THE NATIONAL QUESTION DURING THE FIRST WORLD WAR: VISION OF MYKHAILO HRUSHEVSKY

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to fi nd out the peculiarities of the coverage of national issues in the journalism of M. Hrushevsky during the period of the fi rst exile. The methodological basis of the work is an interdisciplinary approach. Particular emphasis is placed on the structural and functional system analysis of historiographical facts and the method of critical analysis of documentary material. The scientifi c novelty of the article consists in an attempt to comprehensively analyze the ethnological visions of M. Hrushevsky during the Great War. Conclusions. Summing up M. Hrushevsky’s journalism during theyears of exile, we should fi rst of all note his position as a Ukrainian intellectual who, despite considerable danger to his own life, consistently defended the interests of his people with the printed word. Noting the next dangers for the existence of Ukrainians caused by the world confrontation, the scientist found the right words to support his compatriots who found themselves in diffi cult conditions, inspiring them with his own example to tirelessly serve the people by all possible means. He considered the war years as a unique opportunity to reset the tangled relations with our historical neighbors, who for centuries saw Ukraine as building material for their own nation-building projects. Calling on the opinion leaders of the Russian and Polish communities to abandon imperial rhetoric, M. Hrushevsky pointed to the need and possibility of establishing an equal international dialogue based on the paraphrasedprinciple of the humanistic philosophy “natio nationi res sacra”. Certainly, one can argue about the realism of the scientist’s nationalistic visions of that time. But one thing seems indisputable – their consideration would have prevented many tragic events of the last century.It is precisely with this considerable prognostic potential that M. Hrushevsky’s journalism continues to attract researchers of the intellectual history of Central-Eastern Europe.