Polish-Ruled Ukraine in the Second Part of the 17th Century and in the 18th Century

The life of Ukrainians under Polish control in the 18^th century was harder than those under Russian control. The Orthodox population of Polish-Ruled Right-Bank Ukraine³⁹ experienced not only economic oppression, but religious as well. Even Orthodox priests were forced to work on the lands of Catholic szlachta. The life of peasants in Poland and Western Ukraine was especially hard. Besides cultivating the lands of their landlords the peasants had numerous other obligations such as repairing and building of landlords’ houses, bridges, roads, etc. In addition to that they were to give their landlords various natural products: honey, chicken, mushrooms, etc. The peasants practically did not have any rights. Their position was similar to that of slaves. They could be sold, physically punished or even killed.

Ukrainian peasants in southern regions of Right-Bank Ukraine, however, had better living conditions. To cultivate these dangerous territories (because of their proximity to Tatar lands and thus especially vulnerable to Tatar attacks) the szlachta created the so-called slobody where the peasants were freed from taxes and obligations for 10-25 years.

The position of townspeople was slowly deteriorating. Practically all cities, except for Lviv and Kamianets-Podilsky, lost the Magdeburg rights and got under total control of Polish magnates. Much of the trade was carried on by Jews who lived mostly in towns.

The Polish government favored the spread of Roman Catholic and Greek Catholic⁴⁰ churches in Right-Bank Ukraine. The Orthodox Church was persecuted.

The 18^th century Right-Bank Ukraine was noted for its so-called haidamak movement. Haidamaks (from Turkish ‘hajda’ – to rob), made up of poor peasants (their leaders were usually Zaporozhian Cossacks), formed military units and attacked the estates of Polish szlachta, households of orendari (Jews), Catholic and Uniate (Greek Catholic) churches and monasteries. From time to time haidamak revolts encompassed significant territories. Sometimes the haidamaks were able to take towns and fortresses. Large haidamak revolts with thousands of casualties happened in 1734-38, 1750, and 1768. The most horrible for Polish szlachta and Jews was the revolt of 1768, which came to be known as Koliivshchyna (from Ukrainian “колоти” (to stab); “колії” was the name of people who slaughtered pigs). That is how this revolt happened.

In 1767 the Polish king and the Sejm (parliament) equalized Catholics with Orthodox under the pressure of the Russian government. This act brought about a great dissatisfaction on a part of Polish szlachta who formed the so-called Bar Confederacy⁴¹ and started a civil war against the King and the Sejm. Russia decided to support the king in the war and in May 1768 sent troops to Right-Bank Ukraine. The same month a band of haidamaks gathered in Motronynsky monastery near Chyhyryn. After receiving blessing from the monastery’s priests,⁴² this band under the leadership of a novice of the monastery Maksym Zalizniak, who was a former Zaporozhian Cossack, moved into settled areas of Right-Bank Ukraine.

The major ideologue and instigator of Koliivshchyna was Father Melkhisedek Znachko-Yavorsky, who had personal contacts with the Russian Empress Catherine II. According to Polish historians, the Russian government used the Orthodox Church, which was dissatisfied with Poland’s attempts to spread Catholicism, to inflame anti-Polish revolt and thus weaken Poland. Zalizniak proclaimed manifesto which stated: “The time has come to liberate ourselves from slavery…to take vengeance for all the suffering, scorn, and unprecedented oppression that we have suffered at the hands of our masters.” Zalizniak also issued manifestos where he urged the rebels to ‘kill the Poles and Jews’ (“ляхов и жидов казнить”).

Large numbers of poor Ukrainians joined Zaliazniak’s band. Town after town fell to the rebels: Fastiv, Cherkasy, Korsun, Kaniv, Bohuslav, and others. In June the haidamaks surrounded Uman, a well fortified town in which thousands of Poles, Jews, and Ukrainian Greek Catholics had sought refuge. The town belonged to the Pototsky (Potocki in Polish) family who entrusted the defense to Ivan Honta, an officer of Nadvirni Cossacks.

