Issue 138 (2018)

L. Mohylnyi, Dr. habil. (History), Professor.

Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Kyiv, Ukraine

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17721/1728-2640.2018.138.11

SOCIAL AND POLITICAL VIEWS OF VSEVOLOD HANTSOV

At the end of the 19^th and in the early 20^th centuries the Ukrainian intelligentsia attached great significance to a personal contribution of everyone in the field of science and culture to the development of one’s homeland. One of those who shared this opinion was Vsevolod Mykhailovych Hantsov. He worked at the Petersburg university until 1918, then, in February 1919, he moved to Kyiv and joined the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences and the Ukrainian Party of Socialist-Federalists, which was headed by S. Yefremov. Also, he supported the Ukrainian People's Republic in the struggle against the Bolsheviks.

In the Ukrainian and foreign historiography, the social and political views of Hantsov have received little attention. Therefore, in the current research, the evolution of V. Hantsov's views during the revolutionary events and the struggle for independence in 1917-1920's have been analyzed. His autonomous beliefs, which were formed under the influence of the Ukrainian community of St. Petersburg and his participation in the Ukrainian national movement, have been defined. The research has revealed that, like most participants in the Ukrainian national movement, Hantsov came to a firm belief that the formation of an independent state, which could finally solve the national, social, economic, scientific, and educational issues of the Ukrainian people, became an urgent need in his time. One of the ways of such self-affirmation was his scientific work in the field of linguistics. The little-known side of V. Hantsov's activities was his participation in the underground anti-Bolshevik associations, namely in the Brotherhood of Ukrainian Statehood (BUD) 1920-1924, which sought to restore the UPR (Ukrainian People's Republic). In the article, it has been revealed that the members of the BUD tried to become the focal point of the national movement on the territory of Kyiv region, condemned the Bolshevik policy of war communism, treated the NEP (New Economic Policy) and the policy of Ukrainization with a great deal of mistrust and caution. Taking into consideration the fact that so-called marginal representatives of the Ukrainian movement, including V. Hantsov, have been little explored so far, the research on the socio-political views of the figures of the Ukrainian national movement is extremely urgent in a modern scientific discourse.

Key words: Hantsov Vsevolod, Ukrainian Central Rada, Yefremov Sergiy, Brotherhood of Ukrainian State, linguistics.