Turning the pages back...

January 22, 1918

On January 22, 1918, the Central Rada issued the Fourth Universal and, for the first time in Ukraine's history, proclaimed that "from now on the Ukrainian National Republic becomes the independent, free and sovereign state of the Ukrainian people." The official establishment of Ukraine's independence was an action that was necessary in organizing the country's defense against the Bolsheviks. The Fourth Universal also replaced the regular army with a militia; ordered the holding of elections to the people's councils in volosts, counties and states; established state control of domestic and foreign trade; and took control of banks and large industrial enterprises. A land law that was intended to carry out the promises of the Third Universal to nationalize and establish rules for its use by the peasants and a law establishing an eight-hour work day were also passed.

After the disintegration of Austria-Hungary, the Halychyna and Bukovyna regions united on November 1, 1918, to form the Western Ukrainian National Republic (ZUNR) in a concerted attempt to defend themselves from an impending Polish invasion.

Then on January 22, 1919, in Kyiv's St. Sophia Square, the Ukrainian National Rada proclaimed the Act of Union between the Western Ukrainian National Republic and the Ukrainian National Republic. The declaration was confirmed by the Ukrainian parliament - the Labor Congress. The Western Ukraine National Republic officially became known as the Western Province (Oblast) of the Ukrainian National Republic (ZOUNR). Consequently, a common general staff for both armies was created, a common currency was introduced, and a joint diplomatic delegation was sent to the Paris Peace Conference.

As a result of the two events that took place on January 22 one year apart, and as a reaffirmation of the Ukrainian people's right to a life free of Russo-Communist domination, the diaspora began to celebrate January 22 with the same reverence that Americans celebrate the Fourth of July. In 1973, St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic School in Newark, N.J., became the first school to ever observe this day as a national holiday and at city halls and in state capitols across the nation, the Ukrainian flag was raised in commemoration as Ukrainian communities filled auditoriums and church halls for their own celebrations.

Sources: "The Renascence of Ukraine: The Ukrainian State, 1917-20," Encyclopedia of Ukraine, Vol. 1 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1963); Paul Robert Magocsi, "A History of Ukraine" (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1996).

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, January 18, 1998, No. 3, Vol. LXVI

| Home Page |