Since the very revival of Ukrainian national aspirations 150 years ago, Ukraine's struggle for freedom has remained uninfected by any jingoistic greed, nationalistic ambitions or racial prejudices. Until the late decade there was no such thing as a reactionary party in Ukrainian politics, because any form of allegiance to our nationality and even the very name of Ukraine were considered as evidence of disloyalty and treason against czarist Russia. When the growing strength of the Ukrainian national movement had begun to convert some of the reactionary elements, its main aims and objects were already safeguarded under revolutionary control.
No Quarrel with the Jews for Several Generations.
I want you to realize that for several generations past we have had no quarrel with the Jewish people. Of course, a handful of Jewish bourgeoisie lent themselves to support the Russian domination in Ukraine and the Polish rule in Ukrainian Galicia against the people and the democracy of their countries. For generations no evidence can be traced out, either on Ukrainian nor on Jewish side, of any antagonism between Ukrainian national aspirations and the Jewish people, Jewish nationality and Jewish life in our country. There has been no reason for any antagonistic tendencies.
And yet, a sinister spirit of pogroms rules throughout Ukraine. It was the spirit of czarist Russia. The administration, the bureaucracy, and the police of the empire, school, church, and yellow press were instrumental in setting the population of Ukraine against the Jews. It is a matter of common knowledge that Jews were persecuted and outraged and slain to avert growing dissatisfaction of the workingman, and the pauperized peasant, and to justify further repression of liberal elements. Many a Ukrainian pauper and many a Ukrainian scamp received their murderous weapons and their ignominious orders from the criminals much higher up. Ukrainian democracy, muzzled and strangled, was so deprived of any influence on what was happening, under the czar's rule, as the unfortunate victims themselves.
Bonds of Common Interest Between Races in Galicia.
In Eastern Galicia, where, in spite of oppression and persecution, the Ukrainian democracy has succeeded in controlling the feelings of the people, no outburst of racial hatred has ever been recorded, the proximitj' of Russia, Poland and Roumania and the anti-Semitic efforts of the Polish administration notwithstanding. Moreover, during the last years the Ukrainians and the Jews in Galicia have been drawn closely together by bonds of common interest and of mutual understanding.
After the breakdown of the Russian empire, the Ukrainian People's Republic has been established on the territory of Ukraine, and at the very inception of this republic the first Ukrainian Parliament (Central Rada) has abolished all racial restrictions enforced by the Russian government, and has proclaimed the principle of self-determination and of full liberty of self -development for all racial groups, carrying out these principles in practice.
Being one of the principal racial minority, the Jews in Ukraine have had granted by law a full autonomy and have had secured by the Ukrainian government all moral and material means that are necessary for the development of their nationality and for the advancement of their national culture. Jewish representatives have been invited and admitted to a real participation in government and to leadership in determining the destinies of the country. Our friendship was accepted without reservation, and I can say with a good deal of confidence that there was no Jewish faction in our country which did not admit that the Ukrainian People's Republic meant the realization of the best hopes and rights of the Jewish people in Ukraine.
Looking Forward in Hope to Days of Reconstruction.
I have no disposition to boast of what my government has accomplished — in 1917. It has merely done its duty. We have always believed — and we still hope — that in days of reconstruction the Jewish population of Ukraine will be of infinite service to the country. As a matter of course, they will become conscious of their moral partnership only when they experience the fullest freedom of their independent growth.