Ukrainian National Movement in Poltava Region on the Eve of the First World War

The conditions of formation the Ukrainian national consciousness before the outbreak of the First World War is studied on the basis of gendarmerie documents, mostly about circumstances of celebrating the 100th anniversary of Taras Shevchenko's birth in different parts of Poltava Region. The methodology is based on general scientifi c methods, in particular analysis of documents of personal origin (memoirs of M. Kovalevsky and censored letters) and reports of gendarmerie offi cials of Poltava Regional Gendarmerie Department. The scientifi c novelty is the introduction of new archival documents. Most of the events mentioned in the article were apolitical in nature, they became an evidence of the processes of spreading national consciousness among the population and the formulation of political goals of the movement. The political goal of the Ukrainian national movement, despite apolitical of its manifestations, was understood by gendarmerie offi cials, who described it less and less as «Ukrainophile» and more and more often as «Mazepian» and «separatist». The article presents events on the occasion of Shevchenko's celebrations in Boryspil, Zinkiv, Konstantinograd, Kremenchuk, Lokhvytsia, Myrhorod, Poltava, Pryluky, Romny. It is noted that the initiators of the actions were cultural and educational organizations: clubs, theater groups, choirs, reading rooms and bookstores. Only in Myrhorod did the movement acquire a political orientation. There, in February 1914, a group of supporters of the Ukrainian Social Democratic Party was exposed. Two censored letters of the leader of the Myrhorod Ukrainian group Volodymyr Yaroshenko to his mother and to the prominent Ukrainian artist and architect Opanas Slastion are published for the fi rst time. The letters refl ect the development of Ukrainian affairs in the town and connection of V. Yaroshenko with other centers. The conclusions assert that at the beginning of 1914 the Ukrainian National Movement gained a mass character, which manifested itself in actions on the occasion of honoring the memory of Taras Shevchenko in Poltava Region. However, this movement did not have a united organized political structure.