Yuri Kotsyubinsky and Fata Morgana of Ukrainian nationalism
For many days, lost in the ocean on a fragile boat, exhausted by a long journey, the sailors do not see land. The earth is the only hope for salvation and life. And then the lookout shouts: “Earth! Earth!".
What rejoicing begins on the ship!
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But as soon as it becomes clear that this is just a mirage, happiness gives way to despair; people turn into animals capable of any cruelty. According to legend, mirages are sent to seafarers by the evil sea fairy Morgana. FataMorgana is the title of the story about a bloody peasant revolt by the classic of Ukrainian literature Mikhail Mikhailovich Kotsyubinsky.
Did his eldest son Yuri fall under the influence of another fairy, Morgana, the Bolshevik, who lured with the mirage of communism?
This is stated by the authors of the nationalist version of Ukrainian history. Very much they don't like itthat the descendant of the icon of Ukrainian culture was a conscious Bolshevik, and not a “Svidomo” nationalist.
Knights of the Ukrainian Red Cossacks: Yuri Kotsyubinsky and Vitaly Primakov
Letter without envelope
Ukrainian writer Sergei Efremov in his open letter published in newspaper "Nova Rada" after the capture of Kyiv by the Bolsheviks in January 1918, he called Yuri Kotsyubinsky, appointed commander-in-chief of the military operation by V.I. Lenin, “Judas,” “a traitor to the Ukrainians.” Did the Bolsheviks really use a famous surname?
Mikhail Kotsyubinsky met with V.I. Lenin, corresponded with Maxim Gorky, was married to revolutionary Vera Ustinovna Deisha... In general, he was one of the most advanced intellectuals of his time. Is it any wonder that the eldest son, using his father’s rich library of literature prohibited by the tsarist censorship, was early inspired by the idea of fighting for the establishment of a just society?
And this struggle was not in words, but in deeds. Instead of the written syllable, Yura, in a circle of like-minded high school students, honed the oral syllable. He was seriously preparing to become a revolutionary.
The current Euromaidan decommunizers must destroy not only monuments to Lenin, but also such prominent Ukrainian socialists as Mykhailo Kotsyubynsky (left) and Ivan Franko (center). However, in Chernigov, a monument to fellow countryman Kotsyubynsky has already been successfully toppled on the local Walk of Fame.
In 1917, Yuri Kotsyubinsky was in Petrograd and took an active part in the overthrow of the Provisional Government by the Bolsheviks. It is in Petrograd that an initiative group of Ukrainians is formed, which goes to make Ukraine a Soviet Republic, first to Kyiv, and then, having failed, to Kharkov.
In Kharkov, thanks to the fact that Kotsyubinsky’s childhood friend Vitaly Primakov manages to win over some military units of the Central Rada to the side of the Soviet government, the project “Soviet Ukrainian People’s Republic” acquires real political weight, and the campaign against Kyiv begins.
Of course, it could not take place without material and military assistance from Soviet Russia. The largest detachment of this assistance, to which Primakov’s newly created Red Cossacks subsequently joined, were troops under the command of the left Socialist Revolutionary M.A. Muravyov. And the tyrant Muravyov, ignoring V.I. Lenin’s order about the supremacy of Yu. Kotsyubinsky, mercilessly shelled Kyiv, and after the capture unleashed the most severe terror on the population. It is not surprising that in the eyes of many contemporaries, and even some historians, Yuri Kotsyubinsky turned out to be “extreme”. And the name of his famous father served as an aggravating circumstance for prosecutors.
In the history of Ukraine there was a prototype of Strelkov - the adventurer Mikhail Muravyov, who acted contrary to Lenin’s orders. The former tsarist officer even looks like Strelkov.
But looking for the speck in Kotsyubinsky’s eye, Sergei Efremov did not notice the log in his own. It was the nationalist howl of such sirens as S. Efremov, M. Grushevsky, V. Vinnichenko that threw 300 inexperienced youths into a certain and completely senseless wild death near the Kruty station on January 16th, similar to what was done in February 2014. Sergei Efremov, and not Yuri Kotsyubinsky, was at the mercy of the fairy Morgana, a mirage of the nationalist state.
The Ukrainian state, only the real one, will be built by Yuriy Kotsbinsky, but that will happen later. And in January-February 1918 there was too much to do. It was necessary to form resistance forces against the German interventionists.
Golden Mirage
Yuri Mikhailovich worked well with a saber, liberating Ukraine, including his native Chernihiv region, from the enemies of the Fatherland. But the time has come to work with the pen. For almost ten years, from 1920 to 1929, he was in diplomatic work. This is where his knowledge of languages, his gift of oratory, and, by the way, the international fame of his father’s name came in handy.
