Institutional and legal prerequisites for the formation of the highest authorities of the Ukrainian People’s Republic of the Directory period during the Hetmanate (May 21 - December 14, 1918): historical and legal research

A historical and legal study of the institutional and legal prerequisites for the formation of the highest authorities of the UPR during the Directory during the Hetmanate (May 21 – December 14, 1918) was carried out. The process of formation of bodies that have gone through the evolution from public to the highest state bodies of the UPR during the Directory, began during the functioning of the Ukrainian State. The struggle for the restoration of the UPR was carried out by: the Ukrainian National Union, the Directory, the Council of Heads of State Affairs, the Council of Commissars, the Revolutionary Committee. Of greatest importance in the struggle against the Hetman was the creation of party and trade union organizations on May 21, 1918. Ukrainian National-State Union, which in August 1918 was renamed the Ukrainian National Union – an alternative public body to the existing state apparatus, which claimed to be transformed into a constituent state power. The directory was created on November 14, 1918. Ukrainian National Union. Links of this public institution were: the head of the Directory and members of the Directory, one of whom was the Chief Ataman. At the beginning of December 1918 departments were established under the Directory. In the process of struggle for the creation of the UPR in December 1918 the Council of Commissars was created – a public authority, which in fact was a prototype of the executive body of the UNR. After the abdication of power by the Hetman of Ukraine on December 14, 1918 The Directory, the Council of Commissars acquired the legal status of the highest bodies of state power of the UPR. Soon, instead of the Council of Commissioners, the Directorate created the Council of People’s Ministers – the government of the UPR. The formation of the UPR during the Directory was facilitated by the revolution in Germany, the support of the Entente. The stage of the struggle between the supporters of the Directory and the Hetman (May 21 – December 14, 1918) can be considered as the preparatory stage for the formation of the highest authorities of the UPR during the Directory, which was imposed on the period of the existence of the Ukrainian State.