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Mykhailo Serhiiovych Hrushevsky ( uk, Михайло Сергійович Грушевський, Chełm, –
Kislovodsk Kislovodsk (russian: Кислово́дск, lit. ''sour waters''; ; krc, Ачысуу) is a spa city in Stavropol Krai, Russia, in the North Caucasus region of Russia which is located between the Black and Caspian Seas. Population: History I ...
, 24 November 1934) was a Ukrainian academician, politician, historian and statesman who was one of the most important figures of the Ukrainian national revival of the early 20th century. He is often considered the country's greatest modern historian, the foremost organiser of scholarship, the leader of the pre-revolution Ukrainian national movement, the head of the Central Rada (Ukraine's 1917–1918 revolutionary parliament), and a leading cultural figure in the Ukrainian SSR during the 1920s.


Early life

Hrushevsky was born on 29 September 1866 to a Ukrainian noble family in Kholm ( Chełm), in
Congress Poland Congress Poland, Congress Kingdom of Poland, or Russian Poland, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland, was a polity created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna as a semi-autonomous Polish state, a successor to Napoleon's Duchy of Warsaw. It w ...
, an autonomous polity in the Russian Empire. Hrushevsky grew up in Tiflis, where he attended a local school. His spiritual native land became Podillia, in the area of the village of Sestrynivka, Podillia Governorate. There, his mother, Glafira Zakharivna Okopova, was born into a family of
Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pag ...
priests. Glafira married Serhii Fedorovych Hrushevsky, who had come to Kholm to teach Russian language at a Greco-Catholic gymnasium in 1865. Serhii Fedorovych's father, Fedir Hrushevsky was a highly-decorated official (his awards included the two Orders of Saint Anna and the Bronze Cross, and a title of nobility). Upon enrolling into Saint Volodymyr University, in Kyiv, Mykhailo has received blessings from his grandfather who has graduated from the History Department of this university. Mykhailo spoke warmly of his parents and described them as real patriots of Ukraine, who managed to instill a sense of national pride in their children.