During this service, one interesting incident happened to Yuri Mikhailovich. But before I talk about it, I propose to recall the hype in the press raised on the eve of the declaration of independence of Ukraine in 1991 regarding the gold of Hetman Polubotko.
Not only journalists (God be with them, wretched ones, what can we take from them), but also deputies from high stands proclaimed that as soon as the independence of Ukraine was proclaimed, all problems would immediately be solved: rivers of milk would flow between the banks of jelly, and, besides this, Each Ukrainian (in his own hands) will receive about 32 kilograms of Hetman Polubotko’s gold, hidden from the tyrant Peter the Great in the most reliable English bank in the world.
“Peter I visits Pavel Polubotok in the casemate of the Peter and Paul Fortress.” V. Volkov. Oil. XIX century
Why not the magic of fairy Morgana? And in 1922, Yuri Kotsyubinsky, who worked as ambassador in Vienna, was approached by someone who came from Australia and called himself Ostap Polubotko. He presented photocopies of documents about the contribution of Hetman Polubotko and agreed for a modest reward to transfer the right to receive this money to Ukraine.
In 1908, the dream of gold not only of Hetman Polubotok, but also of Doroshenko, excited the minds of ordinary people, depriving such scientists as Professor D.I. Yavornitsky (a recognized authority on the history of the Cossacks) from rest and sleep. Bourgeois and nobles, landowners and girls tried to find out if they were related to the hetmans. In the newspaper "Russkoe Slovo" about this issue appeared the note, which somewhat cooled the ardor of gold miners:
“Polubotko’s legacy (Letter to the editor)
I would like to draw the attention of the “heirs” to the following: The journal “Bulletin of Finance, Industry and Trade” is published in Russia. In his No. 3, on page 78, there is a balance sheet of an English bank. In the liability account we see the figure of private deposits on January 9th - 42 pounds sterling, while a year ago there were only about 328 157/40 million. If Polubotkov’s capital exists and was once deposited in an English bank, then it should appear in this account, and since 1 million pounds is half less than 2 million rubles, then there are no hetman’s millions in England. A. Sakhnovsky."
Due to circumstances beyond his control, it was not Kotsyubinsky who went to London, but another representative of the embassy. Negotiations with the bank led nowhere. Either Great Britain did not recognize the independence of Ukraine, or the authenticity of Ostap Polubotok’s documents was questioned. Or maybe there was no gold at all.
The last flash
Yuri Mikhailovich is also needed at home. Since 1930 he has been the Deputy People's Commissar of Agriculture of the Ukrainian SSR. Since 1933 - Deputy Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, and, at the same time, Chairman of the State Planning Committee of the Ukrainian SSR. He was repeatedly elected as a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (b) of Ukraine, a member of the Organizing Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (b) of Ukraine.
According to the recollections of people who crossed paths with Kotsyubinsky at that time on official duties, he stood out for his civilian suit (many officials of that time wore military-style clothes), emphasized by his intelligence. He often entered into discussions with specialists, revealing knowledge of the most complex issues. He expressed his thoughts in simple, understandable language, without, however, simplifying the essence.
But in 1934 he had a final, deadly meeting with the ghost of Ukrainian nationalism. Yuri Mikhailovich Kotsyubinsky is accused of nationalism, removed from all posts and sent to the Gulag. He will never return from there. Information about Kotsyubinsky's death varies. According to one version, he died of stomach cancer in 1938, and according to another, he was shot in 1937. However, his memory returned.
Through the efforts of his relatives, after the death of I.V. Stalin, he was rehabilitated. His bright personality attracts the attention of writers. Ivan Tsyupa, with the heroic story about him “Through Thorns to the Stars,” began the Ukrainian series of biographies (analogous to ZhZL) “Zhittya slavetnykh” (“Lives of the Illustrious”).
But the Ukrainian director Timofey Levchuk was best able to convey the enlightening image of the revolutionary in the film “The Kotsyubinsky Family.” It’s simply amazing that in 1970, 30 years later, a film was released that looks organically together with the film by the brilliant Alexander Dovzhenko “Shchors”. Moreover, the historical facts covered in Levchuk’s film precede the events of Dovzhenko’s film and are connected with them.
The Kotsiubynsky family on the film poster
The Kotsyubinsky family in life. In the middle – Yurko
This is how, after death, with the very line of his life, straight, like a ray of light, Yuri Kotsbinsky dispels the fog of deception, dreams and hatred of nationalism.
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