Another important problem which was never sincerely tackled was that of the various nationalities. All around the borders of the old Great Russian territory, from Finland in the north to Central Asia on the east, groups of earnest patriots, to whom the problem of nationality was even more important than were the economic problems connected with the land, were coming into existence. In the beginning they all stressed the fact that the future Russia would have to become a federal state and that the old idea of a monolithic Russia had passed with the fall of the tsar. This the Great Russians refused to accept and the Provisional Government was fighting a losing battle in its attempts to hold all of those groups in line. Yet it held on stubbornly and made no attempt to do more than interpose an ineffective veto on everything that was suggested. Events moved rapidly in Ukraine. The Central Council called for a demonstration in Kiev on March 19/April 1 and declared that Ukrainian autonomy should be set up without waiting for the approval of the Provisional Government. Then followed another series of meetings during the next weeks. A teachers’ convention was held on Easter day and then on April 6–8 a Ukrainian National Convention was called for, in order to broaden the government and prepare for elections to determine the personnel of the new administration. It was attended by over nine hundred delegates and at once arranged to admit to its membership representatives of the various classes of the population: the army, the peasants, labor, professional organizations, etc. So far, so good. The early groups which started the movement had represented all types of social thought and it seemed to some of the leaders that the national question was the predominant one. At the same time, the peasants were more interested in the changes that were coming in the agrarian situation. This was an unconscious movement that was growing by popular demand and it was not long before the leaders of the Rada became convinced that they would have to reckon with this new movement. In reality there were two great movements, each running its own course but impinging upon the other at every point.