Studies of the formation and operation in Volyn in the interwar period, caused self-government institute a number of reasons. Local self-government played an important role in the Volyn province. In each district, commune and village community land worked elected bodies, which were designed to perform the relevant tasks in the field of economic, social, political and cultural life of the region. Placed of the local self-government significant achievements and accumulated valuable experience in the field of social care, primary education, the organization of medical care have not lost their importance in our time.

Purpose using unpublished sources, domestic and foreign publishing documents and materials, the author set out to give objective and complete picture of the history of, organizational formation and activity of urban and territorial governments in Volyn in the interwar period, show specific features and regional features.

Analysis of studies and publications

The largest contribution to the study of certain issues related to the history and activities of the government institution in the Second Rechipospolytiy have Polish scientists - historians and jurists. In modern Polish historiography have a number of publications devoted to coverage of the activities of municipal and local government in Poland [1-5].

Formulation of the task

The historical development of Volyn in the composition of the Second Polish Republic characterized many features resulting from a policy of the ruling circles of Poland and internal economic, social and cultural needs of the region. The Polish government circles pursued a policy aimed at complete absorption edge of most Ukrainian ethnographic composition, the gradual assimilation.

First state polonization meant the subordination of the local population institutions, institutions, organizations that existed throughout Poland. Among these tools a special role assigned to the institute of self-governments. His legislative and institutional development in Volyn started immediately after recognition in December 1919 Entente states of Poland set right on its own territory administration.

Analysis of the legal and organizational formation of self-government in Volyn in the interwar period allows you to say that the institution of self-government in this region as well as in general in the Second Polish Republic had a peculiar character. Under the law, the scope of its activity was extremely high. Samoupravy to provide the most basic needs of the population of the region were designed to perform a wide range of tasks. However, as the elected institutions they were obliged to take into account public opinion. On the other hand, a number of laws, regulations, orders administration limited their independence, making them dependent on government policy in Poland.

This duality self-government was the reason that it is difficult to find a balance between two of its features. Providing them benefits of public interests often contrary to the interests of the state administration; and the excessive influence of the latter led to divergence of interests of the population.

The specific of local government Volyn province interwar period was also caused by the fact that most of the country's population was ethnic minorities Poland. In cities they were Jews, and the village - Ukrainian. Thus, the government immediately raised the question of providing Polish national interests. Given the fact that the administration of the Second Polish Republic was not interested in the creation of the so-called kresy exclusive rights, she found other ways to ensure state control over the activities of the local self-governing bodies. Thus was lost the necessary balance between their self-governing and administrative functions. It was not in favor of both the local population and of the Polish government and impedes self-government institutions to effectively perform their tasks.

From a legal point of view the process of establishing self-government institution in Volyn in the interwar period is clearly divided into two stages. During the first phase - from 1919 to 1933, worked in the province elected bodies of territorial and municipal governments, called to life orders of the Commissioner of the Eastern lands [6-8].

During 1919 - the first half of the 1920s a number of government legislation established rules of membership and elections to samouprav, undecided financial sources of labor recorded the boundaries and degree of control over the activities of self-governing institutions [9-13].

Characteristic for this phase is to develop the organizational structure samouprav all levels, which remained unchanged until 1939 in the form that was provided instructions mentioned above. And the more it concerned it is territorial, not a municipal self-government that barely reorganized during 1920-1930's.

The Polish administration has left in Volyn four-structure of local self-government, which existed from rural reform in 1864 in Russia: gromada, hmina, povit and province. This is different from Lviv, Ternopil and Stanislavsky provinces where the territorial government was organized on the basis of Austrian law, according to which the structure of local governments have three-stage character (hmina, povit and province).

In the same period there was segregation of duties and responsibilities between the legislative and executive authorities, finally undecided volumes, trends, methods and forms of activity, it was established the competence of the governing bodies of self-government.

Primarily self-governing institutions were designed to perform tasks in various areas of economic life in the region. This was the main feature of the self-government institution that has appeared in the initial phase of its existence. The low level of socio-economic development dictate the need to establish the institute, which would state administration could be trusted to solve problems in such vital areas as agricultural support industries, handicrafts and trade, urban and road construction, education and medicine, charity work. And it is quite incomplete list of obligations which under Polish law belong to the competence of self-government.

However, self-governing institutions are not independent in the performance of a broad scope of their tasks. A number of laws, government regulations and orders limited their independence in personnel matters, tax policy, changing the territorial boundaries of self-governing units, etc. Should be approved by the state administration demanded samouprav budgets and decisions that concerned their financial activities. Monitoring was carried out specially created for this purpose by or relevant officials.

For example, in each district created a special District Inspectorate. The amount of work and procedures clearly outlined specific instructions issued by the Minister of Internal Affairs 30 December 1919 [14, 37]. The main duty officers were conducting regular inspections and audits of self-government. Lustration took place at least three times a year in every hmina. Additionally inspectors conducted annual audits of all their documents.

In order to gain control over the administrative work of the self-government in 1920 created in each poviti office assistants who performed the supervision of samouprav [15, 402]. Moreover, the scope of its supervisory functions spread not only in rural but also in small-town and urban commune. In the commune of so-called consultants selected cities duties performed by the district self-government inspectors.

Total state supervision of self-government has the Interior Minister of the Second Polish Republic [16, 87]. He had the right to dissolve sejmyky and county departments, as well as approve those decisions of the selfgovernment, concerned that their statutes, means of communication, establishing independent tax and its replacement, acquisition or deprivation samoupravamy property.

