UKRAINIAN NATIONALISM IN THE 1920–1930s ON A COMPARATIVE BACKGROUND OF OTHER EUROPEAN NATIONALISMS: HISTORIOGRAPHICAL EVALUATIONS AND JUDGMENTS

Abstract

Summary. The purpose of this study is to present scientific assessments and opinions of researchers on such issues as common and different between Ukrainian radical nationalism and nationalist movements in the countries of Europe during the interwar period, typology of the OUN, personify the scientific contribution of Ukrainian and foreign scientists, foresee perspective directions of research of the problem. Research methodology is based on the principles of historicism, systemicity, and objectivity. In solving specific problems, methods of historiographical analysis and synthesis were applied. The scientific novelty is that the author finds out qualitative completeness of the historical information of the historiographic sources and shows the personal contribution of scientists to the study of the features of Ukrainian nationalism of the interwar period of the twentieth century. Conclusions. Ukrainian and foreign researchers approached differently the features of Ukrainian nationalism of the twentieth-century interwar era, which is explained, first of all, by their worldviews, as well as the choice of methods of research. At least three concepts can be distinguished, the essence of which boils down to Ukrainian nationalism: a) constituted the ideology of a non-state, enslaved nation, so it was primarily a national liberation movement; b) represented Ukrainian fascism; c) was an integral nationalism of a non-state nation. The creators of the first concept were representatives of the Ukrainian diaspora, which reached its peak in the conditions of independence of Ukraine. The concept of «Ukrainian fascism» dominated the period of the Stalinist totalitarian regime, in the 1960s and 1980s it gave way to the concept of «Ukrainian bourgeois nationalism», and in modern times it was revived in the writings of supporters of the leftist idea. The theory «Ukrainian nationalism is one of the forms of integral nationalism» originates from the works of J. Armstrong, I. Lysyak-Rudnitsky, O. Motyl and others. Today it has become widespread in studies of Ukrainian historians who demonstrate apoliticalism in the coverage of the problem – of Y. Hrytsak, G. Kasyanov, O. Zaitsev, K. Bondarenko and others. In the academic field of independent Ukraine, the first concept holds the leading positions, while in the contemporary foreign historiography the latter is dominant. However, this problem cannot be considered exhausted. In particular, it is promising to compare Ukrainian nationalism with the Serb movement «Young Bosnia», Polish national democracy and its branches, the Inner Macedonian Revolutionary Organization and so on. We expect that the ideological and political foundations of the OUN will continue to be the subject of controversy not only in Ukrainian but also in foreign scientifics environment.