From the overthrow of the monarchy to the establishment of the Soviet Republic: State-legal transformation of Ukraine between 1917–1921

Introduction. The article studies the processes of transformation of the state-legal system and establishment of the Soviet Republic in Ukraine in 1917-1921, accompanied by the confrontation of internal political forces, which followed differential approaches and offered variable models of nation-state formation. The paper analyses the ways of defining the state organisation of Ukraine after the overthrow of the monarchy by the Bolsheviks, as well as the Ukrainian political forces, acting from separatist, “self-styled” positions.The peculiarities of the Ukrainian People’s Republic (hereinafter - UNR) of the period of the Central Rada, Skoropadsky’s Ukrainian Power, and the Directory. The role of the Ukrainian Central Rada (hereinafter - UCR), the General Secretariat of Ukraine and the All-Ukrainian National Congress in the transformation of the state structure of Ukraine is analysed.The significance of universals - acts of constitutional nature for the development of the legal system of Ukraine was revealed. The peculiarities of the political struggle between the adherents of “Ukrainianism” and supporters of the Bolsheviks in the years of the Socialist Revolution and the Civil War were determined. The most important normative legal acts being crucial for the establishment of the Soviet power in Ukraine were identified. Research methods. The main methodological principles of the research were the principles of historicism, unity of theory and practice, comprehensive study of social processes and phenomena, unity of history and logics. The main methodological approach of the research was the system approach. General scientific (historical, functional, theoretical modeling, hypothesis construction) and special (formal-legal, historical-legal, comparative-legal) methods of legal research were used. Results.The paper found that during 1917-1921 in Ukraine there was a transformation of the statelegal system, characterised by the transition from the monarchical form of government (after the overthrow of the monarchy in the Russian Empire) to the republican system of bourgeois, nationalliberal type, and later - to the establishment of a republic of the Soviet type. The article revealed that the national-state development on the Ukrainian regions in the years of the All-Russian Revolution was determined by: 1) the aspiration of regional political forces to create national, autonomous local authorities independent of the center (centrifugal process); 2) the formation of Soviets as official local authorities with their gradual transition under the control of the Bolshevik Party (centripetal process).Ukrainian governmental development occurred gradually, reflecting the specifics and course of the military and political confrontation (winter 1917-1918, early 1919, winter 1919-1920). The first Constitution of the Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic, adopted in Kharkov by the III All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets (March 1919), became the legal act that confirmed the victory of Soviet power in Ukraine.