![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Mykhailo Hrushevsky, bearded and bespectacled, was one of the intellectuals who had first dared to put Ukraine at the center of its own history. One after another, speakers called for the crowd to support the newly established Central Rada-the name means “central council”-that had formed a few days earlier and now claimed authority to rule Ukraine.įinally, the man who had just been elected chairman of the Rada stepped up to the podium. The crowd, composed of children, soldiers, factory workers, marching bands, and officials, carried banners-“Independent Ukraine with its own leader!” or “A free Ukraine in a free Russia!” Some carried portraits of the national poet Taras Shevchenko. ![]() There were flags, yellow and blue for Ukraine as well as red for the Communist cause. But in the wake of the February Revolution in Petrograd, anything seemed possible. The public display of national symbols had been risky and dangerous. The Russian Empire had banned Ukrainian books, newspapers, theaters, and even the use of the Ukrainian language in schools. But the march that took place in Kiev on a Sunday morning in the spring of 1917 was extraordinary because it was the first of its kind in that city. In later years, there would be bigger demonstrations, more eloquent speakers, and more professional slogans. ![]()
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