THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE WUPR’S SOCIAL POLICY BASED ON THE MATERIALS OF THE RUDKIVSKY DISTRICT

Abstract

The paper examines the legislative and regulatory activities of the West Ukrainian People’s Republic in the field of governmental support for low-income groups of the population and the peculiarities of its implementation in the Rudkivsky district in November 1918 – May 1919. Along with the legal component, the study focuses on practical aspects: state funding of social assistance, procedures for obtaining permission for payments, mechanisms and practices for actually providing funds to the population, the role of district and village administrations in these processes, as well as local specifics of WUPR’s social policy. On the basis of archival materials, the article demonstrates that despite the high interest of the state and society in the implementation of active social policy (caused by the war and numerous socio-economic cataclysms of 1914– 1919), in practice, the actions of central and local authorities faced a number of difficulties. The author describes the process of legal regulation of the payments to the families of military personnel and analyzes the financial and time constraints, bureaucracy along with poor communication that complicated the imple- mentation of such payments. Attention is drawn to the government’s successful, or occasionally not, measures to support evacuees, civil servants, railroad workers, teachers, Greek Catholic priests and vulnerable members of their families. The author summarizes that despite the intention of high-ranking officials

Keywords: Western Ukrainian People’s Republic, Rudkivsky district, social policy, government financial assistance, vulnerable categories of the population.

of the WUPR to formulate a comprehensive fundamental social policy, their actions were belated, inconsistent, and aimed at addressing the most urgent needs.