In the early 20th century, the increasing nationalist Ukrainian movement was a burning issue. The breakthrough was 1902, erstwhile mass peasant appearances took place in east Galicia.
The most extremist were the Russian peasants (Ukrainian), on the 1 hand aroused by socialist groups, on the another hand by the emerging Ukrainian nationalist movement, including the Greek-Catholic clergy. Artur Górski writes: “During the riots, Ukrainian peasants raided Polish courts, and property of landowners either destroyed or plundered. The politician [Leon] Pininski sent against the rebels of the gendarmes who led the order. besides in Lviv riots inspired by Ukrainian students broke out, but were pacified by police and Huzars."
The shock of Polish public opinion was great, but only in Lviv and east Galicia. politician Leon Pininski he had full support for his extremist actions, not only from the Podolaks, but besides from the National Democracy and – as it turned out – Archbishop Józef Teodorowicz. However, in Krakow local Polish conservatives (Stains) looked at it differently. By Michał Bobrzyński, the future politician of Galicia (since 1908) Pininski overstepped his competence and acted besides radically, even called him a "ultraconservative with tight horizons". Worse for Pininski, Bobrzyński had the support of the Austrian Prime Minister himself. Ernest von Koerber. On 8 June 1903, both led to the resignation of Leon Pininski from the post of Viceroy.
Archbishop Józef Teodorowicz, sympathetic with Podolaki, had a clear position on this substance – he was outraged at the policy of the Kraków Conservatives. From now on, he will consistently support a political camp centered around Podolaków, Democratic-National organization and the “Rzeczpospolita” Group fighting against Ukrainian policies of Bobrzyński and Vienna. Even the divisions in the SDN ranks (in 1908) did not substance much here – until the outbreak of the war all the mentioned environments operated jointly until they managed to overthrow Bobrzyński. The spiritual patron, although not only spiritual, of this political camp was Archbishop Joseph Teodorovich. This does not mean that in the Ukrainian case he shared all the views of Podolaks, that he was. as defined by Bobrzyński, “ultraconservative”.
As early as a year after dramatic events, the archbishop published a brochure entitled. Last experience. Notes after the steps, where an excellent in-depth analysis of the phenomenon of increasing radicalisation of peasants and outlined a program to prevent this phenomenon. Recognising that the socialists were guilty of inciting the agrarian masses, he was not just a supporter of repression and not seeing the problem of increasing social antagonism. He was not afraid to say that only the citizenship of the people, the introduction of politics – there might be a panacea to the threat of revolution. He asked: “Is the people – and I mean the people healthy – not the support and lever of a healthy and strong policy.” And elsewhere: “But it would be wrong, and it would be fundamental to refuse to be able in general to influence national politics... There are fundamental elements in people who aren't bad. religion and ethics, linked together in a healthy sense, without which there can never be a healthy national policy."
The thought of Archbishop Teodorovich was coincident with the strategy of the National Democracy to rise the peasant layer to the function of a full-fledged associate of national life. The popular option supported the most Jan Ludwik Popławski. He was highly consistent in his attitude. As of 1895, he besides learned about the national and spiritual problems of east Galicia in Lviv. He saw the dangerous phenomenon of weakening the “Polish nutrition” at the expense of Ukrainianism and – most likely after the experience of 1902 – brought forward a program of Polish expansion in the Eastlands.They. In an article published in 1903 in “The All-Polish Review” he wrote that the conservative-agreement camp conducts a policy of national abdication, while the camp of the All-Polish expansion policy. As part of this policy, he advocated "enlargement of our national territory by means of Polish settlement, awareness of the people from Polish but national passive origin", as well as "assimilation of elements not having clear national individuality".
It is impossible to miss the convergence of views of Archbishop Teodorovich and the leading ideologist of the National Democracy of Jan Ludwik Popławski. specified a program of defence and expansion required inclusion in the Polish political camp of the peasant layer. It was primarily about Poles and Catholics, nevertheless it was assumed to attract to the Polishness of this part of the Russian population, which had no developed awareness of national affiliation. The success of this policy was conditional on weakening the influence of Ukrainian nationalism. Archbishop Teodorovich rapidly realized the danger he posed. Revealed by Renata King-Mazur unknown papers from the archive of Józef Teodorovich cast a fresh light on his views on the increasing Ukrainian nationalism and its character. In the dirty text On the Russian case, which was not made public, was concluded by Teodorovich very strict courts not only about Ukrainian nationalists, but besides Greek Catholic clergy. It is worth quoting a more extended passage of this crucial text:
"The activation of Ukrainian national activists, who increasingly began to trust on the Greek Catholic clergy in their activities, motivated Archbishop J. Teodorovich to talk "in the Russian matter". He resented the large politicalization of the lower Greek Catholic clergy, which "instead of advising on the good of the Church, advises on the parties and political programs." He warned the Greek Catholic hierarchy that besides much engagement in politics could weaken their influence on the faithful, due to the fact that they would lose assurance in them.. He did not deny Greek Catholic clergy the right to prosecute politics, but simply warned against engaging in political tenders. He stressed that no 1 should exert force on the Greek Catholic clergy to advocate a circumstantial political agenda and defend it. Priests should go out and work for their people, not politics. In addressing the Greek Catholic priests, Archbishop Teodorovich exclaimed: “It is essential to quit sharing into parties and politics, and I cry out with the heat as much as I know, as many talents, as many treasures of the heart, as a consequence go into disfiguration, how much harm therefore.” He suggested joining society.
