Participation of ‘Peasant Union’ in 1928 Elections to Sejm and Senate of Second Polish Republic
Abstract
The participation of the ‘Peasant Union’ («Selianskyi Sojuz») in the elections to the Sejm and the Senate of the Second Polish Republic in 1928 is studied in the paper. It is stated that despite existing publications on the activities of Ukrainian establishment people, both right and left, there is no complex research work on the activities of Ukrainian political figures who were the members of the Ukrainian Socialist Union ‘Peasant Union’, as well as their participation in the parliamentary elections of 1928.
It is noted that the election campaign of 1927-1928 became a kind of ‘litmus test’ of maturity of Ukrainian politicians and the population of Western Ukraine and their readiness to unite Eastern Halychyna politically with other Ukrainian territories that became part of interwar Poland – Chełm Land (Kholmshchyna), Podlasie (Pidliashshia), Volyn and Polissia. That was important, even from a pragmatic point of view, for organizational, legal, informational, and financial support. Under such circumstances, as of the autumn of 1927, it became clear to the ‘Peasant Union’ representatives that in order to have a chance to win seats in the Sejm and Senate in the 1928 elections, political allies had to be sought, most likely the Halychyna UNDO (Ukrainian National Democratic Alliance) which at that time tried to put forward the initiative to create a single electoral bloc of all Ukrainian national-state parties.
During the talks with the Ukrainian National Democrats, there was a conflict between the leaders of the ‘Peasant Union’ – brothers Pavlo and Anton Vasynchuk, so the latter left the party and participated in the elections separately with the Ukrainian People’s Commercial List. The other part of the ‘Peasant Union’, headed by P. Vasynchuk, joined the Bloc of National Minorities revived by the UNDO. It is concluded that the split in the ‘Peasant Union’ had a negative impact on the party’s election results: The Bloc of National Minorities, represented in the list № 18 by the members of the UNDO and the ‘Peasant Union’ from Ukrainians of the north-western ethnic territories, managed to promote its representative P. Vasynchuk to the Sejm. During 1928-1930, the popularity of the current ‘Peasant Union’, headed by P. Vasynchuk, decreased significantly and eventually vanished.
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