Levytsky, Mykola V.

Levytsky, Mykola V. [Левицький, Микола; Levyts'kyj], b 7 April 1859 in Khmilna, Kaniv county, Kyiv gubernia, d 1 December 1936 in Kyiv. Pioneer of the artel and co-operation movement in Ukraine. After being expelled from Moscow University he graduated in law from Kharkiv University in 1885 and worked as secretary of the Oleksandriia zemstvo and then as a lawyer in Yelysavethrad. A convinced populist, he devoted his spare time to propagating and organizing artels among farmers, tradesmen, and industrial workers. The first artels were established in 1887 in Oleksandriia county, and spread quickly. Under Levytsky’s influence 125 agricultural artels, with a membership of over 3,000 peasants, arose in 1894–8. Many of them were short-lived. Beginning in 1903 Levytsky organized artels in Yelysavethrad, Odesa, Kyiv, Balta, Vinnytsia, and other cities. In his articles on the model contract for farmers’ artels he proposed various credit and insurance schemes for such artels. In the period of Ukraine’s struggle for independence (1917–20) he was active in the Ukrainian co-operative movement and served in the Central Rada.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 3 (1993).]