The integration of the ukrainian peasantry on the border territories into the public organizations (unions, communities)

In the conditions of Ukraine's development, the formation of national consciousness and the preservation of the historical memory of the Ukrainians are among the top-priority tasks facing scientists and citizens in general. Therefore, scientists study the activities of diverse associations, organizations and unions operating on the western borderlands. During the first half of the 20th century Volyn lands were part of different states, which definitely determined the specifics of social-economic and political life of the population. It had the versatile impact of existing political systems on the formation of the views of various categories of the population, including the peasantry. The most characteristic features of Volyn region were: deep provincialism at all times of existence; permanent subordination to governments at different cultural, economic and political levels - Lithuanian, Polish, and Russian; unchanged boundaries; the presence of different administrative divisions; insignificant population; diversity of national and religious components. The uniqueness of Volyn region during the period under consideration is that at the beginning of the 20th century it was territorially under the influence of the Russian Empire, which had a certain centuries-long system of values and political orientations, which certainly undermined the socialeconomic and political structure. The population displayed civil activity and participated in the activities of various public associations. On the other hand, since 1921, after the signing of the Riga Treaty, Western Ukraine, including the Volynian lands, became the part of Rzecz Pospolita, which created qualitatively new social-political conditions that found manifestation in all aspects of region's life and identified a partial reorientation of views of different segments of the population. The peasantry was a large but not united force, and those whose ideas, platform or position it supports, determined the further course of events (as the events of 1917 showed later). Therefore, the researcher is interested in the changing the political views of the peasantry during the first half of the XX century. Different political forces could not stand aside from the processes and events that took place in the village, and tried to involve the rural population in various parties, unions and organizations in all sorts of ways: the ARPU , the Bund, the Poalei-Zion, the Polish Socialistic Party (PSP), The Russian Social-Democratic Labor Party (RSDLP), the Russian Social Revolutionaries, the Volyn Student Union, and the public organizations of nationalities living in Volyn. The first half of the XX century was characterized not only social-political and economic disasters, but also demonstration of the rapid growth of peasants' political consciousness in the process of revolutionary struggle.