THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LEW BACHYNSKY AND KYRYLO TRYLYOVSKY: FROM DIALOGUE TO CONFRONTATION (LATE OF 19th – FIRST THIRD OF 20th CENTURY)

Abstract

The subject of the article is the relations between Lew Bachynsky and Kyrylo Trylovsky in the context of the Ukrainian national liberation movement of the late 19th and first third of the 20th century. The source base of the research is based on the funds of the Central State Historical Archive of Ukraine (Lviv), the Central State Archive of the Highest Authorities of Ukraine (Kyiv), the State Archive of Ivano-Frankivsk region, the autobio­graphical works of L. Bachynsky and K. Trylovsky and materials of contemporary newspaper periodicals. The methodological basis of the article is the principles of objectivity, historicism, diversity of the source base. The methods of analysis and synthesis, problem-chronological, biographical methods for studying the life and activity of a historical figure, the method of internal critique of sources are used in the work. The author of the article concludes that the relationship between L. Bachynsky and K. Trylovsky went from cooperation and friendly relations to open conflicts and political confrontation. At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries both politicians were leading figures of the Ruthenian-Ukrainian Radical Party (RURP) – Ukrainian Radical Party (URP), and in 1907–1918 became deputies of the Austrian parliament. In the early 20th century L. Bachynsky tried to influence K. Trylovsky’s conflict with the office of the “Hromadsky Holos” newspaper and prevent the him from withdrawal from the party. The controversy between the two radicals began after L. Bachynsky became chairman of the URP. As a result of the escalation of the conflict with K. Trylovsky in 1910, L. Bachynsky was for­ced to resign as party leader. During the First World War, there was some easing of tensions in their relationship. However, the conflict continued during the period of Western Ukrainian People’s Republic, when in 1919 K. Trylovsky split the URP and separated its own party, the Peasant-Radical Party. The last phase of the conflict between the two politicians took place during the elections to the Polish Parliament in 1928, when the Ukrainian Socialist-Radical Party “the Left” was founded on the initiative of K. Trylowski. The conflict between the two politicians was a factor that for more than twenty years played a negative, destructive role in the radical current of Western Ukrainian politics.

Keywords: Lev Bachynsky, Kyrylo Trylovsky, Russian-Ukrainian Radical Party (Ukrainian Radical Party), Peasant-Radical Party, Ukrainian Socialist-Radical Party “The Left”, “Hromadsky Holos”.