ANTY-COLONIAL DISCOURCE OF UKRAINIAN THINKERS OF THE LATE 19th AND THE FIRST THIRD OF 20th CENTURY

In: Ukrai͏̈noznavčyj alʹmanach, Heft 22, S. 105-110

Abstract

The problems of colonialism and post-colonialism are very important for the modern world. Postcolonial studios are one of the key components of intellectual discourse. However, most of them have a serious flaw, namely the reduction of the topic to the collapse of colonial expansion and colonial exploitation to racial and geographical factors. These studios are about as colonizers view Europeans, and as oppressed peoples of the colonies view residents of other parts of the world. These researchers also do not pay attention to the fact that the Russian Empire had a colony at one time, not in America or Africa, but most of its colonies were in Asia. In addition, the Russian Empire had colonies in Europe: Finland, part of Poland, most of Ukraine, and so on. In turn, the German empire held in colonial condition the part of Poland that belonged to it. In Europe, therewere other colonies of other states. Therefore, at the end of the 19th and in the first third of the 20th century, the concept of "colony of the European type" appeared in socio-political thought. Ukrainian thinkers of this age (namely, Julian Bachinsky, Ivan Franko, Lesja Ukrainka Sergey Mazlakh and Vasyl Shahray, Mikhaylo Volobuev and others) by using certain methodologies investigated various aspects of the existence of such colonies, primarily of the case of Ukraine. Bachinsky puts the focus on purely economic factors that determine the colonial status of Ukraine, Franco – on national-political, Lesja Ukrainka – on existential, Mazlakh and Shahray – emphasized the aggregate of national, political and economic. At the same time, none of them took as the basis of the ethnolinguistic factor, like some Ukrainian researchers of colonialism do now. The article focuses on the ideas of Mikhaylo Volobuyev, which combine economic, political, socio-cultural and existential factors. Volobuyev, in addition, thoroughly criticized the substantial limitations of the racial-geographical approach to the problem of colonialism. Many of his ideas are relevant to modern challenges, others need rethinking in the context of the mutual struggle between different projects of globalization. Thus, in Ukraine at the end of the 19th century and in the first third of the 20th century there was a powerful intellectual direction of anti-colonial socio-political thought that did not reduce the problem of colonialism either to the racial factor, or to the geographical, or to the ethno-linguistic one. The author believes that such an integrated, multi-factor approach to the problems of colonialism and vision of overcoming the colonial heritage is the most urgent one. Therefore, it is expedient and necessary to appeal to the heritage of Ukrainian thinkers who turned to anti-colonial discourse.