Historian

Hrushevsky wrote his first academic book, ''Bar Starostvo: Historical Notes: XV-XVIII'', on the history of Bar, Ukraine. As a historian, he authored the first detailed scholarly synthesis of Ukrainian history, his ten-volume History of Ukraine-Rus, which was published in the Ukrainian language and covered the period from prehistory to the 1660s. In the work, he balanced a commitment to the ordinary Ukrainian people with an appreciation for native Ukrainian political entities, autonomous polities, which steadily increased in the final volumes of his master work. In general, his approach combined rationalist
enlightenment Enlightenment or enlighten may refer to: Age of Enlightenment * Age of Enlightenment, period in Western intellectual history from the late 17th to late 18th century, centered in France but also encompassing (alphabetically by country or culture): ...
principles with a
romantic Romantic may refer to: Genres and eras * The Romantic era, an artistic, literary, musical and intellectual movement of the 18th and 19th centuries ** Romantic music, of that era ** Romantic poetry, of that era ** Romanticism in science, of that e ...
commitment to the cause of the nation and positivist methodology to produce a highly-authoritative history of his native land and people. Hrushevsky also wrote a multi-volume ''History of Ukrainian Literature'', an ''Outline History of the Ukrainian People'' and a very popular ''Illustrated History of Ukraine'', which appeared in both Ukrainian and Russian editions. In addition, he wrote numerous specialised studies in which he displayed a very acute critical acumen. His personal bibliography has over 2000 separate titles. In Hrushevsky's varied historical writings, certain basic ideas come to the fore. Firstly, he saw continuity in Ukrainian history from ancient times to his own. Thus, he claimed the ancient Ukrainian steppe cultures from Scythia to Kyivan Rus to the
Cossacks The Cossacks , es, cosaco , et, Kasakad, cazacii , fi, Kasakat, cazacii , french: cosaques , hu, kozákok, cazacii , it, cosacchi , orv, коза́ки, pl, Kozacy , pt, cossacos , ro, cazaci , russian: казаки́ or ...
as part of Ukrainian heritage. He viewed the
Principality of Galicia–Volhynia A principality (or sometimes princedom) can either be a monarchical feudatory or a sovereign state, ruled or reigned over by a regnant-monarch with the title of prince and/or princess, or by a monarch with another title considered to fall under ...
as the sole legitimate heir of Kyivan Rus, which opposed the official scheme of Russian history, which claimed Kyivan Rus for the
Vladimir-Suzdal Principality Vladimir-Suzdal (russian: Владимирско-Су́здальская, ''Vladimirsko-Suzdal'skaya''), also Vladimir-Suzdalian Rus', formally known as the Grand Duchy of Vladimir (1157–1331) (russian: Владимиро-Су́здальс ...
and Imperial Russia. Secondly, to give real depth to the continuity, Hrushevsky stressed the role of the common people, the "popular masses" as he called them, throughout the eras. Thus, popular revolts against the various foreign states that ruled Ukraine were also a major theme. Thirdly, Hrushevsky always emphasised native Ukrainian factors rather than international ones as the causes of various phenomena. Thus, he was an anti-
Normanist The Rusʹ (Old East Slavic: Рѹсь; Belarusian, Russian, Rusyn, and Ukrainian: Русь; Old Norse: '' Garðar''; Greek: Ῥῶς, ''Rhos'') were a people in early medieval eastern Europe. The scholarly consensus holds that they were orig ...
, who stressed the Slavic origins of Rus, internal discord as the primary reason for the fall of Kyivan Rus and the native Ukrainian ethnic makeup and origins of the Ukrainian Cossacks. (He considered runaway serfs especially important in the last regard.) Also, he stressed the national aspect to the Ukrainian Renaissance of the 16th and 17th centuries and considered that the great revolt of
Bohdan Khmelnytsky Bohdan Zynovii Mykhailovych Khmelnytskyi ( Ruthenian: Ѕѣнові Богданъ Хмелнiцкiи; modern ua, Богдан Зиновій Михайлович Хмельницький; 6 August 1657) was a Ukrainian military commander and ...
and the Cossacks against the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth to be largely a national and social phenomenon, rather than simply a religious phenomenon. Thus, continuity nativism, and populism characterised his general histories. On the role of statehood in Hrushevsky's historical thought, contemporary scholars still do not agree. Some believe that Hrushevsky retained a populist mistrust of the state throughout his career and that it was reflected by his deep democratic convictions, but others believe that Hrushevsky gradually became more and more for Ukrainian statehood in his various writings and that to be is reflected in his political work on the construction of a Ukrainian national state during the revolution in 1917 and 1918.


Scholar

As an organiser of scholarship, Hrushevsky oversaw the transformation of the Shevchenko Literary Society, based in the province of Halychyna (
Galicia Galicia may refer to: Geographic regions * Galicia (Spain), a region and autonomous community of northwestern Spain ** Gallaecia, a Roman province ** The post-Roman Kingdom of the Suebi, also called the Kingdom of Gallaecia ** The medieval King ...
), Austria-Hungary, into a new Shevchenko Scientific Society, which published hundreds of volumes of scholarly literature before the First World War and quickly grew to serve as an unofficial academy of sciences for Ukrainian on both sides of the border with Russia. After the Russian Revolution of 1905, Hrushevsky organised the Ukrainian Scientific Society in Kyiv in 1907 that served as a prototype to the future Academy of Sciences. After the 1917-1921 revolution, he founded the Ukrainian Sociological Institute in exile in Vienna. After his return to Ukraine in the 1920s, he became a major figure of the new All-Ukrainian Academy of Sciences in Kyiv in 1923.


Politician


Before 1917

As a political leader, Hrushevsky first became active in Austrian Halychyna, where he spoke out against Polish political predominance and Ruthenian particularism and supported a national Ukrainian identity that would unite both eastern and western parts of the country. In 1899, he was a cofounder of the Galician-based National Democratic Party, which looked forward to eventual Ukrainian independence. After 1905, Hrushevsky advised the Ukrainian Club in the Russian State Duma, or Parliament.


