Union of Industry, Trade, Finance, and Agriculture

Union of Industry, Trade, Finance, and Agriculture (Soiuz promyshlennosti, torgovli, finansov i selskogo khoziaistva, or Protofis). An organization of Russian and Russified political activists in Ukraine, founded in the spring of 1918. The leaders of the organization included the banker and factory owner N. von Ditmar, the sugar-beet magnate A. Bobrinsky, and large landowners, such as A. Golitsyn and V. Kochubei. Protofis represented the conservative business elite of Ukraine and strongly supported the Hetman government. Just prior to the German-sponsored coup d'état by Gen Pavlo Skoropadsky it presented a series of demands to the Central Rada government, including closer economic ties between Russia and Ukraine, a greater say for representatives of industry and trade in government, and a reaffirmation of private ownership and an end to socialized industry and agriculture. Protofis also warned against the introduction of Ukrainian as the official language of the Ukrainian National Republic; its claim was that such a measure would hurt economic growth and alienate the intellectuals. The organization held its first conference in Kyiv on 15–18 May 1918. The conference attracted almost 1,000 delegates, including Fedir Lyzohub and S. Gutnik, both members of Skoropadsky's government. After the fall of the Hetman government the union suspended its activities, although it resumed them briefly during Gen Anton Denikin's occupation of Kyiv.