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Galician Ukrainian political factions and was the driving force behind the development of the Shevchenko Scientific Society, which in the absence of official Ukrainian academic institutions both in Galicia and in Russia, served as an unofficial Ukrainian Academy of Sciences for all the Ukrainian people. Hrushevsky also befriended the famous Galician Ukrainian writer, Ivan Franko, and drafted him into the work of the Society. Several years later, Franko reflected upon Hrushevsky’s enormous impact upon Galician Ukrainian intellectual and social life and wrote: Whoever might ascribe to himself the service of reforming [the Shevchenko Scientific] Society, this one thing must be said: the service of organizing its scholarly work belongs fully to Prof. M. Hru shevsky. A man of wide learning, unbreakable will, and inexhaustible energy, he unites in himself the seriousness and criticism of a scholarly historian, a youthful enthusiasm for the cause of the elevation of his native people, and a love of labor and forbearance that can only be truly valued by those who know in all its fullness that Galician quagmire into which the young professor, who had just arrived from Ukraine, was headed, and with which he had to fight with all the means of intelligent pedagogy. Franko then added: In the course of this, he had to survive thousands of unpleasantries and neutralize formal battles which on one occasion even led to a crisis that threatened to destroy the whole venture. He was able to put himself above all petty intrigues, party and factional antagonisms. Without looking at their party position, he was able to introduce into the Society all persons inspired with the idea of the Ukrainian renaissance and enthusiastic about im portant work; and this benefited the common cause and was the reason for the growth of that maturity and tolerance which ... makes possible the con centration of powers of different types and differ ent shades of opinion in a common task. In reorganizing and strengthening Galician Ukrainian intellectual society, Hrushevsky created a powerful force which pressured the Russian government to pay atten tion to the existence of the Ukrainian people in what was then widely regarded as simply “South Russia.” Hrushevsky prevailed with the onset of the revolution of 1905 in Russia. The Tsar was compelled to allow the formation of a Russian parliament or State Duma and the ban on the public use of the Ukrainian language was temporarily suspended. The Galician historian now shifted the focus of his activity to Saint Petersburg, where he advised and helped to organize a Ukrainian parliamentary “club,” and to Kiev where he organized a new scholarly society. By 1907, however, the revolution had run its course and political reaction set in throughout the Russian Empire. The Tsar’s government was strengthened and restrictions were again placed upon the publication of Ukrainian books. This situation grew even worse with the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. Ukrainian activists were arrested, Ukrainian publications were shut down, and Ukrainian institutions closed. Hrushevsky, who was still a Russian subject, returned to the Empire after the outbreak of war, but he was immediately arrested and sent off into exile. By this time, Hrushevsky had acquired the halo of a national hero. The liberal Russian press campaigned for his release from exile and his compatriots considered him to be a “martyr for the sake of Ukraine.” Thus when revolution again broke out in 1917, the diminutive historian was immediately elected head of the Ukrainian Central Rada or Council which was formed in Kiev to defend the national interests. Under Hrushevsky’s g uidance, the Central Rada gradually acquired the status of a national parliament and in a series of four great “universals” or declarations went from national autonomy within a democratic federal Russia to full and inde pendent statehood for Ukraine. The change from fede ralism to full independence was a new one for Hru shevsky who had long argued that Ukrainian national demands could be fully satisfied by a wide autonomy within a democratic federal Russia, but the pressure of events was unrelenting and Hrushevsky merely seemed to be riding the crest of a great wave which no one could really control. In the end, he did, in fact, author much of the Fourth Universal which declared Ukrainian independence and his person was finally and indisso lubly associated with the independent Ukrainian Demo cratic Republic of 1918. The Ukrainian Democratic Republic did not last long. The Central Rada was chased out of Kiev by the Bolsheviks, restored briefly by the Germans, and finally overthrown in a conservative coup d’etat. By 1919, Hrushevsky had made his way into exile in Vienna where he criticized the Ukrainian leaders who succeeded him but continued to work for the national cause. While the Bolsheviks consolidated their hold on Ukraine, Hrushevsky worked on a great multi-volume History of Ukrainian Literature and published a series of books on modern Ukrainian history and politics. During the revolution, Hrushevsky had come to be known as a democratic socialist and throughout the early 1920s he criticized the Bolsheviks and the extremist Ukrainian Right from this position. By 1924, however, Hrushevsky was running out of funds and finding it difficult to continue his work in exile. Moreover, Soviet rule in Ukraine was still not absolute and, in compromise, Lenin’s government had announced a policy of “Ukrainization” of the Ukrainian Republic. Both sides called a temporary truce. Hru- ’’HALUE ЖИТТЯ”, СІЧЕНЬ 1993 19
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