Social conflicts in Ukraine XIX century in historiography and sources

Abstract

The aim of the article was to identify the historiographic tradition of highlighting social conflicts in Ukrainian society of the nineteenth century. Using the methods of historiographic analysis and synthesis made it possible to ascertain that in modern Ukrainian historica science the modern period is still considered mainly from the perspective of the concept of Ukrainian national revival, while the specifics of social processes continue to be reproduced at the level of historiography of the ХIX–ХХ centuries. The main result was the consideration of several persistent historiographic myths that explain the relationship between noble landlords and serfs exclusively in the categories of class struggle. The desire to perceive and reconstruct peasant-noble relations only from such an angle of view precluded the factor of chance in these conflicts, their criminal component. Scientific novelty is determined by the fact that on the basis of archival sources an attempt has been made to show the vulnerability of such a perception of landowner-peasant interaction, the variety of causes and motives of social conflicts. It is argued that popular protests were not directly related to the deterioration of the situation of peasants, but were the result, first of all, of a sharp change in their legal and social status. It is noted that in the historiography of the New History of Ukraine the problem of intraclass conflicts was not even posed. This applies to all social groups, which in Ukrainian historiography are shown as extremely consolidated communities. Attention is drawn to the fact that historians often demonstrate a selective approach to sources, leaving behind the scenes episodes of friendly, solidary relations between landowners and peasants, frequent cases of a breakdown of mutual consent, refusal of peasants to be released, and examples of mutual assistance. The conclusion and practical significance of the study is that modern approaches in historical science require abandoning the extremes in interpreting the social history of Ukraine. It is necessary to pay attention to the reconstruction of the social situation, taking into account the specifics of the relationship between all participants in the agrarian process in the prereform Ukrainian village, to take into account a wide range of social relationships, the essence of conflicts and the circumstances of their occurrence. Type of article: analytical.