Between Poland and the Ukraine: The Dilemma of Adam Kysil, 16001653 (Harvard Series in Ukrainian Studies)

Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1985. — XX + 406 pp. — (Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute. Monograph Series). ISBN 0-916458-08-3 Фундаментальная монография канадского историка Фрэнка Сисина о шляхтиче Адаме Кисиле, который отыграл важную роль в истории казацкой революции 1648—1654 гг. The collapse of Polish rule in the Ukraine in the mid-seventeenth century changed the course of East European history. The great Cossack revolt of 1648 exposed the weaknesses of the PolishLithuanian Commonwealth. After the emergence of a Ukrainian polity, a struggle for dominance ensued, paving the way for the Russian annexation of the Ukraine. Frank Sysyn examines the failure of Polish policy through the career of Adam Kysil. A leader of the Ukrainian nobility and an official of the Polish government, Kysil was ideally suited to serve as the mediator between the rebels and the government. His failure signaled the already irreconcilable differences that divided them. Based on extensive archival research in Poland and the USSR, Sysyns study is a contribution not only to scholarship on Eastern Europe, but also to discussions on the preconditions and nature of early modern revolts and on the change of political and social elites. Surveys the social and economic history of Odessa from its foundation in 1794. By the late 19th century Jews made up one third of the city's population and played an important part in the grain trade. Pp. 299-308 describe several pogroms. In 1871 the Jews were attacked by the Greek population who resented their success in the grain trade. In 1881 they were attacked as part of the wave of pogroms following the assassination of the Tsar. In both cases, the government failed to intervene for several days. In 1905, however, the pogrom broke out as a result of revolutionary disturbances and economic distress. The mob contained many dock workers, policemen, and soldiers in civilian dress who attacked the Jews, apparently with official approval. Despite Jewish self-defense activities, over 300 Jews were killed. (From the Bibliography of the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism) Frank E. Sysyn. Includes Index. Bibliography: P. [351]-390.