The Trap of Non-territoriality in East Central Europe: Polish National Autonomy in Revolutionary Ukraine (1917-1921)

Statement about the STSM:

During a short-term research stay at the University of Vienna, Department of East European History, I conducted research on the history of the implementation of the 1918 law of national-personal autonomy in revolutionary Ukraine in 1917-1921. I was a visiting scholar within the ERC project on the history of Non-Territorial Autonomy in Europe and was supervised by Prof. Dr. Boerries Kuzmany.

STSM purpose:

My current project examines the history of Polish national autonomy in revolutionary Ukraine in 1917-1921.The main part of the research considers the perception and understanding of the idea of national autonomy by the Polish democratic movement and their attitudes toward Ukraine’s state independence.

Description of the work carried out during the STSM:

My work plan and timeline were designed in two main phases. Each one comprised of tasks deliberates, and research phases. During the first stage of my stay, I discussed my project with team members of the ERC project on the history of Non-Territorial Autonomy in Europe. I presented my understanding of the historical trajectories of the idea of national-personal autonomy in revolutionary Ukraine in 1917-1921. My point was to
explain this phenomenon in a wider transnational dimension. I was asking about the theoretical approach for the history of this idea from a Ukrainian historical perspective and needed historical souses. Yuki Murata shared with me necessary archival and press materials on the perception of the idea of NTA in Russian political circles in revolutionary Ukraine. Dr. Oskar Mulej presented some important positions on the historical semantics and interpretation of notions. Prof. Dr. Boerries Kuzmany made available for me some important historiographical sources on the issue of several ideological and geographical concepts, such as the idea of civilizational mission, “rampart of nations” (antemurale), “Little Russia”, Red Rus’, “Southern Russia”. This conceptual apparatus is necessary for me to explore the consideration by the Polish democratic movement of the Ukrainian state idea and the process of inverting of political and social hierarchies after the empire’s fall. During the second stage of my stay, I discussed my previous conclusions according to the work with literature and archival sources with team members of the ERC NTA project at the University of Vienna. However, more essential was the discussion of prospects of the future collaborative research project on the history of Non-Ukrainians in revolutionary 1917-23 from a transnational approach. This project could be a wider continuation of the implementation of national autonomy and solution of national minority issues in Ukraine, but more concentrates on the case studies of different national groups in revolutionary times from the bottom and top levels.

Description of the main results obtained:

My special focus was on the creation and function of the Polish national autonomy and their perception by contemporaries and creators. I also dealt with different conceptions of Polish national activists concerning to the future Ukrainian state and the place of Poles in the new building of political and socioeconomic hierarchies. On these rationales, I discussed and improved my article on the history of Polish national autonomy in
revolutionary Ukraine in 1917-1921 with Prof. Dr. Boerries Kuzmany and team members of the ERC NTA project (Yuki Murata, Timo Aava, and Dr. Oskar Mulej). This paper will be submitted to a special number “The Theory and Practice of Non-Territorial Autonomy in Europe – a Historical Perspective” of the academic journal “Nations and Nationalism” by June 15th, and which will be out in this year.