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Grushevsky Mikhail Sergeevich
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Years of life: 1866-1934
Brief bibliographic reference
Grushevsky Mikhail Sergeevich
(1866-1934), Ukrainian historian, philologist and public and political figure.
Academician of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Academy of Sciences of the USSR.
He was born on September 17, 1866 in the city of Kholm in the family of a teacher.
Soon the family moved to the Caucasus, where the future historian spent his childhood and adolescence in Stavropol, Vladikavkaz and Tiflis.
According to Hrushevsky's memoirs, his interest in Ukrainian history and culture was awakened in his childhood.
As a high school student, he independently learned the Ukrainian language.
When the historical and artistic magazine "Kievskaya Starina" began to be published in Kiev in 1887, Mikhail's father subscribed to this publication.
On the pages of "Kiev Antiquity" Grushevsky first got acquainted with the works of V. B. Antonovich.
At the same time, in his gymnasium years, his acquaintance with the historical works of N. I. Kostomarov and M. A. Maksimovich began.
Thus, by the time he graduated from the gymnasium, Hrushevsky was imbued with the concepts of the founders and ideologists of the Kiev school of historians.
Therefore, it was natural for him to go to the Kiev University of St. Nicholas.
Vladimir, where V. B. Antonovich taught.
Antonovich played a crucial role in the formation of Grushevsky as a historian.
Under the guidance of Antonovich, he wrote his first works: "South Russian manor castles in the half of the XVI century." and an essay on the history of the Kiev land.
By this time, the books of P. V. Golubovsky and D. I. Bagaley about the Seversk land, N. V. Molchanovsky about Podolsk, A.M. Andriyashev about Volyn were already published.
Then, in the 1890s and 1900s, there were studies by M. V. Dovnar Zapolsky about the Krivichi and Dregovich, Golubovsky about the Smolensk land, and others.
Grushevsky's essay, written according to the general plan of work of the Antonovich school (first a geographical essay, then a historical one), was distinguished by the scale of the research and the conclusions drawn on its basis.
Arguing for his award of the gold medal, Antonovich especially noted the author's conclusions about the presence of zemstvo boyars in Kiev and the assumption about the absence of princes in Southern Russia after the Mongol conquest.
It should be noted that assumptions, often completely hypothetical, occupied an unreasonably large place in the book for scientific research.
Hrushevsky graduated from Kiev University in 1890.
In 1891, Antonovich announced the imminent prospect of opening a department of general History at Lviv University with a special review of the history of Eastern Europe and began to prepare Hrushevsky for the occupation of this department.
In 1892, Mikhail Sergeyevich passed the master's exams.
The topic of his master's thesis was proposed to him by Antonovich and is devoted to the history of the Lord's starost – an administrative territorial unit of Poland in the XV – XVIII centuries with a predominantly Ukrainian population.
Having discovered the lack of literature on this issue, Grushevsky processed a lot of material from several archives.
Constructed according to the scheme of other "regional" monographs of the Antonovich school, the book " Lordly old age.
Historical essays" (Kiev, 1894) went beyond the scheme of the school: chronologically it belonged to a later time, "geographically" went far to the west.
The author paid the main attention to the urban community; much was said in the work about Magdeburg law.
In 1894, the dissertation was successfully defended, and Grushevsky became a master of Russian history.
After the defense, the scientist went to Lviv, where he took up the department that was waiting for him, which actually became the Department of History of Ukraine.
In Lviv, Hrushevsky launched a stormy activity.
Having headed the Scientific Society named after him in 1897.
Taras Shevchenko, he turned it into a semblance of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences.
The Society organized its work in three sections: historical, philological and natural mathematical.
A museum, a library, a large printing house and a bookstore were arranged at the society.
At the same time, Grushevsky became the editor of the society's "Notes", transformed from a yearbook into a bi monthly.
Until 1913, more than 100 volumes of this publication were published.
Along with" Notes "Grushevsky directed another magazine – "Literary and Scientific Bulletin".
The scientist also gave public lectures in Lviv, expanding the horizons of Galician Ukrainians.
Soon after arriving in Lviv, the scientist also engaged in political activities, joining the Galician National Democrats party.
