The Beginning of National Revival in Russian-Ruled Ukraine

At the beginning of the 19^th century a new cultural current called Romanticism was in great fashion in Europe. The Romantics believed that through national folklore, traditions, and histories the soul of a nation could be understood. They glorified everything unique in every nation, especially the life of peasants and their culture. The life-style of the aristocracy was pretty much the same all around Europe and therefore was not a subject of interest for the Romantics. The aristocrats in Europe wore the same cloth, had the same manners, and even spoke the same language (French). In contrast, the peasants of various nations differed sharply from each other. The Romanticism stimulated European intellectuals to study histories and cultures of their nations. In Ukraine in that period a number of books about national folklore and history appeared. The reading of those books led to the ideas that Ukrainians had their own unique culture and constituted a separate nation. These ideas contradicted to the Russian propaganda claiming that Ukrainians were a branch of the Russian people.

The First Ukrainian Political Organization: The Brotherhood of Sts Cyril and Methodius

At the end of 1845 the first Ukrainian secret political organization appeared in Ukraine. It was called the “Brotherhood of Sts Cyril and Methodius” and included such prominent Ukrainians as M. Kostomarov, V. Belozersky, M. Hulak, P. Kulish, T. Shevchenko, and others. The major figure of the brotherhood was a noted historian Mykola Kostomarov.

The members of the Brotherhood had rather idealistic ideas. They talked at their meetings about liquidation of the Russian empire and unification of all Slavic peoples into a federal parliamentary republic where each nation would have an autonomous status and equal rights. The capital of the republic was to be Kyiv. They thought that the ideals of freedom, equality, and brotherhood would help bring all Slavs together. They also believed that Ukrainians were the most religious people among Slavs and thus their historical mission was to save all Slavs.

The organization was destroyed in 1847 as its ideas of political freedoms were in sharp contrast with the autocratic principles of the Russian Empire. Since the members of the Brotherhood did not work out any practical steps for fulfilling their plans, the government did not punish them severely. They were exiled to provincial towns and were forbidden to occupy some state positions. According to the official police report, the Brotherhood was not a political organization, but rather a discussion club of some “crazy intellectuals.”

The most radical of the members of the Brotherhood of Sts Cyril and Methodius was Taras Shevchenko, Ukraine’s greatest poet. He lamented the lack of unity among Ukrainians. He despised the Ukrainian elite that chose to be Polonized or Russified. Such an elite was called by him “the dirt of Warsaw and Moscow.” He criticized them for their attempts to find a master for themselves and to be servants rather than free people. In his poems Shevchenko protested against serfdom and tsarist oppression in Ukraine. The poet played a great role in the development of Ukrainian national consciousness. His patriotic poetry inspired future generations of Ukrainian fighters for freedom.

Shevchenko’s punishment was severer than those of other members. When the Brotherhood was destroyed and its members were arrested, the police found in Shevchenko’s flat caricatures and poems where he made fun of the tsar and his wife. The tsar was furious at that and ordered to send the poet to the army where he was supposed to serve as a soldier for 10 years without rights of drawing pictures and writing poems. ¹