PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS OF UKRAINIAN STUDENTS IN THE SUBCARPATHIAN RUS (1930-1939): FEATURES OF THE ESTABLISHMENT AND ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

The proposed study, based on a wide range of archival and published sources, attempts to reconstruct and analyse the process of formation of professional organisations of Ukrainian students in the territory of Subcarpathian Rus in the 1930s to clarify the main prerequisites and reasons for the emergence of such associations, as well as the peculiarities of their further structural and organisational development. During this period, attempts to create seven local groups and societies in the region were recorded: «Druh» (Mukachevo, 1930), «Rodina» (Chynadiyevo, 1931, 1934), «Voskhod» (Khust, 1932), «Kamenari» (Mukachevo, 1932), «Promin» (Uzhhorod, 1932), «Stoy» (Svaliava, 1933) and «Karpatiya» (Uzhhorod, 1937). In terms of their national and linguistic orientation, most of these organisations were divided into Russophile («Druh», «Rodina», «Voskhod», «Stoy») and Ukrainophile («Kamenari», «Promin»). Their direct initiators were, respectively, Subcarpathian students who belonged to the Russophile society Vozrozhdenie and the Ukrainophile Soyuz. At the same time, the main reason for the creation of Russophile local satellite associations was related to the desire of the Vozrozhdenie activists to strengthen the Central Union of Subcarpathian Students (CUSS) while maintaining their own Russophile representation of Subcarpathian Rus in the Czechoslovak student movement. The reason for the founding of Ukrainophile organisations was an attempt to create a central structure alternative to the Russophile CUSS. The only organisation that was neutral on the national language issue and was created on an international basis was the Carpathia Society. In terms of structural and organisational development, local Russophile groups and societies generally demonstrated their own viability, although in terms of quality, the vast majority were not purely student associations. In turn, Ukrainian philosophical organisations, due to their principled position on the national language issue, faced strong resistance from the Czechoslovak bureaucratic system during the process of their creation. As a result, they were never able to acquire legal status and soon after, their establishment ceased to function.