On Ethnic Self-identification of Dnipro Ukraine Peasantry in the late 19th – early 20th century
Abstract
The purpose of the research paper is to find out the ideas of the peasantry of Dnipro Ukraine (Naddniprianshchyna) about their ethnicity and interests related to it.
The scientific novelty is in the fact that detailed data on the ethnic self-identification of the peasantry of Dnipro Ukraine are presented, and a balanced picture of the ethnic self-awareness of the peasant stratum is given. The results of the study deny the unequivocal interpretation of the ethnic self-identification of the peasantry, which in the scientific literature states either the absence of ethnic self-identification of the peasantry, or a high level of national consciousness. The research paper shows various trends of ethnic progress in the environment of the peasant community, the process of transforming the peasantry from an ethnographic mass into a fully formed national unity, and the reasons for the ethnic transformation of the peasantry.
Conclusions. In the ideas of the peasant community of Dnipro Ukraine about their own ethnicity, different trends were combined. Some peasants did not identify themselves ethnically and were cautious about attempts to develop national culture. At the same time, the peasantry distinguished themselves from representatives of other ethnic groups. Interest in Ukrainian-language literature could be observed among a certain part of the peasantry. There were also some peasants who clearly identified themselves ethnically, were characterized by an understanding of national interests, and showed readiness to protect them.
The mentioned trends constituted qualitatively different levels of ethnic development of the peasantry, which entered the period of formation of national consciousness and intensively passed the path from the ethnographic mass to the national community. The reasons for the ethnic transformation had become the cultural, propaganda, political, and ideological work of the intelligentsia, the participation of the peasantry in the revolutionary social and political struggle and military events, as well as the involvement of the peasant economy in the sphere of commodity-market relations with the representatives of a foreign environment, which led to the formation of ethnic identity among the peasantry. At the same time, during the studied period, obviously, not all representatives of the peasant stratum acquired a fully formed ethnic consciousness.
Funding. The study was prepared based on the results of fundamental research ‘The Socio-cultural Space of Ukraine in the Second Half of the Nineteenth – First Third of the Twentieth Century: the Peasant-centric Dimension’ (state registration number: 0123U101600) with the support of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine.
References
Abrazumova, O.M. & Kornovenko, S.V. (2017). Social and political activism of USRR villagers duaring the years of NEP. Cherkasy: ChNU [in Ukrainian].
Bohan, S.M. (2003). The insurgent movement in Odesa province in 1920-1923 (Extended abstract of Candidate’s thesis). Odesa [in Ukrainian].
Borodaevskiy, S. (1906). From a trip to Ukraine. Ukrainskij vestnik, 10, 731-737 [in Russian].
Demartino, A.P. (2015). The insurgent movement in the Middle Dnieper region of Ukraine (1920s) (Candidate’s thesis). Kyiv [in Ukrainian].
Domanytskyi, V.M. (2013). Who are we? What are we? And what do we need?. In Iz naukovo-tvorchoi spadshchyny, (Vol. 3, pp. 272-278). Cherkasy: vydavets Chabanenko Yu.A. [in Ukrainian].
Drovoziuk, S. (2002). The issue of national consciousness of the peasantry in the 20-30s of the XXth century in Ukrainian historiography. Etnichna istoriia narodiv Yevropy, 13, 30-33 [in Ukrainian].
Dontsov, D. (1912). Ukraine in modern european literature. Ukrainskaya zhizn, 12, 44-55 [in Russian].
Dontsov, D. (1913). “The friends of the Ukraine”. English press about Ukraine and the Ukrainian issue. Ukrainskaya zhizn, 10, 34-39 [in Russian].
Fedkov, O.M. & Mahas, V.O. (2011). “To the peasantry – power and land”. All-Russian peasant union in Ukraine. Kamianets-Podilskyi: Kamianets-Podilskyi natsionalnyi universytet imeni Ivana Ohiienka [in Ukrainian].
Filiniuk, V.A. (2016). Everyday life of the peasantry of Right-Bank Ukraine in the period of the Central Rada. (Candidate’s thesis). Kamianets-Podilskyi [in Ukrainian].
Gamarnik, Ya. (1922). Results of 1921 and immediate tasks. Zhurnal Kievskogo gubernskogo ekonomicheskogo soveshaniya, 1, 3-19 [in Russian].
Gordienko, M. (1912). Capitalism and Russian culture in Ukraine. Ukrainskaya zhizn, 9, 16-31 [in Ukrainian].
Haukhman, M.V. (2012). The Ukrainian peasantry of Right-Bank Ukraine in nation-building (1905-1914): between Russian and Ukrainian projects. Storinky istorii: zbirnyk naukovykh prats, 33, 98-108 [in Ukrainian].
Horban, T.Yu. (2010). The evolution of the idea of national self-determination in Ukrainian social and political thought of the late 19th and first quarter of the 20th centuries. (Extended abstract of Doctor’s thesis). Kyiv [in Ukrainian].