In his scientific work, Grushnitsky directed his main efforts to create a generalizing ("synthetic") history of Ukraine.
At first, he intended to publish a relatively small three volume work, but as the research work grew, the work in the final version was an unfinished ten volume book (the author intended to bring the presentation to the end of the 18th century, but brought it only to 1658) The scientist's views on the history of Ukraine in the second half of the 17th early 20th century are set out in his other works - "An Essay on the history of the Ukrainian people" and "Illustrated History of Ukraine").
Unlike Grushevsky's early works, in which he was a supporter of the federalist theory of N. I. Kostomarov and V. B. Antonovich, "The History of Ukraine of Russia" was based on a different concept.
The author has developed to the logical end the views of his predecessors.
He believed that the ancestors of the Ukrainians were the ancient tribes of the Ants, in other words, the independent history of the people began with them from the IV century.
According to Hrushevsky's concept, the first independent Ukrainian power was Kievan Rus, which reached its heyday under Vladimir the Saint, who united various Slavic lands.
The scientist identified several reasons for the collapse of the unified Kievan state into separate lands: the formation of new princely centers, and the economic and colonization processes that seized the Dnieper region.
Unlike most representatives of Russian science, Grushevsky considered the successor of Kievan Rus not the Vladimir Suzdal land, but the Galician Volyn land.
As the scientist emphasized, this state " continued... a whole century after the decline of the Kiev land in full force the traditions of great power politics, the princely druzhin regime, socio political forms and culture developed by the Kiev state."
The main content of the late (13th century) history of Galician Volyn Rus, in his opinion, was the gradual incorporation of its neighboring states: Lithuania, Poland and Hungary.
The most important element of Hrushevsky's concept was the idea of the continuous development of the Ukrainian nation.
Many Russian historians believed that the Tatar invasion led to the desolation of the Dnieper and the departure of the population to the Northeast.
The predecessors of Grushevsky: M. A. Maksimovich, V. B. Antonovich and M. F. Vladimirsky Budanov showed that the desolation was not absolute, some population remained.
Hrushevsky, joining this point of view, emphasized that the main role in the settlement of the Dnieper belonged "not to the newcomer, but to the local population, which never completely disappeared."
Hrushevsky gave a relatively detailed description of the community.
He called a community " a self governing public group in various forms (rural community, urban, vechevy district, self governing land).
The princely druzhinny element was opposed to the communal one.
When presenting the history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Grushevsky was in line with the traditions of the Kiev school, considering this state one of the two centers of unification of the ancient Russian lands, along with the Moscow state, the successor of the traditions of Kievan Rus.
The historian emphasized the great importance of the East Slavic population in the political and social structure and life of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
However, as the region becomes Catholicized and Polonized, the previously barely noticeable contradictions between the Eastern Slavs and Lithuanians begin to intensify and eventually lead to the reorientation of the former to Moscow Russia.
Grushevsky observed this kind of trend since 1385.
By the beginning of the 16th century, they were already fully formed, and active polonization after the Lublin Union of Lithuania with Poland in 1569 completed the process of reorientation.
In the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth, Moscow Russia, and the Russian Empire, Ukrainians were either a simple passive object of government or were in sharp opposition to the state system.
According to Hrushevsky, Ukrainians had no influence on the political life of the country.
The only content of their history was only cultural and economic processes.
Speaking about the origin of the Cossacks, Grushevsky distinguished the Cossacks as a household phenomenon, a social system and a term.
The main mistake of the authors of the mid 19th century (Kostomarov, Antonovich, Maksimovic), in his opinion, there was a proliferation of late device Cossacks (early 17th century) in the early period of its history (the end of 15th – beginning of 16th century).
Hrushevsky rightly observed that in the 15th – 16th centuries "the Cossacks more occupations than social status…
There is no trace of the Cossacks as a social class, as any "communities" in our documentary material for a long time, almost until the very end of the 17th century."
The historian believed that the original Cossacks united: the population of the Dnieper region, who lost state power due to the raids of nomads; "industrialists" from more remote regions attracted by the freedom and natural resources of the region, and, finally, fugitive peasants and townspeople fleeing from oppression.
