Volodymyr Vynnychenko
Володимир Винниченко
Ukrainian Social Democratic writer who led the Rada's General Secretariat and the Directory
Just as you created the dictatorship of workers and peasants in Russia, we must create a dictatorship of the Ukrainian language in Ukraine.
A Ukrainian Social Democratic writer, he led the Central Rada's General Secretariat in 1917 and retook Kyiv as first chairman of the Directory in 1918. Arguing for talks with the Soviets he broke with Petliura and resigned in 1919, dying in France in 1951.
Career timeline
- 1905Co-founder of the Ukrainian Social Democratic Workers' Party
- 1917Vice-president of the Central Rada and first head of its General Secretariat
- 1918.01Premier of the Ukrainian People's Republic, soon resigned
- 1918.12Retook Kyiv as chairman of the Directory
- 1919-1920Wrote the memoir Rebirth of a Nation
- 1920Deputy head of the Ukrainian SSR Sovnarkom; soon re-emigrated