Self-organization of public life of the Ukrainian people in the second half of the XIXth – the beginning of the XXth century: historiographical map

Abstract

The article analyzes the state of the study in the contemporary historiographical discourse of the problem of self-organization of Ukrainian public life in the second half of the ХІХth – the beginning of the XXth century. It has been found that democratization of the political system and renewal of the methodological tools provided an opportunity for historians to view the social life of the given historical period on the basis of a synergistic methodology of self-organization of social systems. It has been discovered that the historiographical position on the dynamics of social self-organization of the Ukrainians ranging from cultural life to the institution of political parties is considered legitimate among scholars. It has been proved that in contemporary historiography the processes of the contemporary self-organization of the Ukrainian society are considered in three specific historical areas, namely socio-civic, national-political and spiritual-cultural, the relationship between which was sometimes both consistent and synchronous. The development of them demonstrated the emergence of new organizational forms of social self-organization and institutionalization of civil society and political system in Ukraine in the XIXth century. Studying both theoretical and methodological, as well as definite historical dimensions of the Ukrainian national movement, the researchers agree that the cultural and educational content of national revival under the influence of objective circumstances has evolved into political one. Much attention is given to the analysis of the historians’ vision of the content of socio-civic self-organization, which was represented by the development of public organizations and movements grounded on the ideas of civil society but lacked political requirements. Among them scientists single out such factors as hlopomanstvo, social movement, organization "Prosvita", the establishment of Shevchenko scientific society, the publication of socially significant newspapers and journals ("Gromada", "Kievskaia Starina", "Delo", "Zoria"), the establishment of a cooperative movement ("Dnister", "The farmer"). The dynamics of the social organization have determined the politicization of the national movement, which allows scientists to speak about national and political self-organization. Establishment of political parties, active participation of the Ukrainians in the activities of the imperial representative bodies of the government, the spread of social and democratic political ideology, the emergence of political leadership and others are considered its institutional representatives. Researchers emphasize that in the late ХІХth and early XXth centuries, national revival entered the political stage, which became a prerequisite for the beginning of the Ukrainian National Democratic Revolution of 1917–1921. It has been found out that the concept "self-organization" reveals the essence of the socio-political and socio-cultural processes of the time, since the Ukrainians established cultural and educational societies, public organizations and political parties contrary to the imperial and anti-Ukrainian policy of the Austro-Hungarian and Russian empires. It was outlined that the spiritual and cultural aspects of self-organization were illustrated by the activities of Ukrainian cultural and educational societies, the development of Ukrainian periodicals, the commemoration of the anniversaries of Ukrainian writers and artists, the activities of Ukrainian theater, etc.