The Medical and Literary Intelligentsia in the 1917–1921 Ukrainian Revolution

Abstract

The relevance of this study lies in the fact that the analysis of the processes of evolution of the views of the old literary and medical intelligentsia in the period of the 1917–1921 Ukrainian Revolution suggests answers to the fundamental question of the relationship between the authorities and the society, the authorities and the intelligentsia in today’s Ukraine.The aim of this paper is to examine the processes of evolution of the views and convictions of the old literary and medical intelligentsia in the period of the 1917–1921 Ukrainian Revolution.Research methodology. In this study the author uses the culturological and comparative methods and principles of the analysis of evolution of the interrelations of the old Ukrainian medical and literary intelligentsia and the authorities during the 1917–1921 Ukrainian Revolution. Results. The paper demonstrates the complicated political, economic, moral, ethical and physical frustrations of the old medical and literary intelligentsia during the 1917–1921 Ukrainian Revolution, civil war and intervention.The author analyzes the issues of the transformation of the interrelations of the old medical and literary intelligentsia and various authorities including the Soviet authorities in Ukraine during the 1917–1921 Ukrainian Revolution, civil war and foreign intervention. Special attention is paid to the process of evolution of the interrelations of the old medical and literary intelligentsia and the Soviet authorities that finally gained a dominant position in Ukraine. The paper demonstrates that the majority of the medical and literary intelligentsia after unsuccessful attempts of a open or concealed fight against the Soviet power had no choice than to gradually move to a neutral position, and then to collaborate with the Soviet authorities.Novelty. An attempt is made for the first time to conduct a culturological analysis of the transformation of the views of the medical and literary intelligentsia relating to various authorities including the Soviet authorities during the 1917–1921 Ukrainian Revolution.The practical significance. The results of this study can be used not only in the process of further culturological research into the above mentioned issues but also when writing methodological recommendations and studying the issues of Ukrainian culture.