Central Council of Ukraine Українська Центральна Рада |
|
---|---|
Ukrainian People's Republic | |
Type | |
Type | |
History | |
Founded | March 4, 1917 |
Disbanded | April 28, 1918 |
Succeeded by |
Constituent Assembly (proposed) Labour Congress (de facto) |
Leadership | |
Chairman
|
|
Seats | 822 (July 1917) |
Elections | |
Last election
|
April 1918 |
Meeting place | |
Ukrainian Club Building, Kiev |
The Central Council of Ukraine (Ukrainian: Українська Центральна Рада, Ukrains’ka Tsentral’na rada) (also called the Tsentralna Rada or the Central Rada) was the All-Ukrainian council that united the political, public, cultural and professional organizations of the Ukrainian People's Republic. After the All-Ukrainian National Congress (19–21 April 1917), the Council became the revolutionary parliament in the interbellum lasting until the Ukrainian-Soviet War.
From its beginning the council directed the Ukrainian national movement and with its four Universals led the country from autonomy to full sovereignty. During its brief existence from 1917 to 1918, the Central Rada, which was headed by the Ukrainian historian and ethnologist Mykhailo Hrushevsky, evolved into the fundamental governing institution of the Ukrainian People's Republic and set precedents in parliamentary democracy and national independence that formed the basis of an independent Ukrainian identity after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
During the Soviet-era official ideology described the Central Council as a counter-revolutionary body of the bourgeoisie and petty-bourgeois nationalist parties.
The Central Council was founded in Kiev on 17 March [O.S. 4 March] 1917 at the initiative of the Society of Ukrainian Progressionists and with the participation of various Ukrainian political parties, Ukrainian military activists, workers, religious activists, students, entrepreneurs, public and cultural organizations such as the Ukrainian Science Society, the Ukrainian Pedagogic Society, the Society of Ukrainian Technicians and Agriculturists, etc.