KWESTIA UKRAIŃSKA W PISMACH TADEUSZA MICIŃSKIEGO W DOBIE PIERWSZEJ WOJNY ŚWIATOWEJ

Abstract

The attitude towards Ukrainians and their right to self-determination in Miciński’s work has evolved: from a conservative, Polonocentric position towards national minorities, to an attitude that is still definitely pro-Polish, but above all tolerant, taking into account the state-building aspirations of other nations, and even taking into account the existence of a multinational identity, for example, Lithuanian-Polish. At the same time, Miciński’s Ukraine is intellectually and ideologically engaged, it is Szczerbyna’s Cossack who expresses the author’s Slavic ideas, lectures on the history of Polish-Ukrainian relations, and is a carrier of local folk wisdom. The author of “Nietota” had an emotional attitude towards the Borderlands, in which he was obviously not alone at that time. It should be remembered that Miciński did not construct a colonial discourse towards Ukrainians, Belarusians or Lithuanians, despite identifying the concept of the Borderlands with Polishness. In the article “Baltazarowe widmo przed Rosją” (September 1917), its author draws a portrait of the Prime Minister of the Provisional Government, Aleksander Kiereński, without excessive emphasis, as five months earlier in the article “Wiec wojskowy i minister Kiereński”, and without any illusions as to his role in building a strong, republican Russia. Analyzing the discussion of the historical background of “With Fire and Sword” in Miciński’s article, it can be seen that “Ukraine” does not appear here as a district of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, but as a self-governing country inhabited by Zaporizhzhian Cossacks, the progenitors of Ukrainians. In another article dated May 1917, titled “Thermopyle polskie”, the poet looks at reality surprisingly soberly, he has no illusions about the reconstruction of the Republic of Poland in its former, multinational shape, although he does not completely reject such a solution: a personal union between Poland, Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine. Miciński was perfectly familiar with the political views and plans of both the new Soviet government and Germany, which at the end of 1917 and early 1918 were interested in establishing an independent Ukrainian state. A statement about the Ukrainian issue was also included in the article “Orle gniazdo” from July 1917, where author states that allied countries should be: the Czech Republic, Ukraine, Lithuania and “free” (certainly not Bolshevik) Russia.