Ruska Krajina
루스커 크러이너
The autonomous region that the Hungarian People's Republic's People's Law No. X of December 1918 created from the Rusyn-inhabited parts of the counties of Máramaros, Ugocsa, Bereg and Ung; the name means "Rusyn land" in Hungarian. It received self-government in internal affairs while foreign affairs, defence, finance and other common affairs stayed with the Hungarian parliament. The Soviet Republic kept it with a Ruthenian people's commissariat, but it ended with the Czechoslovak and Romanian occupation in April 1919, and the territory became Czechoslovakia's Subcarpathian Ruthenia.
In depth
When Austria-Hungary collapsed in November 1918, councils met in the Rusyn districts every few weeks and called for different solutions. Some, like the council at Huszt (Khust), demanded union with the West Ukrainian People's Republic; others, like the Ungvár (Uzhhorod) council of 9 November, asked for autonomy within Hungary and negotiated with the Hungarian government. The founders of the Rusyn National Autonomy Party in Budapest wanted autonomy inside Hungary because Rusyns made their living as harvest labourers on the Great Plain and thought they could keep their language and customs better there than in a Slavic neighbour state that would assimilate them.
The resulting People's Law No. X provided that "an autonomous legal area (governorate) named Ruszka Krajna is formed from the Rusyn-inhabited parts of the counties of Máramaros, Ugocsa, Bereg and Ung", while guaranteeing local and cultural autonomy to the non-Rusyn population. Foreign affairs, defence, finance, citizenship, civil and criminal legislation, economic, transport and social policy remained common affairs of the Hungarian parliament. The seat was Ungvár; Mihály Károlyi's government appointed Ágoston (Avhustyn) Stefán governor and Oreszt Szabó minister for Ruszka Krajna. Its borders were never fixed, however, and Ungvár and its surroundings were occupied by the Czechoslovak army on 12 January 1919. The diet elected on 4 March first met in Munkács on 12 March and demanded that the borders of the autonomy be defined.
When the Soviet Republic was proclaimed on 21 March, Szabó declined the Ruthenian commissariat, and from 24 March Stefán, as Ruthenian commissar, led a "Soviet Ruska Krajina". Local council elections were held on 7 April and a Ruthenian Red Guard began to be organised from the 9th. On 8 April Szabó formed a governing council for the region, but its third session on 17 April was dispersed by the armed men of the Munkács directorate. The Romanian army moved in on 16 April and the Czechoslovak army on 23 April, and on 29 April the region's council power ended after forty days.
On 8 May 1919 a general meeting of the Rusyn councils accepted union with Czechoslovakia on the basis of full national autonomy, and Article 53 of the Treaty of Saint-Germain promised the Carpathian Rusyns autonomy. The Czechoslovak constitution of 1920 renamed the former Ruszka Krajna Subcarpathian Ruthenia (Podkarpatská Rus). Meanwhile the Hungarian Soviet constitution of 23 June still provided for a Ruthenian commissariat and Ruthenian national districts.