Fire and Rebellion: Peasant Uprisings and Estate Burnings in Revolutionary Ukraine (1917-1920)

• In Event: Peasant Revolts, Agrarian Resistance, and Social Upheaval in Revolutionary and Post-Imperial Contexts

Abstract

My paper examines the phenomenon of estate burnings in Right-Bank Ukraine between 1917 and 1920, exploring whether these uprisings were driven primarily by economic and class struggle or if they can be interpreted as acts of anti-colonial resistance. Rather than assuming a decolonial framework, this study critically evaluates the motivations behind these revolts, considering the extent to which they targeted landlords as symbols of imperial domination or as exploitative economic elites. Ukrainian peasants, primarily identifying with their local communities, often saw landlords as culturally, linguistically, and religiously distinct outsiders, raising questions about whether their actions were politically nationalist, socially driven, or economically motivated. Drawing on archival materials and comparative case studies, this research situates Ukrainian peasant actions within broader revolutionary and agrarian unrest movements, particularly in response to Bolshevik policies such as War Communism and the early stages of collectivization in the 1920s and 1930s.

Author

• Larysa Bilous, U of Alberta (Canada)