Ukrainian Revolution

In 1917, Hrushevsky was elected head of the revolutionary parliament, the Ukrainian Central Rada, in Kyiv and gradually guided it from Ukrainian national autonomy within a democratic Russia through to complete independence. He chaired the
Congress of the Peoples of Russia The Congress of the Enslaved Peoples of Russia was a congress of representatives of different nationalities to discuss their political situation in the Russian Empire. It was held on in Kyiv, Ukraine. History World War I and the February Revolutio ...
. Hrushevsky was then clearly revealed to be a radical democrat and a socialist. On February 17, 1918, The New York Times published an article by Hrushevsky that outlined Ukraine's struggle for self-government. Following the German-supported coup of General
Pavlo Skoropadsky Pavlo Petrovych Skoropadskyi ( uk, Павло Петрович Скоропадський, Pavlo Petrovych Skoropadskyi; – 26 April 1945) was a Ukrainian aristocrat, military and state leader, decorated Imperial Russian Army and Ukrainian Army ...
, he went into hiding. Hrushevsky felt that Skoropadsky had perverted the cause of Ukrainian statehood by associating it with
social conservatism Social conservatism is a political philosophy and variety of conservatism which places emphasis on traditional power structures over social pluralism. Social conservatives organize in favor of duty, traditional values and social institutio ...
. Hrushevsky returned to public politics after the overthrow of Skoropadsky by the
Directory Directory may refer to: * Directory (computing), or folder, a file system structure in which to store computer files * Directory (OpenVMS command) * Directory service, a software application for organizing information about a computer network's u ...
. He did not, however, approve of the Directory and soon found himself in conflict with it. In 1919, he emigrated, having acquired a mandate from the Ukrainian Party of Socialist Revolutionaries to co-ordinate the activities of its representatives abroad.


Emigration and return to Ukraine

While an émigré, Hrushevsky began to become pro-Bolshevik. Along with other members of the Ukrainian Party of Socialist Revolutionaries, he formed the Foreign Delegation of the Ukrainian Party of Socialist Revolutionaries, which advocated reconciliation with the Bolshevik government. Though the group was critical of the Bolsheviks, especially because if their centralism and repressive activities in Ukraine, it felt that the criticisms had to be put aside because the Bolsheviks were the leaders of the international revolution. Hrushevsky and his group petitioned the Ukrainian SSR government to legalise the Ukrainian Party of Socialist Revolutionaries and to allow the members of the Foreign Delegation to return. The Ukrainian SSR government was unwilling to do so. By 1921, the Foreign Delegation of the Ukrainian Party of Socialist Revolutionaries had ended its activity, but all of its members returned to Ukraine, including Hrushevsky, who did so in 1924.


Later life and death

Back in Ukraine, Hrushevsky concentrated on academic work. Above all, he continued writing his monumental
History of Ukraine-Rusʹ ''History of Ukraine-Rus'' ( uk, Історія України-Руси, translit=Istoriia Ukrainy-Rusy) is a monumental 10-volume monographic series by Mykhailo Hrushevsky. The work is generally considered a magnum opus and a foundation of the c ...
. Although political conditions prevented his return to public politics, he was caught up in the Stalinist purge of the Ukrainian intelligentsia. In 1931, after a long campaign against Hrushevsky in the Soviet press, he was exiled to Moscow. In 1934, under the close watch of the Soviet political police, he died during a routine minor surgery in
Kislovodsk Kislovodsk (russian: Кислово́дск, lit. ''sour waters''; ; krc, Ачысуу) is a spa city in Stavropol Krai, Russia, in the North Caucasus region of Russia which is located between the Black and Caspian Seas. Population: History I ...
, in the Caucasus, at the age of 68.


Legacy

Hrushevsky is presently regarded as Ukraine's greatest 20th-century scholar and one of the most prominent Ukrainian statesmen in Ukraine's history, and he is still famous in Ukraine.Top 11-100
,
Velyki Ukraïntsi The ''Greatest Ukrainians'' ( uk, Великі українці) was a Ukrainian TV project. The programme was the result of a vote conducted to determine whom the Ukrainian public considers the greatest Ukrainians have been in history. According ...
Hrushevsky has been more lionized than Volodymyr Vynnychenko and Symon Petliura were, despite both playing more important roles during the Ukrainian People's Republic, but Vynnychenko was too
left wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...
and Petliura too associated with violence to make a good symbolic figure. Serhy Yekelchyk
Ukraine: Birth of a Modern Nation
Oxford University Press (2007),
Hrushevsky's portrait appears on the 50 hryvnia note. A museum in Kyiv and another in Lviv are devoted to his memory, and monuments to him have been erected in both cities. A street in Kyiv bears his name houses and the Verkhovna Rada (parliament) and many governmental offices. The Ukrainian Academy of Sciences recently initiated the publication of his ''Collected Works'', in 50 volumes.


