined the
Directory, in accordance with a resolution of the Labor Congress, but he did not actually
participate in the Directory's work and eventually resigned from it.

On 5 February 1919 the Directory moved from Kyiv to Vinnytsia. Henceforth it frequently
changed residence, depending on events at the front. To win the support of the Entente in the
Ukrainian-Soviet War, Volodymyr Vynnychenko resigned from the Directory, and Symon
Petliura became its head on 11 February. At the same time a new government, without the
socialists, was formed and headed by Serhii Ostapenko. When the talks with the Entente
collapsed, a new socialist cabinet was formed by Borys Martos in Rivne on 9 April 1919. At
the end of August it was replaced by Isaak Mazepa's cabinet. Opanas Andriievsky left the
Directory in connection with Otaman Volodymyr Oskilko's uprising.

Only three members remained in the Directory. Their powers were not clearly delineated.
Besides carrying out their representative and legislative functions, they sometimes interfered
in the affairs of the executive branch and provoked conflicts with the Council of National
Ministers.

At a meeting of the Directory and the Council of National Ministers on 15 November 1919 at
Kamianets-Podilskyi it was decided that Andrii Makarenko and Fedir Shvets would go
abroad on state business and that in their absence ‘the supreme authority in the affairs of the
Republic [is] invested in the head of the Directory and the supreme otaman Symon Petliura,
who in the name of the Directory will confirm all laws and decrees adopted by the Council of
National Ministers.’ On 21 May 1920 the government of the republic issued an order
(confirmed by Petliura) recalling the two members of the Directory—Makarenko and Shvets.
Their failure to return was considered as a resignation from the Directory. Thus, the Directory
ceased to be a collective body. All its powers passed to Petliura.

The ‘Law on the Temporary Supreme Authority and the Legislative System of the Ukrainian
National Republic,’ passed on 12 November 1920, gave constitutional sanction to the new
one-man Directory as the supreme power of the republic. According to this law, if the head
of the Directory became incapable of carrying out his functions, the supreme power would
pass to the head of the State People's Council (Derzhavna Narodna Rada). Before this council
convened, the supreme power would be entrusted to a college consisting of the head of the
cabinet, the chief justice of the Supreme Court, and a representative of the political parties.
Until this college was summoned, the head of the Council of National Ministers would
replace the head of the Directory. After Petliura's death on 25 May 1926 supreme power was
assumed in accordance with this law by the head of the Government-in-exile of the
Ukrainian National Republic at the time, Andrii Livytsky.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Khrystiuk, P. Zamitky i materiialy do istoriï ukraïns'koï revoliutsiï 1917–1920 rr., 3–4 (Vienna
1921–2; repr, New York 1969)
Antonov-Ovsiienko, V. ‘V borot'bi proty Dyrektoriï.’ Litopys revoliutsiï, 1930, nos 1–5
Mytsiuk, O. Doba Dyrektoriï UNR: Spomyny i rozdumy (Lviv 1939)
Mazepa, I. Ukraïna v ohni i buri revoliutsiï 1917–1921, 3 vols (Prague 1942; 2nd edn, Munich

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Directory of the Ukrainian National Republic

1950–1)
Reshetar Jr., J. The Ukrainian Revolution, 1917–1920: A Study in Nationalism (Princeton, NJ 1952;
repr, New York 1972)
Lykholat, A. Razgrom natsionalisticheskoi kontrrevoliutsii na Ukraine (1917–1922 gg.) (Moscow
1954)
Rybalka, I. Rozhrom burzhuazno-natsionalistychnoï Dyrektoriï na Ukraïni (Kharkiv 1962)
Stakhiv, M. Ukraïna v dobi Dyrektoriï UNR, 7 vols (Scranton, PA 1962–6)
Rybalka, I. (ed). Grazhdanskaia voina na Ukraine, 1918-1920: Sbornik dokumentov i materialov, 1
(Kyiv 1967)
Hunczak, T. (ed). The Ukraine, 1917–1921: A Study in Revolution (Cambridge, Mass 1977)

Matvii Stakhiv

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 1 (1984).]

List of related links from Encyclopedia of Ukraine pointing to Directory of the Ukrainian National
Republic entry:

1 All-Ukrainian Revolutionary Committee

2 Andriievsky, Opanas
3 Anti-Semitism

4 Antonovych, Dmytro
5 Archives
6 Army of the Ukrainian National Republic
7 Bakhmach

8 Bessarabia
9 Bluecoats
10 Bolbochan, Petro
11 Bund

12 Constitution of the Ukrainian National Republic

13 Council of National Ministers of the Ukrainian National Republic

14 Czechoslovakia
15 Denikin, Anton

16 Donets Basin
17 First World War
18 Goldelman, Solomon

19 Government-in-exile of the Ukrainian National Republic

20 Graycoats

+ 20 Records >>

A referral to this page is found in 99 entries.

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Directory of the Ukrainian National Republic

©2001 All Rights Reserved. Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies.
 

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