The Christian Social Movement in Ukraine was a political movement that existed in Western Ukraine from the end of the 19th century until the 1930s.

Ideals

The movement's program was based on Christian ethics and on papal

encyclical An encyclical was originally a circular letter sent to all the churches of a particular area in the ancient Roman Church. At that time, the word could be used for a letter sent out by any bishop. The word comes from the Late Latin (originally fr ...

s focused on social concerns whilst its political orientation was clerical-conservative. The movement's leaders included the Ukrainian political and cultural figure

Oleksander Barvinsky Oleksandr Hryhorovych Barvinsky () (June 8, 1847 – December 25, 1926) was an important western Ukrainian cultural figure and politician, a founder of the Christian Social Party in western Ukraine. He also was a member of the Austrian parlia ...

Anatole Vakhnianyn Anatole Vakhnianyn (; 19 September 184111 February 1908), was a List of Ukrainian composers, Ukrainian composer, political and cultural figure, teacher, and journalist. Biography Family Vakhnianyn was born in Sieniawa, Przeworsk County, today a ...

, and

Kyryl Studynsky Kyrylo Studynsky, also known as Kyrylo Studynskyi (; 4 October 1868 – 1941), was a western Ukrainian political and cultural figure from the late-19th to the mid-20th century. One of the principal figures within the Christian Social Movement in Uk ...

. The Christian Social Movement's support was based on Ukrainian moderates seeking rapprochement between

Ukrainians Ukrainians (, ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine. Their native tongue is Ukrainian language, Ukrainian, and the majority adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, forming the List of contemporary eth ...

and

Poles Pole or poles may refer to: People *Poles (people), another term for Polish people, from the country of Poland * Pole (surname), including a list of people with the name * Pole (musician) (Stefan Betke, born 1967), German electronic music artist ...

.Encyclopedia of Ukraine, "Christian Social Movement" written by V. Markus
/ref> Originally its principles included loyalty to

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

and the

Habsburg monarchy The Habsburg monarchy, also known as Habsburg Empire, or Habsburg Realm (), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities (composite monarchy) that were ruled by the House of Habsburg. From the 18th century it is ...

, the creation of a separate Ukrainian province, support for the Ukrainian language and expansion of Ukrainian schools, and opposition to Galician Russophiles.

History

Its political party, founded in 1896, was originally named the Catholic Ruthenian People's Union. During this time, it was supported by Metropolitan Sembratovich, head of the

Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) is a Major archiepiscopal church, major archiepiscopal ''sui iuris'' ("autonomous") Eastern Catholic Churches, Eastern Catholic church that is based in Ukraine. As a particular church of the Cathol ...

, and by the Austrian government, which subsidized the newspaper ''Ruslan''. In 1911 the Catholic Ruthenian People's Union, under the leadership of Oleksander Barvinky, renamed itself as the Christian Social Party and sent representatives to the Austrian Parliament in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

as well as to the local Galician Diet. The Christian Social Party was more popular among Ukrainian civil servants than it was among the

clergy Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

, was uncritically loyal to the Habsburg monarchy, and did not enjoy widespread popularity among the Ukrainian population.Christoph Mick. 2016) ''Lemberg, Lwow, Lviv, 1914-1947: Violence and Ethnicity in a Contested City.'' West Lafayette, Indiana: Purdue University Press. pg. 95 After Austria-Hungary's collapse, the Christian Social Party subsequently participated in the formation of the

West Ukrainian People's Republic The West Ukrainian People's Republic (; West Ukrainian People's Republic#Name, see other names) was a short-lived state that controlled most of Eastern Galicia from November 1918 to July 1919. It included major cities of Lviv, Ternopil, Kolom ...

. Following the Polish–Ukrainian War, after western Ukraine had passed under the control of the

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 7 October 1918 and 6 October 1939. The state was established in the final stage of World War I ...

, the party continued to function until the 1930s. At that time, part of its members joined the Ukrainian National Democratic Alliance (UNDO) (a moderate political organization opposed to the radical Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists), while others founded the Ukrainian Catholic People's Party. The latter party advocated autonomy for western Ukraine but was loyal to the Polish state. It was able to place a member in the Polish parliament and

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

but was generally not very influential within Ukrainian society.Ukrainian Catholic People's party
Entry in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, published by the University of Toronto In the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, western Ukraine was annexed by the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and the Christian Social Movement ceased to exist there. Due to its strong ties to the

, the Christian Social Movement was criticized for its clericalism by both left-wing socialist groups as well as by right-wing nationalist groups in western Ukraine.

Ideals

History

References

See also