Political culture of the Ukrainian peasantry and the revolutionary process in 1917-1921 in the context of the ideologue of agrarianism

Abstract

Introduction. The great role of the Ukrainian Revolution of 1917-1921 in national history, its
impact on modernity, actualizes a comprehensive study of conscious factors that determined the behavior of the
masses, namely political culture, the content of the Ukrainian peasantry in the period of major socio-political
transformations and confl icts.
Purpose. The aim of the article is to try to fi nd out how the revolutionary and state-building processes of the
period 1917-1921 were determined by the dominants of the political culture of Ukrainian rural society. The main
objectives of the article are to highlight and analyze the features of the political consciousness of the peasantry
and the forms of social behavior of peasants and their struggle for the realization of their socio-political ideals.
Methods. The methodological basis of the study is the socio-cultural approach, which allows us to explain
how the political culture of the Ukrainian peasantry determined the socio-political processes in 1917-1921.
Results. It is determined that the principles of political culture of the Ukrainian peasantry, concentrated in
the socio-political formula «Land and Freedom», accumulated peasant ideals of ownership or lifelong use of land,
freedom, democratic representation, equality, fair society, priority of labor.
In the process of socio-political transformations, the peasants really felt that they could play a leading role
in political life and embody their interests. This was demonstrated by examples of joint voting of peasants in
various forums, and especially the practice of self-organization of numerous self-defense units and insurgent
groups. However, along with the positive aspects of solving socio-political problems, the self-organization of the
peasants was often directed not against the organization and support of the state and government, but against the
government.
Conclusion. The article notes that the political culture of the peasants was closely connected with the
social and veche, Cossack in spirit ideas of the state and power, which were characterized by egalitarianism and
democracy. However, it was a democracy of a traditional society with patriarchal veche elements, which was not
focused on the reproduction of the entire state and social vertical of power, but focused mainly on the lower, rural
level of administrative-territorial division. Democratic self-government was understood by the peasants as selfgovernment of the rural community in the form of the east, as the embodiment of democracy in the form of Soviets.
The type of democracy seen by the peasants as a system of relations based on participation in decision-making by
all members of the rural community or persons delegated to it can be described as agrarian democracy