Іван Франко "Борислав сміється" (Повiсть)

"Boryslav Laughs" is a story by Ukrainian writer Ivan Franko, which for the first time in Ukrainian literature depicts the labor movement.

The story was published in parts in the Lviv magazine Svit in 1880-1881. Due to the closure of the magazine, and possibly the loss of the writer's interest, "Boryslav Laughs" remained unfinished.

The story is devoted to the description of a strike at the oil field in the city of Boryslav. The writer was inspired to write it by real events. In the 60s of the 19th century, the industrial revolution was developing rapidly in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, including Western Ukraine. With the development of industry, the working class also began to emerge. Under the influence of the ideas of socialism, workers began to form an organized struggle for their rights. The development of the labor movement in Ukraine lagged behind the European one, but in the 1970s the first strikes began, which was a new phenomenon in the predominantly peasant Galicia.

The protagonist of the novel is Benedio Sinica, a former bricklayer's assistant who was injured at work. He becomes the organizer of a strike, a workers' mutual aid fund, and a blockade of the strikebreakers. Synytsia's method of organized struggle is contrasted in the novel with the spontaneous rebellion and violence of the Bessarabian brothers.