Family

Mykhailo Hrushevsky had two siblings: a brother, Oleksandr, and a sister, Hanna. * Oleksandr Hrushevsky (1877–1943) was married to Olha Hrushevska (Parfenenko) (1876–1961). * Hanna Shamraieva had two children, Serhii and Olha. His wife, Maria-Ivanna Hrushevska (November 8, 1868 – September 19, 1948), was from 1917 was a member of the Central Rada and a treasurer for the Ukrainian National Theatre.


Bibliography

* Hrushevsky, M., Bar Starostvo: Historical Notes: XV-XVIII, St. Volodymyr University Publishing House, Velyka-Vasyl'kivska, Building no. 29-31, Kyiv, Ukraine, 1894; Lviv, Ukraine, , pp. 1 – 623, 1996.


References


Further reading

* Dmytro Doroshenko, "A Survey of Ukrainian Historiography," ''Annals of the Ukrainian Academy of Arts and Sciences in the US'', V-VI, 4 (1957), 262-74
online
* Thomas M. Prymak, ''Mykhailo Hrushevsky: The Politics of National Culture'' (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1987). . * Lubomyr R. Wynar, ''Mykhailo Hrushevsky: Ukrainian-Russian Confrontation in Historiography'' (Toronto-New York-Munich: Ukrainian Historical Association, 1988). * Thomas M. Prymak, "Mykhailo Hrushevsky in History and Legend," ''Ukrainian Quarterly'',LX, 3-4 (2004), pp. 216–30. A brief summary of this author's views. * Serhii Plokhy, ''Unmaking Imperial Russia: Mykhailo Hrushevsky and the Writing of Ukrainian History'' (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2005). . * Pyrig, Ruslan. Mykhailo Grushevsky and the Bolshevik Rule: The Price of Compromises in '' Zerkalo Nedeli'', September 30, 2006. Available i
Russian
an
Ukraine
* Christopher Gilley, ''The 'Change of Signposts' in the Ukrainian Emigration. A Contribution to the History of Sovietophilism in the 1920s'', Ibidem: Stuttgart, 2009, Chapter 4.


External links


Collection of Hrushevsky's Works at the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies press
*
Oleksander Ohloblyn Oleksander Petrovych Ohloblyn, ( uk, Олександр Петрович Оглоблин; 6 December 1899 – 16 February 1992) was a Ukrainian historian. He was one of the most important Ukrainian émigré historians of the Cold War era. Life a ...
,
Lubomyr Wynar Liubomyr Roman Vynar or Lubomyr Wynar ( ua, Любомир Роман Винар, 2 January 1932 – 16 April 2017) was a Ukrainian-American scholar and historian. Wynar was born in Lwów, Poland (now Lviv, Ukraine) and studied history at the Lud ...

Hrushevsky, Mykhailo
in the '' Encyclopedia of Ukraine'', vol. 2 (1989). * * Yershova, O.
Unknown Ukraine: Mykhailo Hrushevsky
'. Film 86. "Kyivnaukfilm", 1993. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hrushevsky, Mykhailo 1866 births 1934 deaths People from Chełm People from Lublin Governorate Ukrainian people in the Russian Empire Ukrainian nobility Society of Ukrainian Progressors members Ukrainian Socialist-Revolutionary Party politicians Ukrainian nationalists Leaders of Ukraine Members of the Central Council of Ukraine 20th-century Ukrainian historians Historians of Ukraine Ukrainian editors Members of the Shevchenko Scientific Society Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv alumni Ukrainian revolutionaries Russian Constituent Assembly members Presidents of the Ukrainian People's Republic Heads of state of Ukraine Ukrainian exiles in the Russian Empire Burials at Baikove Cemetery Full Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences Magazine founders 19th-century Ukrainian historians