Galician Soviet Socialist Republic

Galician Soviet Socialist Republic
Galitskaya Sovetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Respublika
Puppet state of Soviet Russia
1920
Flag
Capital		Ternopil
Government		Socialist republic
Chairman		Volodymyr Zatonsky
Historical era		Interwar period
•	Established	July 8, 1920
•	Disestablished	September 21, 1920
Preceded by Succeeded by West Ukrainian People's Republic Second Polish Republic Second Polish Republic
Today part of		Ukraine

The Galician Soviet Socialist Republic (Galician SSR) existed from July 8, 1920, to September 21, 1920, during the Polish-Soviet War within the area of the South-Western front of the Red Army. The entity existed for a couple of months and was never truly established nor recognized by anybody beside Soviet Russia which was also not recognized.

With the collapse of Austria-Hungary at the end of World War I in November 1918, western Podolia became part of the Western Ukrainian People's Republic, but came under Polish control in 1919 which was confirmed in the Poland–Ukrainian People's Republic agreement in April 1920. Podolia was briefly occupied in 1920 by Soviets (the Galician SSR) during the course of the Polish-Soviet War.

The Galician SSR was established and managed by the Galician Revolutionary Committee (Halrevkom), a provisional government created under the patronage of Soviet Russia. The government was seated in Ternopil in East Galicia with Volodymyr Zatonsky (Vladimir Zatonsky) as its president. The Halrevkom established an administrative structure, a Galician Red Army, a currency, and an education system. The national languages (of equal status) were declared to be Polish, Ukrainian and Yiddish.

Halrevkom did not control the important area of East Galicia: the Lviv area with its oilfields of Boryslav and Drohobych.

The Galician SSR quickly disappeared. The Peace of Riga of 1921 confirmed the inclusion of the whole of Galicia into Poland.

A similar, but less elaborate activity, of communist Polrewkom, was related to the North-Western front of the Red Army (the "government" was seated in Białystok).

References

• Davies, Norman, White Eagle, Red Star: The Polish-Soviet War, 1919-20, Pimlico, 2003, ISBN 0-7126-0694-7. (First edition: St. Martin's Press, inc., New York, 1972)