REASONS FOR THE CREATION OF THE ANTI-BOLSHEVIK BLOC OF NATIONS (ABN): EASTERN EUROPEAN AND UKRAINIAN DIMENSIONS

In: Ukrai͏̈noznavčyj alʹmanach, Heft 29, S. 149-157

Abstract

The article is devoted to a relatively poorly studied page in the history of the Ukrainian diaspora, the Anti-Bolshevik Bloc of Nations (ABN), an anti-communist organization of the period of the Cold War. The author identifies the reasons for the emergence and formation of the ABN, which restored its operation on April 16, 1946 in Munich. Later, almost 20 diaspora groups from Eastern Europe and Central Asia were merged into this structure. The author analyzes the reasons for the participation of Eastern European and Ukrainian diasporas in the formation of the bloc. In particular, the author analyzes the materials of already existing studies on various types of anti-communist movements. The article focuses on the fact that the Eastern European anti-communist movement represented by the ABN was primarily anti-Bolshevik and differed from other anti-communist organizations, first of all, in the idea of establishing independent national states after the disintegration of the USSR. Special attention is paid to the role of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (Bandera) – OUN(B) in the creation of the concept of joint struggle of enslaved nations. Some other similar Eastern European projects and their cooperation with the ABN, in particular, the Polish emigrant organization ―Prometheus‖ and representatives of the Russian ―White‖ movement, are also considered. The research also emphasizes that the concept of joint struggle of subjugated nations against imperial rule, which emerged in Eastern Europe at the beginning of the 19th century, lasted, respectively, until the 20th century. At the beginning of the Cold War, when anti-communism became an integrative ideology of Western countries, the ABN, led by Yaroslav Stetsko, managed to establish contacts with representatives of Asian and Latin American anti-communist organizations. This allowed them to become part of a transnational anti-communist network. The stages of formation and entry of the ABN into the transnational anti-communist network are determined. Recent researches and publications on the outlined problem are analyzed. The author bases his study on unpublished documents and materials.