Ukrainian social-democrat M. Vovchynskyi: from peasant coat to parliamentary faction

The purpose of this article is to trace the results of political parties’ propaganda on the content and demonstrationof the social and political activity of the peasantry through the prism of the biography of the Ukrainian peasant and socialdemocrat Moisei Vovchynskyi.The scientific novelty lies in the fact that for the first time in historical science the pages of the biography of a little knownin national historiography peasant origin figure, M. Vovchynskyi, the only representative of the Ukrainian Social DemocraticLabour Party (USDLP) in the State Dumas of the Romanov Empire, have been reproduced.Conclusions. Moisei Vovchynskyi was an ordinary farmer who, under the influence of the agitation of political organisations,became a Ukrainian social democrat, a conscious fighter for the social and national liberation of the Ukrainian people.It has been proven that, being a representative of the peasantry and proclaiming his commitment to social democratic ideas,M. Vovchynskyi and his fellow villagers from Spychentsi village, Skvyra district, were still characterised by archaic features,in particular, the desire to carry out “black redistribution”. The peak of Moisei’s activity occurred during the First RussianRevolution, when he was elected to the Second State Duma from the peasantry of the Kyiv province. Despite his passivity inlawmaking, M. Vovchynskyi proved himself to be a persistent revolutionary activist outside the Duma. His political career wasinterrupted by repressions of the tsarist government, including exile to Siberia. The biography of the activist is a vivid exampleof social democratic propaganda influence on the social activation of the peasantry in the early XXth century.