Ruthenian People's party

Ruthenian People's party (Russkaia narodnaia partiia). The first Russophile political party in Galicia. The party was formed in 1900 at the initiative of the Ruthenian Council and was supported in elections by the vicegerent and the Polish parties, who tried to use it against the growing Ukrainian populist movement (see Western Ukrainian Populism). The original division in the party between the Old Ruthenians and the Russophiles eventually resulted in an open split (1909).

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 4 (1993).]