Worldview, Mentality and aspirations of Uman peasants on the eve of the new year, 1906 (based on the materials of the Central provincial committee meeting in Kyiv on december 21, 1905)

The purpose of this study is to characterize the social attitudes of Ukrainian peasantry at the end of 1905 based on historical sources and scholarly literature. The research methodology is based on general scientific methods of analysis and synthesis, principles of historicism, comprehensiveness, systematicity, interdisciplinarity, as well as specific historical methods, including historical-genetic, historical-comparative, historical-typological, content analysis, and historical-systemic methods. The scientific novelty lies in the use of a little-known historical source the materials from the Central Provincial Committee meeting on December 21, 1905, in Kyiv and scholarly literature to characterize the mental orientations shaping the social attitudes of Ukrainian peasantry in December 1905. Conclusions. The analysis of the meeting materials enabled an exploration of the peculiarities of the Ukrainian peasantry's mentality and attitudes during the First Russian Revolution. Some farmers expressed support for the tsarist autocracy, while others advocated for peasant self-governance without the involvement of officials and police. Relationships with other social and ethnic groups were shaped by mental orientations, with the peasant ideal rooted in physical labour on one’s own land. Thus, redistribution of state, landowner, and church lands was seen as a means to address the land question. As Jews did not engage in direct agricultural labour but instead, in the peasants’ view, conducted "undesirable" activities (such as trade and land leasing), a negative attitude ("collective shadow") formed, with peasants denying them the right to land ownership.