Position of Oun Leadership in Ukraine Towards Conflict in Overseas Sections of Oun (Based on an Archive Document From 1950)

This study is devoted to highlighting one of the stages of the internal conflict within the Foreign Units of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), during which, with the consent of the opponents, the OUN leadership in Ukraine acted as an arbitrator between them. It reveals that amid the intensification of the internal conflict, the leadership of the Foreign Units of the OUN and the opposition agreed that the OUN leadership in Ukraine would act as an «arbitrator» and sent couriers to them. In response, in July 1950, they received the official «Position of the OUN Leadership in the Ukrainian Lands on Various Controversial or Topical Issues Abroad». Through the analysis of this conceptual document, which is crucial for understanding the essence of the conflict, it was found that on ideological and programmatic disagreements, the OUN leadership in Ukraine almost entirely sided with the opposition. This reflected the real changes the underground movement in Ukraine underwent under the pressure of the national liberation struggle and the realities created by the Bolshevik regime in Ukraine. At the same time, it was revealed that on the issue of delineating powers between the Foreign Units of the OUN and the External Representation of the Ukrainian Supreme Liberation Council (ZP UHVR), the document was controversial. By analogy with the relationship between the OUN and the UHVR in Ukraine, it proposed building their relations on the principles of autonomy for both institutions. It recommended that S. Bandera create a Foreign Center of the OUN Leadership and unite members elected at the Second and Third Grand Assemblies. This contradicted the ZP UHVR’s intentions to act as the sole representative of the national liberation struggle in exile and to strip S. Bandera of organizational power. Additionally, the document significantly weakened S. Bandera’s position by denying the existence of the OUN Leadership Bureau, to which he was elected by the decisions of the OUN Conference in Ukraine in February 1945 and the First Conference of the Foreign Units of the OUN in September 1947. As a result of analyzing the archival document «Position of the OUN Leadership in the Ukrainian Lands on Various Controversial or Topical Issues Abroad», it was found that it had a controversial nature, did not definitively resolve the conflict within the Foreign Units of the OUN, and provided grounds for its continuation. This ultimately led to the split and the creation of a new organization, the OUN Abroad.