This essay examines the brief history of the creation of the Polish national autonomy in revolutionary Ukraine, the ways it was received, and the different assessments, by Polish democratic activists, both of the theoretical concept of “national autonomy” and its implementation in 1917–1918. It mainly focuses on the figures of the Polish national movement in Ukraine, who were also officials of the Ministry of Polish Affairs, such as Stanisław Kalinowski, Roman Knoll and others. The paper is primarily based on their testimonies, which were collected by the Polish historian Henryk Jabłoński in the early 1930s