Following Antonovich, Hrushevsky noted the broad democracy of Ukrainians, which was expressed in the creation of a Cossack state.
This feature of Ukrainian statehood came into conflict with the predominance of the monarchical principle in Russia, which ultimately led to the elimination of the autonomy of Ukraine in the second half of the 18th century.
All manifestations of anti Russian speeches were described by Grushevsky sympathetically, although he was far from idealizing the leaders of these movements, for example, I. S. Mazepa.
When presenting the history of the 19th century, the scientist focused on the facts of the Russian Ukrainian confrontation (prohibitions of the Ukrainian language, persecution of intellectuals), while practically nothing was said about the economy of Ukraine, its social development.
In the most concentrated form, Grushevsky's concept was set out in the article "The Usual scheme of "Russian" History and the matter of rational presentation of the history of Eastern Slavs", published in 1904 and which became widely known, prepared in connection with the intention of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences to publish an encyclopedia of Slavic studies.
Grushevsky's concept, with rare exceptions (A. A. Shakhmatov, A. E. Presnyakov), has met with rejection and condemnation in Russian historiography.
In addition, having become the political basis of Ukrainian nationalism, this theory and Grushevsky himself became persona non grata in the socio political life of the Russian Empire.
At the same time, everyone, including the historian's opponents, recognized the significant factual value of the "History of Ukraine of Russia".
During the first Russian Revolution, Grushevsky moved the publication of the "Notes" of the Shevchenko Scientific Society and the "Literary and Scientific Bulletin"to Kiev.
At the same time, he went to St. Petersburg, where he took part in the work of the Ukrainian faction of the first State Duma.
At this time, his numerous journalistic works "Ukrainism in Russia, its requests and needs", "The Ukrainian Question", "Unity or Disintegration of Russia", "Autonomy and the National Question", etc. are published.
In them, the historian advocated the autonomy of Ukraine within the framework of a single Russian state, called on the government to pursue a policy of stimulating the languages and culture of national minorities, including Ukrainians.
Grushevsky's name is becoming popular, but his activities are causing growing discontent among the authorities.
Russian Russian History Department, which was declared vacant after the death of Professor P. V. Golubovsky, was not occupied by Hrushevsky even after receiving the degree of Doctor of Russian History honoris causa from Kharkiv University in 1907.
university.
Russian Russian translations of the popular Illustrated History of Ukraine, as well as three volumes of The History of Ukraine of Rus, devoted to Kievan Rus and the history of the Cossacks, were published in 1904-1914, intended for Russian readers, "An Essay on the History of the Ukrainian People" (based on a course of lectures given by Grushevsky at the invitation of M. M. Kovalevsky at the Russian Free School in Paris).
At the same time, the editor of the historical department of the New Brockhaus – Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary, N. I. Kareev, suggested that Hrushevsky write a general outline of the history of Ukraine.
The prepared text of the essay almost exceeded the entire volume of the dictionary in volume, and the publication did not take place.
Russian Russian scientists, Grushevsky's participation in the scientific life of Russia was quite broad – he corresponded with many Russian scientists, published reviews of Russian books, and his writings were known in Russia.
Meanwhile, the scientist became the recognized head of Galician historians.
His students were: E. Terletsky, M. Korduba, S. Tomashevsky, I. Dzhidzhora, I. Kripyakevich, etc.
In September 1914, Grushevsky intended to resign, move to Kiev and focus exclusively on scientific work.
This was also facilitated by the contradictions within the Ukrainian national liberation movement in Galicia.
Some of its participants went to cooperate with the Poles, which Grushevsky categorically objected to.
In 1913, during the election of the new leadership of the Scientific Society named after T. Shevchenko, all the supporters of Hrushevsky were failed in the voting.
Under these conditions, he did not want to remain as chairman and, after editing 116 volumes of notes, resigned.
However, his plans were not destined to come true – the First World War began.
Military operations caught the Grushevsky family in the Carpathians, where they had their own house.
The scientist was forced to leave first to Hungary, then to Vienna.
Because of the persecution of the police, who saw him as an agent of the Russians, Grushevsky moved to neutral Italy, and then through Romania to Russia.
