Policy of Soviet Power in the Industry of Aviation on the Territory of Ukraine (January – March 1918)

Abstract

The article analyses the state of the aviation industry in Ukraine during the first years of the Soviet regime in January-March 1918 and its policies in this sphere. The establishment of the Soviet regime in Ukraine during this period was the result of offensive actions by Bolshevyk and pro-Bolshevyk troops against the Ukrainian People’s Republic. Therefore, the Soviet regime had transient nature in Ukraine amidst the unfinished First World War. In these settings, it established a management system in the field of aviation, which was aimed at auditing and evacuating aviation property and personnel. The study found that the aviation industry in  Ukraine functioned quite efficiently in  general and was manageable despite the  difficulties of  the revolutionary times. In this work, the authors used archival documents, which were first introduced into circulation. The socio-economic and political conditions, this industry operated in, were taken as a basis for the analysis of the aviation industry status in Ukraine. During this period of the First World War, warfare on the Eastern Front had its final phase, and peace talks were held in Brest-Litovsk, in which delegations of the Ukrainian People’s Republic and the Soviet Russia took part. Since the conclusion of the armistice on December 10, 1917 between Soviet Russia and the countries of the Quadruple Alliance, a state of chaos has spread across the territory of Ukraine, which was associated with the mass movement of soldiers back from the front. Social chaos intensified as the Soviet authorities gained control over almost entire territory of  the Ukrainian People’s Republic. However, some air force units were able to maintain their material base. The Soviet regime was able to audit their condition and restore control over the available resources in the aviation industry, however, the facts of theft of goods, which belonged to these air force units was also established. Attempts were made to form an effective management system of the aviation industry and its scheme started to be developed. However, due to the political situation, these attempts were in vain. As early as the beginning of March 1918, Bolshevyk troops have been losing ground of most of Ukraine to the UPR troops and their allies, i.e., the German-Austrian troops. The short period of attempts to build a management system of the aviation industry by the Soviet regime in extreme military-political conditions is quite interesting, as it demonstrates approaches to the effective management of the high-tech sphere in a difficult situation.