HARVARD UKRAINIAN STUDIES - See also - Harvard University

THE WORKERS' UNION AND THE JEWS 203ends and means, it shows a different approach to national problems.The document declares: "Socialism will take up the defense of theUkrainophiles, Poles, Jews, the native sectarians, and with their helpwill pull down the rotten pillars of the Russian (or as many woulddesire) all-Slavic monarchy." 39Confusion and inconstancy existed about many other matters, aswell as about the Jews. In fact, throughout the union's existence,various points of view and tendencies clashed. In the first phase,activity among the urban workers was considered to be of greatestimportance. After the arrest of Koval'skaia and Shchedrin, the focusof the union's efforts gradually shifted. Although activity among theworkers continued under the guidance of N. Hecker, and not withoutsome success, emphasis shifted to propaganda rather than industrial orfactory terror. The major change, however, was in the union's generalorientation, which now focused on the peasantry. This change also hadprogrammatic repercussions. While the original program and the oneused by Molinari listed factory terror first, the union's second program40 gave as its first point organizational work in the countryside.The union hastily began a propaganda campaign among the Ukrainianpeasants. Members of the union intervened in disputes betweenlarge landowners and peasants intent on resorting to agrarian terror.The most outspoken proponent of agrarian activity was Pavlo Ivaniv,who, after the second arrest of union leaders, was the only one of theoriginal leaders to remain at liberty. The new orientation gave theunion a more Ukrainian character, for instance, its leaflets addressingthe peasants were in Ukrainian. Also, Ivaniv was known as a Ukrainophileeven before joining the union. He was committed to agrarianterror before the union was founded, and sought to implement suchaction as early as the second half of 1879. 41 After joining the union hemerely continued this line of activity.The Ukrainian leaflets 42 issued by the union concerned a conflict39Maksakov and Nevskii, Iuzhnorusskie rabochie soiuzy, pp. 293-94.40Most probably General Kutaisov (below, fn. 50) had this program in mindwhen he refuted the allegation that the union instigated the pogrom in Kiev.Cf. fn. 53 below.41See Ivaniv's letter to M. R. Popov, then the head of a group of adherents toChernyi peredel and Narodnaia volia; Volk, Revoliutsionnoe narodnichestvo,2:161-63. Like Koval'skaia and Shchedrin, Ivaniv was inspired by the Irish peasantmovement.42Koval'skaia (1924, p. 243) reported that a political leaflet in Ukrainian wasissued on 4 March 1881 upon the assassination of Aleksander II.