was confronted by a bitterly hostile
Russophile bureaucracy. It is remarkable that Russo-Ukrainian policies
should have remained so static from the time of Peter the Great onward,
while a number of changes were taking place in Russo-Polish relations.
Yet such was the case. The Ukrainian language was restricted time and
again. Ukrainian economic life was hampered in several ways. The
Ukrainian serfs, upon their liberation in 1861, had been granted
smaller allotments than the Russian serfs. This resulted in
overpopulation of the agricultural districts, emigration and a high
death rate. The lack of schools made remote the possibility of
improving farming methods. Ukrainian industry suffered a set-back
through the unfavorable tariff policies adhered to by the Russian
government and by the fact that no banks, except those with central
offices in Moscow or Petrograd, were allowed to establish branches in
Ukraine.

Nevertheless, the nineteenth century witnessed a notable growth of
Ukrainian national feeling. The early years of the century constitute
the period of literary rebirth. Then followed the educational work
among the common people. Private schools were organized, and pamphlets
and books were distributed. Cultural organizations were formed, and a
pronounced interest in science was displayed. This entire revival so
alarmed the Russian government that, in 1878, the Czar prohibited by
ukase almost all publications in the Ukrainian language. Still, the
literary impulse was not suppressed. It transferred itself to Eastern
Galicia and Switzerland and, in spite of grave obstacles, succeeded in
winning for the Ukrainian a worthy place among Slavonic literatures.

Side by side with the cultural advance, a political reawakening of the
Ukrainian people was taking place. It was appreciated by the Ukrainians
that political liberty for their land and race was expressly
conditioned upon the overthrow of the Czarist government. Accordingly
they bent their efforts in that direction. Ukrainians organized and
took a leading part in the Decembrist uprising of 1825. In the
subsequent revolutionary movement they were again prominent, and
two-thirds of the leaders were natives of Ukraine. The events of March,
1917, were largely made possible by the Ukrainian regiments stationed
in Petrograd, who refused any further allegiance to the Romanovs and
became supporters of the newly created authorities. Later on, the
Ukrainians were the first of