Ukrainian nationalism
| History of Ukraine |
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Ukrainian nationalism refers to the Ukrainian version of nationalism. Although the current Ukrainian state is fairly recent, some historians, such as Mykhailo Hrushevskyi, have cited medieval princes of Kievan Rus', as early precedents of specifically Ukrainian statehood.[1]
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[edit] Cossack nationalism
The Cossacks played a role in re-awakening a Ukrainian sense of identity within the Steppe region.[2] A dominant figure within the Cossack movement and in Ukrainian nationalist history was Bohdan Khmelnytsky, commander of the Zaporozhian Cossacks and leader of the Khmelnytsky Uprising against Polish rule in the mid-17th century. Khmelnytsky was also successful at legitimizing a form of democracy which had been practiced by cossacks since the 14th century.[3] This sense of democracy was a key part of the ethnic identity.
Khmelnytsky is still remembered and glorified in Ukrainian history in modern Ukraine.
Bohdan Khmelnytsky spoke of the liberation of the "entire Ruthenian people" and recent research has confirmed that the concept of a Ruthenian nation as a religious and cultural community had existed before his revolution.[4]
Another prominent figure in Cossack nationalism is Hetman Ivan Mazepa. During the early 18th century, Mazepa made large financial contributions focused on the restoration of Ukrainian culture and history. He financed major reconstructions of the Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev,[5] and elevation the Kyiv Mohyla Collegium to the status of Kyiv Mohyla Academy in 1694.[5] Politically, however, Mazepa was misunderstood and misrepresented, and found little support among peasantry.[6]
[edit] Ukrainian Nationalism in literature
One of the most prominent figures in Ukrainian national history is the Ukrainian poet, Taras Shevchenko who voiced the ideas of having an independent and sovereign Ukraine in the 19th century.[7] Taras Shevchenko used poetry to inspire cultural revival to the Ukrainian people and strive to overthrow the injustice.[7] Shevchenko died in Saint Petersburg on March 10, 1861, the day after his 47th birthday. He is regarded as a national hero, not only by the citizens of Ukraine, but by Ukrainians that live throughout the world. His collection of poetry Kobzar was the second book almost in each Ukrainian household in the beginning of 20th century after the Bible. He became a symbol of the national cultural revival of Ukraine.
Beside Shevchenko there were numerous other Ukrainian poets among which Volodymyr Sosyura who in his poem Love Ukraine (1944) stated that one cannot respect other nations without respect for its own.
[edit] Ukrainian nationalism in the 20th century
[edit] World War I
With the collapse of the Russian Empire a political entity which encompassed political, community, cultural, and professional organizations was established in Kiev from the initiative from the Association of the Ukrainian Progressionists (abbr. TUP). This entity was called the "Tsentralna Rada" (Central Council) and was headed by the historian, Mykhailo Hrushevskyi.[8] On January 22, 1918, the Tsentralna Rada declared Ukraine an independent country.[8] This independence was recognized by the Russian government headed by Lenin, as well as the Central Powers and other states.[9] However, this government did not survive very long because of pressures not only from Denikin's Russian White Guard, but also the Red Army, German and Entente intervention, and local banditism (Green Army of Grigoriev).[8]
[edit] Interwar period in Soviet Ukraine
As Bolshevik rule took hold in Ukraine, the early Soviet government had its own reasons to encourage the national movements of the former Russian Empire.
Until the early-1930s, Ukrainian culture enjoyed a widespread revival due to Bolshevik concessions known as the policy of Korenization ("indigenization"). In these years an impressive Ukrainization program was implemented throughout the republic. In such conditions, the Ukrainian national idea initially continued to develop and even spread to a large territory with traditionally mixed population in the east and south that became part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.
At the same time, despite the ongoing Soviet-wide anti-religious campaign, the Ukrainian national Orthodox Church was created, the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church. The church was initially seen by the Bolshevik government as a tool in their goal to suppress the Russian Orthodox Church, always viewed with great suspicion by the regime for its being the cornerstone of the defunct Russian Empire and the initially strong opposition it took towards the regime change. Therefore, the government tolerated the new Ukrainian national church for some time and the UAOC gained a wide following among the Ukrainian peasantry.
These events greatly raised the national consciousness among the Ukrainians and the brought about the development of a new generation of Ukrainian cultural and political elite. This in turn raised the concerns of Stalin who saw danger in the Ukrainians' loyalty towards their nation competing with their loyalty to the Soviet State and in early 1930s the "Ukrainian bourgeois nationalism" was declared to be the primary problem in Ukraine. The Ukrainization policies were abruptly and bloodily reversed, most of the Ukrainian cultural and political elite was arrested and executed, and the nation was decimated with the artificial famine called the Holodomor.
[edit] Interwar period in Western Ukraine
After WWI, Western Ukraine were incorporated in the newly restored Poland.