Horban, T.Yu. (2011). The problem of formation of the nation and national consciousness in the views of Ukrainian public and political figures of the early 20th century. Problemy istorii Ukrainy XIX – pochatku XX st., ХVIII, 294-301 [in Ukrainian].
Ivanov, V.V. (1893). Modern village in Kharkiv province. Harkovskij sbornik, 7, 1-28 [in Russian].
K. (1909). All-Russian intelligentsia in Ukraine. Ukrainska khata, 9, 489-497 [in Ukrainian].
Karoieva, T.R. (2016). The development of book culture as a factor in the modernisation of society in the Ukrainian provinces of the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries. (Doctor’s thesis) Kyiv [in Ukrainian].
Karr, E. (1990). History of Soviet Russia. Book 1: Bolshevik Revolution. 1917-1923. Vol. 1-2. Moskva: Progress [in Russian].
Khmil, I.V. (1992). The First All-Ukrainian Peasants Congress (May 28 – June 2, 1917). Kyiv: Instytut istorii Ukrainy NAN Ukrainy [in Ukrainian].
Khmil, I.V. (1977). The working peasantry of Ukraine in the struggle for Soviet power. Kyiv: Naukova dumka [in Ukrainian].
Konyk, O.O. (1994). Activities of peasant deputies from Ukraine in the 1st and 2nd State Dumas. (Extended abstract of Candidate’s thesis). Kyiv [in Ukrainian].
Kornovenko, S.V. & Gerasimenko, O.V. (2017). Peasant rebel. Peasant revolution in Ukraine in 1902-1917. Cherkasy: Yu.A. Chabanenko [in Ukrainian].
Krasnosiletskyi, D.P. (2007). The anti-Bolshevik movement of peasants in the right-bank part of the USSR in 1920-1924. (Extended abstract of Candidate’s thesis). Chernivtsi [in Ukrainian].
Kravchenko, B. (1997). Social change and national consciousness in the 20th century in Ukraine. Kyiv: Osnovy [in Ukrainian].
Kutashev, I.V. (2003). The peasant movement in Ukraine (March 1917 – April 1918). (Extended abstract of Candidate’s thesis). Kyiv [in Ukrainian].
Lebed, D. (1922). The peasantry in the revolution. In The October Revolution: the first five-year period, (pp. 77-81). Kharkov: Gosudarstvennoe izdatelstvo Ukrainy [in Russian].
Lunacharskij, A. (1912). On nationalism in general and the Ukrainian movement in particular. Ukrainskaya zhizn, 10, 9-22 [in Russian].
Masnenko, V.V. (2018). How Ukrainian peasants became warriors (to the socio-cultural and military aspects of the revolution of 1917-1921). Ukrainskyi selianyn: zbirnyk naukovykh prats, 18, 49-59 [in Ukrainian].
Mykhailiuk, O.V. (2007). The peasantry of Ukraine in the first decades of the 20th century: socio-cultural processes. Dnepropetrovsk: Innovatsiia [in Ukrainian].
Mykhailiuk, O.V. (2009). The peasantry of Naddnieper Ukraine in the first decades of the 20th century. (1900-1922): sociocultural transformations. (Extended abstract of Doctor’s thesis). Dnipropetrovsk: DNU [in Ukrainian].
N.P. (1906). In the village of Lebedyntsi, Chyhyryn district, 18 June. Ridnyi krai, 26, 12 [in Ukrainian].
Nesterov, O.V. (2001). The peasant insurgent movement in the right-bank Ukraine (1919). (Extended abstract of Candidate’s thesis). Kyiv [in Ukrainian].
Ohloblin, O. (1928). The problem of the Ukrainian economy in the scientific and public thought of the 19th and 20th Centuries. Chervonyi shliakh, 9-10, 165-179 [in Ukrainian].
Ostapchuk, T. (1913). Babintsi, Skvyra district (Kyiv region). Maiak, 25, 12-13 [in Ukrainian].
Padalka, L.V. (Comps.). (1905). What the population of Poltava province said about their old way of life. Poltava: Elektricheskaya tipografiya G.I. Markevicha [in Russian].
Pogodin, A. (1912). The need for a Ukrainian programme. Ukrainskaya zhizn, 12, 91-93 [in Russian].
Pravoberezhec, V. (1914). Policies of the Polish governing spheres towards Ukraine. Ukrainskaya zhizn, 12, 15-36 [in Russian].
Prokopchenko, S. (1917). Ukrainian library for chliborob. Hliborob, 13-14, 396-397 [in Russian].
Prysiazhniuk, Yu.P. (2007). The Ukrainian Peasantry of Nadnipriansk Ukraine: A Sociomental History of the Second Half of the Nineteenth – Early Twentieth Centuries. Cherkasy: Vertykal [in Ukrainian].
Rauziv, S. (1919). On the hamlets. Poltavskyi kooperator, 5, 29-30 [in Ukrainian].
