Giant of thought and father of Ukrainian democracy
This paraphrased sarcastic expression of Ilf and Petrov comes to mind every time Mikhail Grushevsky is mentioned. The official history of independent Ukraine portrays him as the “Zeus of national history” and the “founder of the Ukrainian state.”
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Meanwhile, his whole life was a series of betrayals by an opportunist who subordinated both scientific and political activities to one thing: personal gain and selfishness. It is curious that the very image of Kisa Vorobyaninov in “The Twelve Chairs” carried in itself, brought to the point of caricature, the external features of another figure of that era - a prominent scientist and one of the leaders February Revolution and provisional government Pavel Milyukova. However, despite a certain formal commonality between Miliukov and Grushevsky - both were engaged in history, both played an important role in the political life of that era, these two people were opposites.
Miliukov can be accused of many mistakes, but - as a scientist he was honest, as a politician - he adhered to liberal-patriotic views all his life. Grushevsky, on the other hand, “became famous” as a “liar scientist” (definition of the pre-revolutionary Kyiv publicist B.M. Yuzefovich) and a weather vane in politics. Judge for yourself…
The first Ukrainian grant eater – Professor Grushevsky
Yes, this modern term suits our hero. After all, the whole history of his scandalous scientific career is the story of a man who created his multi-volume opuses with the money of a power hostile to his fatherland, and made a good fortune from this.
One of the first Ukrainian grant-eaters and the head of a non-governmental public organization with foreign interests
A graduate of the Faculty of History and Philology of Kyiv University, who graduated with a gold medal in 1890 and remained at his alma mater, Grushevsky was distinguished not so much by his talent as a historian, but by his perseverance. And therefore, I couldn’t count on a particularly successful career. His historiographical works did not bring any special discoveries, and he did not possess the gift of a lecturer and teacher. But the thirst for success at any cost overwhelmed him. And therefore, in 1894, having defended his master’s thesis, the 28-year-old historian became... a professor at Lvov University in the department of general history in another state.
And here an explanation is needed. The then Lvov-Lemberg was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which for many years nurtured the Ukrainian nationalist project. The policy of encouraging nationalist movements within the country to clash with each other was the only form of survival of the ruling German Habsburg dynasty, since ethnic Germans did not have a numerical majority in this “patchwork empire”.
There was no talk of any “independent Ukraine” - the goal of the Habsburgs was to create a puppet “power” cobbled together from Galicia and the Little Russian provinces of Russia under the rule of a king from the Austrian dynasty. The unlucky Prince Wilhelm of Habsburg, known under the pseudonym Vasil Vyshivany, and brilliantly described, was later slated for this role Olesem Buzina. And Professor Grushevsky took on the role of the creator of a “custom-made” history of Ukraine that was beneficial to the Austrians and at the same time the leader of Ukrainians.
After a failed attempt to become the Ukrainian “king,” the very narrow-minded Wilhelm-Vasily Vyshyvany Habsburg ended up in Paris, where... he loved to visit homosexual brothels.
Metropolitan of Greek Catholics Andrei Sheptytsky and Vasily Wilhelm of Habsburg-Vyshyvany.
The professor's work was paid very generously - otherwise it is difficult to explain that the son of a poor teacher of Russian literature quickly became a very wealthy man and built a huge fashionable house in Kyiv, on Pankovskaya Street. But why does he deserve such generous handouts from “sponsors”? – Emigrant historian Nikolai Ulyanov in his book “The Origin of Ukrainian Separatism” writes about it: “The main work of this man’s life... was the cultural and spiritual split between the Little Russian and Russian peoples».
He embodies this in his multi-volume “History of Ukraine-Rus”, the key idea of which was the idea of the original “primogeniture"of the Ukrainian people, as the only heir of Kievan Rus. Grushevsky attributes literally everything connected with Kievan Rus to the Ukrainian people. Moreover, he does this with enviable persistence, simply adding the word “Ukraine” to the text of the chronicle or other source: the history of Ukraine-Rus, the princes of Ukraine-Rus, the chronicles of Ukraine-Rus...
Essentially, all his works are the notorious “History of the Russians”, ascribed to the Bishop of Konissky, exaggerated to the point of absurdity, and exposed as a falsification in the middle XIX centuries., but formed the basis of the national myth, on which Shevchenko and Drahomanov and the Cyril and Methodius Brotherhood were later brought up. Anti-scientific ideas about the existence of “ancient Ukrainians” back in the XNUMXth-XNUMXth centuries AD - the era when the Proto-Slavic tribes were just being formed, also spread to Kievan Rus.