However, despite the relatively broad jurisdiction interior minister regarding the self-government, in the first instance the right of supervision of the self-government unions belonged to the voevodes. This involved the right to declare void those decisions of county government, who were taken to unauthorized meetings samouprav exceeded their competence or contrary to applicable law of Second Polish Republic. In addition, the voevode approved the budget of the Union self-government and appointed regular elections. Thus, mediation voevodes was legally enshrined even in those cases where the final decision belonged to the Interior Minister. Province were transitional institutions through which held every case, which required the approval of the State Administration.

Voevodes tried to prevent the politicization of self-government. The role of the guarantor of their political apathy was to play a Provincial Council, based on orders of the President of the Second Polish Republic of January 10, 1928 [17, 6].

It consisted of representatives of the county and the so-called dietines selected cities. The meeting was attended by the voevode, heads of departments Provincial Office and other government agencies. The main objectives of management councils were investment policy in the region, the development plans of the province, as well as monitoring the functioning of the self-government with the right to approve their budgets. So, this institution was intended to combine state administration and self-administration in a single body, led by voevode.

Managers of all levels of government - soltys, voit, village elder and voevode once served as representatives of the state administration in accordance commune, district or province. This dual nature of their jobs was making possible the transformation of self-government to institute an obedient executor of the will of the government.

Conducted in 1927 the first elections to all levels of self-government, most clearly demonstrated last degree of dependence on the decisions of the authorities. Members of samouprav selected in the result of the elections fully reflect the ethnic composition of cities and villages of Volyn province [18]. Therefore won significant quantitative advantage in rural self-government Ukrainian and Jewish - in the city was entirely legitimate. However, this state of affairs could not satisfy the local authorities. The state administration has resorted to deliberate restriction of activity of the self-government, and sometimes - and to direct interference in the election.

Thus, during the elections to the municipal self-government, which took place in the same 1927, where the results do not meet the voivodship authorities, they have been declared invalid and held again. Finally executive positions in samoupravah Volyn cities occupied mainly Poles [19, 18].

Regarding the composition of the national the main struggle for mandates was, of course, between the Polish and Ukrainian. The number of representatives of a nationality different periods in the self-government institution in Volyn was different, but remained stable in preference Polish city self-government. It is obvious that the Poles gradually increased their numerical superiority, even in rural samoupravah and Ukrainian, by contrast, lost their positions [18, 21].

The formation mechanism of the election took place for most of the interwar period. The changes that were made to the legislation Second Polish Republic, concerned immediately order the election, the terms of active and passive voting rights, age and property qualifications voter's supervisory functions of state administration on course elective campaigns.

The latter is the most typical is that first of all, these changes were aimed at strengthening government oversight of the elections to the self-governing institutions. Extension administration rights laws affect their results, made all the more real the possibility of forming national authorities, political, professional and age structure samouprav discretion.

Particularly striking example of self-government institution that functioned on the territory of our region. After all, one of the components of "Volyn policy" H. Yuzevskoho voevode was not only convert samouprav obedient executors of government tasks, but the main regulator of complex inter-ethnic relations in Volyn. This was carried out primarily by de-politicization of self-government.

The second stage of the legislative establishment of the institute self-government as a whole in the country, and particularly in Volyn, began with the introduction of the Sejm approved March 23, 1933 Law "On partial change structure of local self-government" [20, 23]. Apart from the fact that the weight and value by such statute changes and the scale of the territory covered by it became one of the most significant administrative reforms Second Polish Republic, it was the next step towards strengthening government control over the activities samouprav.

In terms of self-government and unify the body break down barriers between different regions of the country had positive law. For example, under this statute four-structure of local self-government, typical of Volyn, spread to the whole of Poland.

However, the essence of reform is most clearly manifested in its provisions, which were aimed at expansion of regulatory functions of supervisory authority over the self-government. The most revealing in this section was the tenth of this legislation. The law gave the state administration in unlimited rights to approve the election of member's self-governments and magistrates, dismissal from employment positions or applying them on different kinds of disciplinary actions. Adoption governments any important decisions depended on the approval or prohibit authorities. The law limited the scope of self-government, violated the principle of proportionality in the elections. At the same time increased the age limit for active and passive suffrage. That is impossible for youth participation in self-government.

Raising the age limit for persons who have the right to self-elected institutions; providing empowerment of local executive bodies more rights compared to legislation, the law led to the limitation of forms and reduction of government. Thus, it can be argued that the reform government in 1933 along with other legislative acts adopted by the Sejm at the time was intended to strengthen government control over all forms of social and political life. On this occasion, journalist S. Stankevych rightly said: "For many years confirmed the absolute power of administration and bureaucracy of government" [5, 20].

Analyzing the place and role of government in the political and legal system Second Polish Repablic, we can not ignore their interpretation of the Constitution in April 1935, which provided unlimited rights to central government, and especially strengthen a dominant position and made president [21, 36]. The Constitution sanctioned anti-democratic, autocratic and elitist nature of the new political and legal system. It is also concerned territorial self-government.

The Constitution of 1935 provided for the establishment of the government, however limited their role in society. This was done mainly through combining the functions of state administration and self-government. Host key provisions that touch the limits of the competence and scope of samouprav and government agencies in a separate section under the title "Public Administration", giving authorities the right to conduct local government, the April constitution destroyed the democratic principle of separation of self-government and government administration on individual cooperating but independent units of a single state body.

The fact that the constitutional establishment of the institute self-government is important, but it should be noted that the provisions of the Constitution of the April 1935 concerning local governments have general and declarative. For example, were missing critical articles about the internal structure samouprav and manner of their election and organizational development. Finally, none of the articles of the main law not mentioned about the essence of self-government - of its independence, and the provisions that are contained in the new Constitution of Poland, made possible further changes to the government of the political structure of the state, limiting the value and scope of the institute self-government.

government volyn election

Conclusions and prospects for further research in this topic