In mid November 1914, the historian p he moved to Kiev, where he was soon imprisoned on charges of collaborating with the Austrians and anti Russian propaganda.
Grushevsky's imprisonment lasted until February 1915.
The authorities intended to send him to Siberia, and only active requests of Russian historians (in particular, academician A. A. Shakhmatov) and the petition of the president of the Academy of Sciences, Grand Duke K. K. Romanov, led to the change of Siberia to Simbirsk.
After living in Simbirsk for several months, the scientist received permission to move to the University of Kazan.
Hrushevsky did not stop his scientific work, he was preparing the next volume of the "History of Ukraine of Russia".
In the autumn of 1916, he was allowed to move to Moscow.
Here he collaborated in the magazine "Ukrainian Life" edited by S. V. Petlyura, often visited the editor of "The Voice of the Past" S. P. Melgunov, met A. F. Kerensky and A.M. Gorky, who made a great impression on the historian.
After the February Revolution on March 11, 1917, he left Moscow and went to Ukraine.
In Kiev, he immediately became involved in political activities.
He is elected head of the Central Rada of Ukraine.
It should be emphasized that before the October Revolution, Hrushevsky spoke from the positions of the federalist republican structure of Russia, for the autonomy of Ukraine as part of this state.
At the same time, he saw federal Russia as a democratic republic as a stage for the political restructuring of Europe into a European federation.
During the offensive of the Bolshevik troops on Kiev, Grushevsky's house burned down, numerous books and manuscripts were lost in the fire.
Together with other members of the Central Rada, Hrushevsky moved to Volyn and returned to Kiev again with German troops who had occupied Ukraine.
His political attitudes are changing: he has moved away from focusing on Russia.
The fourth universal of the Central Rada, compiled by Hrushevsky, proclaimed the independence of Ukraine on January 11, 1918.
At the same time, Grushevsky still adhered to federalist ideas, but called for the conclusion of an alliance with the new states that arose on the ruins of the Russian Empire, within the framework of the Black Sea Federation that he projected.
The policy of the Central Rada soon began to cause discontent among various segments of the population.
On April 29, at the congress of the Union of Land Owners, a new head of state was elected – the former general of the tsarist Army, P. P. Skoropadsky, proclaimed hetman.
Grushevsky was forced to move to an illegal position.
At the end of 1918, after the overthrow of the Hetman and the coming to power of the Directory, Hrushevsky came out of hiding, tried to revive the ideas of the Central Rada, but, meeting opposition from the new authorities, he left Kiev.
At the beginning of 1919, he briefly lived in Kamianets Podilskyi, where he edited the newspaper " Life of Podillya – - the organ of the Ukrainian Socialist Party.
In March, Hrushevsky left for Galicia, and then for Prague.
In 1922, he left the Ukrainian Party of Socialist Revolutionaries and focused on scientific work.
The lack of necessary sources did not allow him to continue working on his main work, so there is a temporary reorientation of his scientific interests.
Back in 1919, he organized the Ukrainian Sociological Institute in Vienna with the money of the Ukrainian diaspora.
As part of the scientific topics of the Institute's classes, Grushevsky prepared an important theoretical work "The Birth of Society (genetic Sociology)".
Using the available literary sources, as well as the materials of the new volumes of the "History of Ukraine Russia", the scientist began work on a multi volume"History of Ukrainian Literature".
During the author's lifetime, five volumes were published, brought to the beginning of the 17th century.
The sixth volume prepared for publication was released only in 1995.
In fact, this book by Hrushevsky is a study of Ukrainian spirituality.
The inability to continue the full fledged work of a scholar of history abroad led to the fact that Hrushevsky offered his services to Kharkiv (then the capital of Ukraine).
He sympathized with the formation of the USSR on a federal basis and, after receiving permission from the authorities, returned to Kiev in March 1924.
By this time, he had already been elected an academician of the All Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, where he became the head of the historical and philological department.
Numerous commissions and dozens of employees worked under his leadership.
The press organ of the department, the magazine "Ukraine", published both articles by Hrushevsky himself and other employees.
