Hrushevskyi-Professor among His Colleagues: Cooperation, Conflicts, Reception

Abstract

The purpose of the research paper is to ascertain the nature and dynamics of M. Hrushevskyi’s relations with his colleagues at Lviv University.

The scientific novelty of the study is that it is the first special attempt to study comprehensively the issue of M. Hrushevskyi’s communication with the employees of Lviv University.

Conclusions. It is noted that M. Hrushevskyi’s relations with Polish colleagues were a kind of mirror of the interethnic dialogue in the Dnipro Ukraine region (Naddniprianshchyna). Favoring the ideas of friendly cooperation and united by the understanding of the high civilizational mission of the University, Polish and Ukrainian intellectuals, however, stumbled over the discrepancy of the vision of Galicia as a national Piermont, from which the restoration of the political subjectivity of their peoples should begin. The prominent scholar and his opponents equally understood Lviv University as a breeding ground for the national intelligentsia. Therefore, Polish representatives, in every possible way, pushed Ukrainians away from positions of influence in this institution and tolerated their presence solely due to the stipulations of state law.

In turn, the Ukrainian historian, implementing the project of catch-up modernization of the Eastern Galicia community, endeavored to expand in every possible way those modest opportunities for national culture in the leading educational institution of the region which had persisted after the long-term discriminatory lawmaking of local elites.

Substantiating the correctness of their actions, the parties appealed to different arguments: Polish professors insisted on corporate tradition and internal order, while M. Hrushevskyi insisted on the priority of the national law on the bilingual status of the University and emphasized the humanitarian rights of each community to native-language schooling.

The mutual exclusivity of these discourses led to the escalation of the conflict from a chronic phase into an acute one, manifested in student boycotts, riots, secession, and even murder. Although the Polish elites managed to limit essentially the scope of activity in the land of their principled opponent, the traditions of cultural resistance formed by him and the representatives of the national intelligentsia educated in his historical ideology had a noticeable impact on the course of Polish-Ukrainian relations in the interwar period.