Hromada (secret society)

This article is about the 19th century network of organizations in the Russian Empire. For a general meaning or etymology, see Hromada.

Hromada was a network of secret societies of Ukrainian intellegentsiya that appeared soon after the Crimean War. The societies laid a groundwork for appearance of the Ukrainian political elite and national political movement. The Ukrainian national and anti-oppressive movement intensified with the January Uprising and issuing of the Valuev Circular. Many former members of the disbanded Brotherhood of Saints Cyril and Methodius.

Parallel to hromoda network in the Russian Empire, in the Austria-Hungary sprang out Prosvita (Enlightenment) societies.

Important hromadas existed in Saint Petersburg, Kiev, Poltava, Chernihiv, Odessa,

The first hromada was established in Saint Petersburg when the first members of the Brotherhood of Saints Cyril and Methodius returned from their exile. Important publication of the Petersburg hromada was magazine Osnova (Basis) that was published for a short time in 1860s.

Due to student unrest and other revolutionary activity the Russian minister of internal affairs Pyotr Valuev had arrested several hromada leaders (Pavlo Chubynsky, Petro Yefymenko and others) and exiled them to Siberia.[1] After the publication of the Pylyp Morachevsky's New Testament in Ukrainian, Valuev banned most of publications and issued his secret Valuev circular as an instruction to the minister of education.

The same year most of the western regions of the Russian Empire rebelled in the January Uprising.

The most important hromada was created in Kiev and became better known as the Old Hromada. It was created sometimes in 1870s based on a secret club of chlopomans (commoners).

As the reaction on the hromada movement by the Russian government, was issuing the well known Ems Ukaz in 1876 prohibiting the use of Ukrainian language.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Peter Valuev at the Encyclopedia of Ukraine

External links