Reznikov, V.V. (2016). Peasant insurgency in the Slobozhanshchyna (1918-1923). (Extended abstract of Candidate’s thesis). Kharkiv [in Ukrainian].
Riabchuk, M. (2000). From Malorossia to Ukraine: the paradoxes of belated nation-building. Kyiv: Krytyka [in Ukrainian].
Rumiantseva, S.S. (2002). The language issue in the activities of the national intelligentsia of Naddniprianshchyna Ukraine (1900-1917). (Extended abstract of Candidate’s thesis). Kyiv [in Ukrainian].
Rusova, S. (1914). An Englishman on the Ukrainian issue. Ukrainskaya zhizn, 5-6, 86-91 [in Russian].
Sadovskij, V. (1913). At the Kiev co-operative congress. Ukrainskaya zhizn, 7-8, 52-60 [in Russian].
Selianyn (1906). Kamyshna, Myrhorod district, Poltava province. Ridnyi krai, 46, 15 [in Ukrainian].
Spectator (1906). In Ukraine. Ukrainskij vestnik, 2, 124-127 [in Russian].
Shcherbatiuk, V.M. (2013). Peasant insurgent movement in Ukraine 1917-1921: Ukrainian historiography. (Extended abstract of Doctor’s thesis). Kyiv [in Ukrainian].
Shporliuk, R. (2016). The formation of modern nations: Ukraine-Russia-Poland. Kyiv: Dukh i litera [in Ukrainian].
Sokolov, P. (1906). Ukraine in the Russian state budget. Ukrainskij vestnik, 2, 97-103 [in Russian].
Sriblianskyi, M. (1913). On the border (Hlukhiv district in Chernihiv region and Sevsk district in Orel region). Maiak, 6, 10-11 [in Ukrainian].
Tataryn, T. (1906). Ukrainian magazines in rural areas. Ridnyi krai, 40, 8-9 [in Ukrainian].
Trehub, H. (2012, 12 liutoho). Roman Shporliuk: A modern nation begins with words: “We are different, but we are all Ukrainians”. Istorychna pravda. Retrieved from https://www.istpravda.com.ua/articles/2012/02/12/72390/ [in Ukrainian].
Ya, V. (1906). Kolodyste. Zvenyhorodka district. Ridnyi krai, 21, 14 [in Ukrainian].
Venherska, V.O. (2013). ‘Ukrainian projects’ and nation-building in the Romanov and Habsburg empires: ideas, concepts, practices (late 18th – early 20th century). (Extended abstract of Doctor’s thesis). Kyiv [in Ukrainian].
Vermenych, Ya.V. (2016). Constructing Ukrainian identity: national and regional projects in the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Kyiv: Instytut istorii Ukrainy NAN Ukrainy [in Ukrainian].
Verstiuk, V.F. (2003). The Ukrainian national liberation movement (March-November 1917). Ukrainskyi istorychnyi zhurnal – Ukrainian historical journal, 3, 63-81 [in Ukrainian].
Vidnianskyi, S.V. (2015). The First World War as a manifestation of the crisis of European civilisation and its impact on the peoples of central and eastern Europe. In The First World War of 1914-1918 and Ukraine. Ukrainian lands in the centre of a civilisational crisis, pp. 7-27. Kyiv: Klio [in Ukrainian].
Vilson, E. (2004). Ukrainians: an unexpected nation. Kyiv: K.I.S. [in Ukrainian].
Volkovynskyi, V.M. (2015). Hostilities on Ukrainian soil. In The First World War of 1914-1918 and Ukraine. Ukrainian lands in the centre of a civilisational crisis, (pp. 28-44). Kyiv: Klio [in Ukrainian].
Yefremov, S. (1910). Taras Shevchenko. Nashe delo, 9, 6-7 [in Russian].
Yakymynska, L.V. (2012). Historiographical analysis of the mentality of the Ukrainian peasantry. Chornomorskyi litopys, 5, 135-140 [in Ukrainian].
Yavorskyi, M. (1921). History of class struggle in Ukraine. An outline of lectures given at the Higher Party School. [Kharkiv]: Vseukrainske derzhavne vydavnytstvo [in Ukrainian].
Yavorskyi, M. (1925). Ukraine in the epoch of capitalism. Third edition: In debates of imperialism. Kharkiv: Derzhavne vydavnytstvo Ukrainy [in Ukrainian].
Yavorskyi, M. (1927). The problem of Ukrainian, national, democratic revolution of 1917, its historical basis and moving efforts. Chervonyi shliakh, 2, 108-134 [in Ukrainian].
Z–kho, I. (1906). Lashchovo, Uman district. Ridnyi krai, 26, 12-13 [in Ukrainian].
Zozulia, N.M. (2018). The insurgent movement in the Middle Dnieper region (1918-1922) according to the memories of senior officers of the UNR army. (Extended abstract of Candidate’s thesis). Cherkasy [in Ukrainian].
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
