BOROTBISTY

"Fighters" (full name: Ukrainian Party of Socialist Revolutionaries, or Communist-Borotbisty), a short-lived Ukrainian radical socialist party, which played an important role in the revolutionary events in Ukraine from 1918 to 1920.

Originally the left wing of the Ukrainian Party of Socialist Revolutionaries, the Borotbisty, who derived their name from the party's weekly, Borotba (Struggle), took control of the Central Committee in May 1918 and formally dissolved their parent party. While supporting the Soviet political order, the Borotbisty advocated Ukrainian autonomy and the existence of an independent Ukrainian army. Although the Borotbisty never had a well-developed organizational structure, the party enjoyed popularity among the poor Ukrainian peasantry. After Bolshevik troops took control of Ukraine in early 1919, Vladimir Lenin sought to quell peasant discontent by including some Borotbisty in the Ukrainian Soviet government. However, as the White and Ukrainian nationalist armies forced the Bolsheviks to retreat, in August 1919 the Borotbisty, together with the Ukrainian Social Democratic Party (Independentists), formed the Ukrainian Communist Party (Borotbisty) and requested admission to the Communist International as a separate party, without success. Although the Bolsheviks were uneasy about the Borotbist national communist stance, the two parties collaborated again during the Red Army offensive in Ukraine in early 1920. At its height, the Borotbist membership may have reached fifteen thousand. In March 1920 the Kremlin pressured the Borotbisty into dissolving their party and joining the Communist Party of Ukraine, which was the Ukrainian branch of the Bolshevik party. The Borotbist leadership agreed to the dissolution with the understanding that this was the only way to preserve a separate Ukrainian Soviet republic. During the early 1920s some former Borotbisty, such as Hryhory Hrynko and Olexandr Shumsky, occupied important positions in the Soviet Ukrainian party leadership and government. Shumsky rose to prominence after 1923 as a leader of the Ukrainization drive, although by the end of the decade he was criticized for his national deviation. During the 1930s most former Borotbisty, including Panas Lyubchenko, who had risen to the position of the head of the republican government, fell victim to the Stalinist terror. Among the very few survivors was the celebrated filmmaker Olexandr (Alexander) Dovzhenko.

See also: ukraine and ukrainians

bibliography

Borys, Juriij. (1980). The Sovietization of Ukraine, 1917–1923, 2nd ed. Edmonton: Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies Press.

Maistrenko, Ivan. (1954). Borotbism: A Chapter in the History of Ukrainian Communism, tr. George S. N. Luckyj with the assistance of Ivan L. Rudnytsky. New York: Research Program on the USSR.

Serhy Yekelchyk