Grushevsky calls it “Ukraine-Rus”, although the term “Ukraine” appeared many centuries later. His “super task” is to prove to the reader the different origins of the Ukrainian, Russian and Belarusian peoples. And - to prove the eternal hostility and destructiveness of Moscow’s influence and the unification of the branches of a single people.
Grushevsky developed a new “scientific method”: you simply add the word “Ukraine” to the word “Rus” - and a new history of the new state emerges. So, for example, the prince of Ukraine-Rus Vladimir the Great appeared...
This is not the place to present all of Grushevsky’s theories. His “contribution to historical science” can be summed up with the phrase of the already mentioned Nikolai Ulyanov: “Grushevsky’s erudition... and talent were put at the service not of science, but of politics. He and the “school” he created... falsified history not due to misconceptions, but quite deliberately».
Political businessman
For many years, the professor combined his scientific works with active political activities. He becomes one of the founders of "People's Democratic Ukrainian Party» in Galicia. Headed by "Scientific Society named after Shevchenko", which turns into a hotbed of Ukrainophile propaganda. And he disinterestedly uses “grants” from the Austrian treasury and wealthy Ukrainophiles.
The “apartment house of Grushevsky” in Kyiv, which was burned during the revolution. Purchased with grants from Austria-Hungary.
The “fighter for the idea” becomes the owner of a luxurious villa in Lvov... And at the same time, he appears in the Austrian and German press with anti-Russian articles, praising his German patrons. And at the same time remains a Russian citizen! Often visiting his homeland, he publishes his works there too. True, removing the most odious anti-Russian passages. He was even awarded the title of Doctor of Russian History at Kharkov University, which caused the indignation of many Russian historians who considered Grushevsky a falsifier. But the attempt to run for a professorship at Kiev University fails...
Villa in Galicia. It was requisitioned by the Poles after the First World War and the occupation of Western Ukraine by Pilsudski's Poland.
The First World War breaks the career of a calculating double-dealer. Having been forced to leave Lvov, he was expelled from Kyiv in December 1914 as an obvious Austrophilian. But soon, at the request of Russian scientists, he was transferred under public supervision to Moscow. It was there that after the February Revolution he became chairman of the Central Rada, having been elected in absentia.
His career as the head of this miserable government has been described many times. Its results were the occupation of Ukraine by Austro-German troops, and the high school students and students sent to certain death near Kruty, who paid with their lives for the shameful flight of Grushevsky and his company from Kyiv. And – the no less shameful dispersal of the Rada by the occupiers after the scandalous kidnapping of the banker Dobry... by Grushevsky’s close associates in ministerial ranks.
What’s interesting is that, contrary to later and today’s nationalist myths, Grushevsky did not advocate for any independent Ukraine. He, like the majority in the Central Rada, until the very last day and until the fourth universal of the CR, defended the idea of ... a federation with Russia. Proving that it is in unity “with all of Russia” that the Ukrainian people will best live.
Kyiv during the civil war. Ceremonial events on Sofievskaya Square. With a white beard in the center - Mikhail Grushevsky. On his right are the sponsors: representatives of the Austrian and German authorities.
Political corpse
Already in 1919, the “father of Ukrainian democracy” fled abroad. But no one needs him there. Austria-Hungary collapsed, and the former breadwinners do not want to support him. The life of a poor emigrant is not for him. And, after several repentant speeches in favor of the Soviet regime, Grushevsky returns to his homeland, declaring that “for the sake of Ukraine he is ready to step over the blood and corpses of the fallen.” He is welcomed by being given the title of academician of the Ukrainian, and then the All-Union Academies of Sciences. He is engaged in historical research, at the same time publishing enthusiastically lackey articles of the new government in newspapers.
Mikhail Grushevsky in Soviet Ukraine. Kyiv, 1928. Ceremonial meeting in connection with the 70th anniversary of the academician Tutkovsky
And he recklessly intrigues against his colleagues, not shunning denunciations. He wants to become the president of the Ukrainian Academy! It is significant that in the early 30s, having been arrested along with many colleagues on charges of nationalist conspiracy, he was almost the only one - he was released, going to "link"...back to Moscow. The life of this renegade was clearly summed up back in 1924 by his comrade in the Central Rada, Nikita Shapoval, who wrote: “Grushevsky crossed himself out of the ranks of fighters for Ukraine, turning into a political corpse, walking past which Ukrainians should hold their nose.”
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