National zoning of state building in Ukraine in the 20-30's XX century ; Национальное районирование в государственном строительстве Украины 20-30 гг. ХХ в. ; Національне районування в державотвореннi України 20-30 рр. ХХ ст

Abstract

The article defines the role of the national zoning in the Soviet Ukraine in the system of administrative-territorial reform in the 1920 and 1930's, its place and degree of efficiency in the process of state building in the republic. Moreover, the experience of operation and liquidation process of national administrative and territorial units in Ukraine at a crucial period of domestic and international history actualizes the research question of efficiency of these entities for modern scholars. It is noted that numerous administrative and territorial reforms were initiated during the establishment of the Soviet power in Ukraine. It is stressed that the reforms in this sphere were aimed at the elimination of pre-revolutionary administrative-territorial division. The numerous administrative and territorial reforms were initiated during the establishment of the Soviet power in Ukraine. They were carried out on the basis of the abolition of private property and the persistent antireligious orientation, were aimed at the elimination of pre-revolutionary administrative-territorial division, which evoked dissatisfaction of the new state institutions due to, from their point of view, far too fragmentation. On the background of general unsettled land relationships and a number of taxation errors implemented measures had brought the situation in the country to crisis. The conclusion is made that administrative and territorial reform in Ukraine in 1923, carried out in a hurry, did not take into account the ethnic composition of inhabitants and historical forms of management. Therefore, deterioration of the situation due to the ignorance of the national factor in the presence of diverse ethnic composition of the country forced the Bolshevik leaders to make certain concessions in the form of the national zoning. The Soviet government began to consider the earmarking of national village and districts councils as a factor capable of simultaneously not only slightly improving the socio-economic situation and to some extent meeting national and cultural needs of the population, but speeding up the attraction of those who are averse to the socialist building. German regions became the first ones to be created in Ukraine during the national zoning. However, the potential of national areas turned out to be of a low effectiveness due to national zoning and stretched in time (from 1923 to 1939) reform of the pre-revolutionary administrative-territorial division. The peculiarity of the situation in the national areas consisted in the fact that with the inclusion of foreign village and town councils to their composition, the full range of activities associated with the introduction of indigenization was necessary to exercise with respect to them. Extremely important was the problem of linguistic personnel training, which required knowledge of the language of the majority population of the district at the district level, the Ukrainian language for the relations with the higher bodies, and language of some ethnic group with the inclusion of the foreign administrative and territorial units to the district. Chronic administrative-territorial reorganizations were carried out not so much on the basis of scientific conclusions, but on the prevailing political considerations of public institutions at various levels. A frequent lack of thought and calculations of far-reaching consequences of the administrative-territorial division as a whole and particularly of the national zoning has contributed to the confusion in the management system and has not helped, despite the authorities hopes, to reduce costs spent on the Soviet apparatus. Conducting administrative-territorial reforms in 1930 and 1932 had disorganizing consequences for the whole administrative system of Ukraine that evolved through trial and mistakes, and its imperfections had led to further territorial changes in the republic. Administrative-territorial changes of the end of the 1920s and the 1930s, under the conditions of the curtailment of the NEP, the implementation of complete collectivization and the loss of economic identity by national districts, initiated the elimination of "undesirable" for the government districts while simultaneously forming new districts with the national status. The final abolishment of indigenization policy in the late 1930s had resulted in the elimination of all national regions of Ukraine as administrative and territorial units. The national regions of Ukraine as administrative and territorial units proved to be inefficient and were abolished in the late 1930s. It is not surprising that the initial positive assessment of the practice of the national administrative and territorial units' creation by the Soviet state structures had changed into the negative attitude to the very fact of their existence, which had gradually resulted in the ultimate elimination of these entities in the end of the 1930s. ; Определяется роль национального районирования в системе административно-территориального реформирования в советской Украине 20-30 гг. ХХ в., его место и степень эффективности в процессе государственного строительства в республике. Показано, что начатые советской властью многочисленные административно-территориальные изменения в Украине, осуществляемые на базе отмены частной собственности вкупе с ярой антирелигиозностью, были направлены на ликвидацию дореволюионного административно-территориального деления и проводились не на основе научных обоснований, а вследствие преобладающих политических соображений государственных учреждений разного уровня. ; Визначається роль національного районування в системі адміністративно-територіального реформування в радянській Україні 20-30 рр. ХХ ст., його місце та ступінь ефективності в процесі державотворення в республіці. Показано, що започатковані радянською владою численні адміністративно-територіальні перетворення в Україні, здійснювані на засадах скасування приватної власності укупі із затятою антирелігійністю, були спрямовані на ліквідацію дореволюційного адміністративно-територіального поділу і провадилися не на підставі наукових обґрунтовань, а внаслідок превалюючих політичних міркувань державних установ різного рівня.