ШКОЛА ЧИ ТЕАТР? КУЛЬТУРНА ПОЛІТИКА НА СХІДНОГАЛИЦЬКИХ ЗЕМЛЯХ НА ПОЧАТКУ ХХ ст. У ДИСКУСІЯХ УКРАЇНСЬКОЇ ІНТЕЛІГЕНЦІЇ

Abstract

The article is devoted to the reconstruction of the discussion process in the environment of the Ukrainian intelligentsia of Galicia in the early twentieth century concerning ways of developing national education under the pressure of the Polish educational system. It is noted that at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth century’s the biggest challenge for Ukrainians in that region was the very slow growth of the number of educational institutions in comparison with the cultural needs of the population. At that point the situation with the middle schools was particularly deteriorated. It was Hrushevsky who drew attention to this problem for the first time, pointing out the state of affairs with middle school. The scientist proposed to establish private Ukrainian grammar schools, transferring for this need the funds accumulated for the construction of a national theater in Lviv. K. Levytsky, O. Borkovsky, E. Levytsky, O. Barvinsky did not agree with M. Hrushevsky, criticizing his idea on the pages of the newspapers « Dilo » and « Ruslan » . They drew the community's attention to the loss of reputation from curtailing the initiated national projects. This increased the emotionality of discussing the priorities of national progress: the parties, instead of rational and thoughtful analysis of the arguments of the opponents, just raised the degree of controversy. Other leaders of the social and cultural life of the region joined the discussion (for example, I. Trush and S. Chernetsky). The resonance of the discussion is also evidenced by the fact that it ended in the courtroom: the director of the theater M. Gubchak appealed to the editor of « LNV » and personally I. Franko for publication against the construction of the theater and lost. As a result, it was noted that the adherents and opponents of Ukrainian private schooling were judged by life itself - on the eve of the war in Galicia there was an extensive network of secondary schools, which each year produced an increasing number of educated personnel of the national intelligentsia. These were they who were at the forefront of the struggle for the revival of statehood on the Transnistrian lands, and in the interwar period they created an effective resistance to aggressive polonization of the population of the region. At the same time, it is emphasized on the considerable emotionality of controversy among the Galician Ukrainians. Divided into numerous party groups, refusing to carry out a dialogue with their opponents, preferring to profane their vision of the situation, rather than look for the grain of truth in it. This markedly disoriented the entire Ukrainian community, as well as complicated the creation of an effective counterbalance to the Polish domination in the province. The impact this had on the liberation of Galicia should be represented in the further research of the phenomenon of public controversy.