The archeographic activity, traditional for the Kiev school, has resumed: many previously unknown documents of Ukrainian history are published in the publications of the department.
In 1926, the USSR widely celebrated the 60th anniversary of Grushevsky.
By this date, a collection of works dedicated to him was published.
The volumes of the "History of Ukraine of Russia" began to be published again.
He did not stop teaching, he supervised graduate students.
His closest assistant was his only daughter Ekaterina, a talented historian and sociologist (she was later repressed and died in the camp).
Recognition of the merits of the Grushevsky scientist was his election in 1929 as an academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences.
But this success was the last.
The "great turning point" of 1929 – 1931 came.
Under the pretext of reorganization, the magazine "Ukraine" is actually being closed.
Transformations in the structure of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine lead to the removal of Hrushevsky from the leadership of the department.
On March 23, 1931, on the way to Leningrad for the session of the USSR Academy of Sciences, he was arrested in Moscow.
By this time, one of his employees, Professor F. Savchenko was forced to confirm false information during the interrogation: allegedly Hrushevsky returned to Ukraine to continue the political struggle and unite nationalist forces; he pinned his main hopes on the intervention of Western countries and kulak demonstrations; he headed the "Ukrainian Nationalist Center".
The academician was transferred to Kharkiv, where he was interrogated from March 28 to April 3 and forced to plead guilty to all charges.
On April 4, Grushevsky was again transported to Moscow, where he was interrogated by the deputy chairman of the OGPU, Ya.
S. Agranov.
It seemed that the fate of the scientist was predetermined.
But on April 14, he was accepted by Agranov and refused his testimony: "It's hard for me to talk about this," Grushevsky said, " but I donot belong to the breed of heroes and I couldnot stand a 9 – hour night interrogation.
I am an old man, my strength has long been undermined.
Before prison, I had the flu.
I could not withstand the sharp onslaught of the investigator."
Grushevsky was released.
As it became known later, the decisive role in his release was played by the petition of his cousin, in 1931, the deputy chairman of the State Planning Committee, G. Lomov Oppokov.
After his release, Grushevsky lived in Moscow, but the criminal case was not terminated and the scientist lived under the threat of a new arrest.
Probably, on the advice of the same Lomov, in August 1933, Grushevsky sent a letter to the chairman of the State Planning Committee, V. V. Kuibyshev.
In the letter, Grushevsky emphasized: "As a result of this cruel and hasty reprisal, I became a scarecrow.
Everyone is afraid of some kind of touching me.
Ideological, political, and criminal charges are floating around me."
In conclusion, the historian asked to return to him the materials left in Kiev and thereby the opportunity for full fledged scientific work.
In the accompanying note to the letter, Lomov noted: "With Hitler's bid for Ukraine, we need to keep some names of the national liberation movement ready.
Grushevsky is a big name.
It is unlikely that it should be completely hammered into the ground, it will certainly come in handy at the right moment.
It seems to me that Grushevsky should be supported financially and calmed down a little.
I am convinced that he will agree to make any protest against Hitler Rosenberg, etc."
Soon the criminal case was dismissed.
However, the harassment of Hrushevsky in Ukraine did not stop.
In May 1934, the People's Commissar of Education of Ukraine V. P. Zatonsky appealed to the head of the republic S. V. Kosior and P. V. Postyshev with a proposal to exclude Hrushevsky from the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.
Grushevsky's views and past activities were fiercely criticized at all levels.
But they did not have time to exclude Grushevsky.
On November 25, 1934, he died in Kislovodsk, where he was on vacation, during an unsuccessful operation for a carbuncle.
According to the decree of the government, he was buried in Kiev, at the Baykov Cemetery.
Source: Historians of Russia of the XVIII XIX centuries.
Issue 5.
Moscow, 1998.
Books
Grushevsky M. S.
Illustrated history of Ukraine.
- St. Petersburg: Tipo litografiya Akc.
O va "Self education", 1913— - 556 p.
Grushevsky M. S.
An essay on the history of the Kievan land from the death of Yaroslav to the end of the XIV century.
- Kiev: Type.
The Imperial University of St. Vladimir V. I. Zavadsky, 1891— - 538 p.
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