[edit] World War II
With the outbreak of war between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union in 1941, many nationalists in Ukraine thought that they would have an opportunity to create an independent country once again. Some even collaborated with Nazi administration and military units. However, the German treatment of the local population quickly put an end to this.[10]
Many of the fighters who had originally looked to the Nazis as liberators, quickly became disillusioned and formed the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) (Ukrainian: Українська Повстанська Армія - У.П.А.), which waged military campaign against Germans and later Soviet forces.[11] The primary goal of OUN was “the rebirth, of setting everything in order, the defense and the expansion of the Independent Council of Ukrainian National State”. OUN also revived the sentiment that “Ukraine is for Ukrainians”.[12]
On June 30, 1941, the OUN, led by Stepan Bandera, declared an Independent Ukrainian State.[13] This was immediately acted upon by the Nazi army, and Bandera was arrested and imprisoned from 1941 to 1944.[13]
The UPA was a military group that took up arms first against the Nazis and later against the Soviets. During World War II, the UPA fought against the Polish, German and Soviet forces. After the Second World War, UPA took actions directed against Soviet rule within Ukraine. Many members of the UPA saw themselves as the armed wing of the OUN in its struggle for Ukrainian independence.[14]
There has been much debate as to the legitimacy of UPA as a political group. UPA maintains a prominent and symbolic role in Ukrainian history and the quest for Ukrainian independence.[15] At the same time it was deemed an insurgent or terrorist group by Soviet historiography.[15]
Ukrainian Canadian historian Serhiy Yekelchyk writes that during 1943 and 1944 an estimated 35,000 Polish civilians and an unknown number of Ukrainian civilians in the Volhynia and Chelm regions fell victim to mutual ethnic cleansing by the UPA and Polish insurgents.[16] Niall Ferguson writes that around 80,000 Poles were murdered then by Ukrainian nationalists.[17] Norman Davies in his book "No Simple Victory: World War II in Europe, 1939-1945" puts the number of murdered Polish civilians at between 200,000 and 500,000, while Timothy Snyder writes that Ukrainian nationalists killed "between forty to sixty thousand Polish civilians in Volhynia in 1943".[18]
[edit] Declaration of State Sovereignty - 1991
The most celebrated event in modern Ukrainian nationalist history is the achievement of independence from the Soviet Union after its collapse in 1991. However, even after achieving an autonomous and sovereign state, Ukrainian nationalism has still been tested. Some commentators have suggested that Russia is still trying to bring Ukraine under its influence.[19]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ ^ Hrushevsky, Mykhaylo. History of Ukraine. Chartorsky Publishing, New York, 1961. p. 119
- ^ Wilson, Andrew. Ukrainian Nationalism in the 1990s: A Minority Faith. Cambridge University Press. London: 1997. 6.
- ^ "Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine - Publications". Mfa.gov.ua. http://www.mfa.gov.ua/mfa/en/publication/content/354.htm. Retrieved 2010-04-18.
- ^ Serhy Yekelchyk. Ukraine Birth of a Modern Nation. Oxford University Press, 2007. p 28
- ^ a b "Mazepa, Ivan". Encyclopediaofukraine.com. http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/pages/M/A/MazepaIvan.htm. Retrieved 2010-04-18.
- ^ Orest Subtelny, "Ukraine: a History", University of Toronto Press, 2000, ISBN 0802083900, p. 164
- ^ a b Kleiner, Israel. From Nationalism to Universalism Vladmir (Ze’ev) Jabotinsky and the Ukrainian Question. Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies. Edmonton: 2000. 66.
- ^ a b c Ukraine - MSN Encarta[dead link]
- ^ Treaty of Brest-Litovsk - Encyclopedia.com
- ^ Ukraine - Encyclopedia.com
- ^ Wilson, Andrew. Ukrainian Nationalism in the 1990s: A Minority Faith. Cambridge University Press. London: 1997.47-51.
- ^ Wilson, Andrew. Ukrainian Nationalism in the 1990s: A Minority Faith. Cambridge University Press. London: 1997. 48.
- ^ a b "Bandera, Stepan". Encyclopediaofukraine.com. http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/pages/B/A/BanderaStepan.htm. Retrieved 2010-04-18.
- ^ "The UPA - Ukrainian Insurgent Army - - www.upa.com.ua". Tern.ukrpack.net. http://tern.ukrpack.net/upa/. Retrieved 2010-04-18.
- ^ a b Wilson, Andrew. Ukrainian Nationalism in the 1990s: A Minority Faith. Cambridge University Press. London: 1997. 51.
- ^ Serhy Yekelchyk "Ukraine: Birth of a Modern Nation", Oxford University Press (2007), ISBN 9780195305463, page 144
- ^ Niall Ferguson, The War of the World, Penguin Press, New York 2006, page 455
- ^ The Reconstruction of Nations By Timothy Snyder, page 170. Books.google.com. 2006-03-22. http://books.google.com/books?id=xSpEynLxJ1MC&pg=PA170&dq=Volhynia+1943. Retrieved 2010-04-18.
- ^ Krushelnycky, Askold. An Orange Revolution: A Personal Journey through Ukrainian History. Harville Secker. London: 2006. 79.
[edit] Further reading
- Alexander F. Tsvirkun History of political and legal Teachings of Ukraine.Kharkov., 2008
- John Alexander Armstrong, "Ukrainian Nationalism", Columbia University Press, 1963, LCCN 62-018367
- Alexander J. Motyl, "The turn to the right : the ideological origins and development of Ukrainian nationalism, 1919-1929", Published: Boulder, [Colo. : East European quarterly] ; New York : distributed by Columbia University Press, 1980, ISBN 0914710583
- Kenneth C. Farmer, "Ukrainian nationalism in the post-Stalin era : myth, symbols, and ideology in Soviet nationalities policy", Kluwer Boston, 1980, ISBN 9024724015
- Andrew Wilson, "Ukrainian Nationalism in the 1990s: A Minority Faith", Cambridge University Press, 1996, ISBN 0521574579
- Ernst B. Haas, "Nationalism, Liberalism, and Progress", Cornell University Press, 1997, ISBN 0801431085, Chapter seven: Russia and Ukraine, pp. 324–410
- Ronald Grigor Suny, Revenge of the Past: Nationalism, Revolution, and the Collapse of the Soviet Union", Stanford University Press, 1993, ISBN 0804722471
- Paul Robert Magocsi, "The Roots of Ukrainian Nationalism: Galicia As Ukraine's Piedmont", University of Toronto Press, 2002, ISBN 0802047386
- Andrew Wilson, "The Ukrainians: Unexpected Nation", Yale University Press, 2002, ISBN 0300093098
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