Ivan Honta made a splendid career from a poor Ukrainian Cossack to a Polish magnate’s officer and was granted two villages for his service. The fate of the town was decided when Ivan Honta went over to the rebels with his entire unit of Nadvirni Cossacks. When the town was captured practically all the people who were hiding behind its walls were brutally killed (men, women, and children). This event went down into history as the Uman massacre. After capturing Uman, Honta and Zalizniak proclaimed themselves princes. Late in June the entire provinces of Kyiv and Bratslav and parts of Podillia and Volhynia were in rebel hands. The uprising even crossed the state borders when haidamak units captured and burnt the town of Balta, which was located on Turkish territory. Such events could complicate international relations and the Russian government decided to end the haidamak movement.⁴³ Besides, the haidamaks fulfilled their task – they considerably weakened Poland, and Russia did not need them anymore. Thus, on July 6, 1768 the Russian Colonel Gur’ev invited the unsuspected Zalizniak, Honta, and other haidamak leaders to a banquet at which they were arrested. Honta and other Polish subjects (participants from Polish-Ruled Right-Bank Ukraine) were handed over to the Poles. Honta, as a Polish officer who betrayed his commander and thus allowed the Uman massacre, suffered severe tortures. He was skinned alive and cut into pieces. His head was nailed to the gate of the town of Mohyliv. His four daughters and wife were flogged in public and exiled. Zalizniak and other Russian subjects (participants from Russian-Ruled Left-Bank Ukraine) were also severely punished by Russian authorities. First they were whipped; then mark ‘thief’ was made on their foreheads and cheeks by a hot piece of iron; after that their nostrils were torn away. Finally, they were condemned to penal servitude (каторга) in Siberia. The severity of the punishment can be explained by the intention of the Russian government to show that it was not responsible for instigation of the uprising.

For the next several years the Polish army took revenge on Ukrainian peasants who had participated in the rebellion. Many of them were impaled or tortured to death in other terrible ways. By applying such cruel methods of punishment the Polish government tried to frighten the peasants and thus to secure peace in the future.

The haidamak movement divided historians into two camps. Polish and Jewish historians condemn Koliivshchyna as the ‘brutal revelation of dark instincts of half-civilized Ukrainian peasants.’ The aim of the rebels, according to the Polish historians, was looting. The Polish historians also blame Russia for instigating Koliivshchyna with the aim of weakening Poland and Catholicism. Ukrainian and Russian historians and writers try to show the uprising as a struggle for national, social and religious liberation. Taras Shevchenko glorified the haidamaks in his poetry. Some Ukrainian historians and writers, however, criticized the haidamaks for their cruelty. The most famous of them was Panteleimon Kulish. A ‘mixed’ explanation of the haidamak movement was offered by Ukrainian historian Mykola Kostomarov. “The desire for booty and adventures mixed with the motives of social struggle and revenge provoked the revolt,” wrote he.

In the Carpathian regions of Western Ukraine, where the borders of Walachia (Romania), Poland, and Hungary crossed, another social movement of Ukrainian peasants emerged. It was called the opryshky⁴⁴ movement. The opryshky operated in the areas from the middle of 16^th till the end of 18^th century. The bands of opryshky, frequently robbed noblemen, merchants, Jewish orendari (leaseholders), wealthy and even poor peasants. The authorities punished the captured opryshky very severely. They were cut into pieces which were hung on major roads for display. The most popular of the opryshky leaders was Oleksa Dovbush who rarely robbed peasants, preferring Jews and noblemen. He even sometimes distributed part of the captured booty among the poor. Opryshky units, usually numbering 30-40 men, were very mobile and it was very difficult for authorities to trace them since they often crossed state borders. After Oleksa Dovbush was killed in 1744 by the husband of his mistress, the movement continued until 1772 when the region became part of the Austrian Empire. Paradoxically, the common masses often idealized the opryshky despite the fact that even poor peasants had often suffered from them.