All-Ukrainian Union of Zemstvos

All-Ukrainian Union of Zemstvos [Всеукраїнський союз земств; Vseukrainskyi soiuz zemstv]. Union of provincial zemstvos (local governing councils), organized in April 1918. The president of the union was Symon Petliura, who also presided over the Kyiv gubernia zemstvo. The union, like the majority of Ukrainian community organizations, was clearly opposed to the Hetman government. Its executive, together with the All-Ukrainian Congress of Zemstvos, held in June 1918, approached Hetman Pavlo Skoropadsky, his government, and the German envoy Baron Philip Alfons Mumm von Schwarzenstein demanding changes in the Hetman's policy towards the zemstvos, an end to the repressive measures employed by the Hetman government, and a return to the prerevolutionary practice of elections. These demands were not met, however, and tensions continued until the fall of the government. Petliura was imprisoned for four months. (See also Unions of zemstvos and cities.)

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 1 (1984).]