«Odesa Otamanship» in the orders of the State Guard of the Odesa city leadership-Otamanship (May-December 1918)

Abstract

The article examines the Odesa episode of the history of the Ukrainian State of Hetman Skoropadskyi – «Odesa Otamanstvo». The sources of the local police authorities, which were formed under the name «Orders of the State Guard of the City of Odesа», seek to shed light on the socio-political essence of the Hetman State. Special attention is paid to the confrontation between the Ukrainian socialists and the hetman power, between Odesa «democracy»; and the authoritarianism of the Odesa otaman. The Odesa Otamanship, as an institution with extraordinary powers, was formed on the model of the city chiefs of the times of the Russian Empire, the State Guard (being under the otaman) copied the structure and traditions of the police institutions of the empire, including its political police functions. In fact, the Odesa otaman, with the help of the State Guard , carried out extensive repression, including against the self-government of the city and the Ukrainian movement, which were mainly socialist and avoided cooperation with the hetman regime. The power of the Odesa otaman did not have a broad social base, the power structures, trying to force the population to accept the hetmans course to curtail the Ukrainian revolution, abused prohibitions and repressions, which led to the actual «destruction» of the hetmans power in Odesa.