Moloda Ukraina

Moloda Ukraina (Молода Україна; Young Ukraine). A network of student circles in Galicia and Bukovyna in 1899–1903. The groups consisted of secondary-school and university students, who met to exchange ideas and foster intellectual development among themselves. The leading thinkers among them, including Lonhyn Tsehelsky, Volodymyr Starosolsky, Ye. Kosevych, and Teofil Melen, articulated an ideology, in which the goal of national independence was based on the demand for the social emancipation of the Ukrainian people. The leading members of the organization published the journal Moloda Ukraïna (1900–1903) and collaborated closely with student hromadas in Kharkiv, Kyiv, and Poltava. They helped smuggle revolutionary literature and even arms into Russian-ruled Ukraine. Many members of Moloda Ukraina became active in Ukrainian political parties in Galicia and Bukovyna.

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