He besides sadly admitted that Poles only look at Rusins (Ukrainians) in terms of politics. They are divided into 2 categories: “hard Rusins” (Ukrainian nationalists) and “moscals” (moscalfiles). Rusinom (Ukrainians) is not convinced: “Though Rusin has made evidence 10 times that he is not dangerous, on the eleventh case he will whisper in his ear, yet I do not believe, due to the fact that rusin.” The Archbishop emphasized that specified a course is projected by very bad social relations in Galicia and ignites national conflicts."
Are these words besides drastic and exaggerated? The author of this book seems to think so. However, the historian must look at this problem from a broader perspective, bearing in head events later, not only the Polish-Ukrainian War of 1918-1919, but also, and possibly above all, what happened during planet War II in 1943-1944. From this perspective, the concerns of Archbishop Teodorovich about the future of Polish-Ukrainian relations proved to be prophetic. If we are talking about prophecy, we have another, no little eloquent example, this time from a homily given in 1916. Speaking of the dangers of adopting bad traditions as the foundation of building his own identity, he said: “Woe to a nation that turns to its evil tradition, that worships and places heroes on altars, which justice and virtue they have sold and sacrificed, or they have not had. Woe to a nation that only knows the tradition of hajdam and Cossack, for specified a nation will destroy, destroy, break and murderIt’s okay. ”
The fear of Archbishop Teodorovich prior to the increase in the power of the Ukrainian movement was exacerbated by the fact that he was very dynamic and expansive, he entered the village with his influence primarily. The last census in the Habsburg Monarchy before planet War I made it clear that the Polish component in east Galicia is simply a strong minority. Ukrainians accounted for 71% of the population, while Poles only 14.4%. The percent of the Polish-language population was somewhat higher, due to the fact that 33.7 percent, while Russian (Ukrainian) 62.5 percent. Greek Catholics accounted for 61.7% of the population of east Galicia and Catholics accounted for 25.3%. More and more were the demands of giving Galicia to east Ukrainians and the associated extremist slogan: “Lachy za San”, while moving the ethnographic border of this territory increasingly westward, under Rzeszów and Krosno.
On 12 April 1908, he was shot in Lviv. Mr Andrzej Potocki, politician of Galicia since 1903. The killer was a Ukrainian student Mirosław Siczyński. The motive for the crime was the governor's policy, in the assessment of the extremist Ukrainian wheels enemy to their national demands. Among another things, it was a improvement of electoral ordination, the beginning of Ukrainian schools, and yet the establishment of a Ukrainian university in Lviv. The concessions made by the politician during the negotiations (with the participation of national-democratic politicians) in 1907 were unsatisfactory to the Ukrainians. In addition, in February 1908, under the influence of national democrats, Polish groups and east Galicia entered into an alliance in elections for the national parliament with alleged Moscalophiles, i.e. those Rusins who did not want to stand on the ground of Ukrainian nationalism. This was caused by the immense uproar of Ukrainian nationalists, whose victim was Viceroy Andrzej Potocki.
Just after the execution of the Governor, Archbishop Joseph Teodorovich spoke. In the series "Brochures about the present" he published his reflections on what happened. He expressed his amazement that there was a political assassination, especially as in his opinion the murdered met Ukrainian demands and was a supporter of talks and concessions. The Archbishop stated: “Even if you do not know how anyone wanted to paint Galicia’s relation blackly, you cannot deny 1 more thing; that is, Rusini has a political representation that can happen legally. Right now [in the elections to the national parliament – J.E.] they have won themselves a number of seats so large that they constitute a serious about political camp. It was just now that a minute arose where even to this eventuality, if they were truly threatened here, they could enter the roads, driven by a clear political mind, roads with political influence. At specified historical moments, even the most utmost terrorism will stay silent, it will wait, for at least as long as the fresh ones do not try."
In welcoming the position of archbishop Andrzej Szeptycki, the Greek Catholic metropolitan of Lviv, who condemned the crime, he noted with large concern the reactions of any Ukrainian communities: “The most doubtless plan and act of crime amazed politicians and statesmen. But what do you see? It is that part of the Russian press and that part of the politicians, alternatively of condemning the act of crime as condemned by the clergy chief of the Russian Church, seems to propose in the opinion, whether ambiguously or not, the glorification of the crime. Politicians have seriously gone somewhere and are silent as if they were afraid of terrorism, and there is so much flattery going on with the killer, so much tribute, so much tactful compassion, that it is truly hard to undo the word that I just had on the pen: glorification. It seems that a certain fraction of the press and politicians are blindly receiving and going to the services of underage criminals – creating an atmosphere for them in which all remorse, all instinct of justice, all order of ethics and morality dies, And only the apotheosis blooms, where for the crime 1 looks forward to inexpensive glory, where for the bad deed, the hero's monument awaitsIt’s okay. ”
Jan Engelgard
A fragment of the author's larger text entitled Religion and Politics – Józef Teodorowicz and National Democracy from 1902 to 1918. It's 160 this year. Anniversary of the birth of Archbishop of Armenian rite Joseph Teodorovich, and 4 December 86th anniversary of his death.
