Between Provincial Moscow and Psychological Europe: Ukrainian Intellectuals in Search of Identity in the 1920s

In the 1920s two different cultural and ideological orientations competed in Ukraine: Moscow seen as a centre of ‘all-Union Philistinism’ was set against ‘psychological’ Europe. Surprisingly, their bearers belonged to the same socialist camp and, moreover, were similarly affiliated with the Bolshevik Party. In the 1920s Ukrainian national communists, among whom was a prominent writer Mykola Khvylovy, introduced and conceptualized the idea of Europe as cultural and political opposition to Russian dominance. The notion of ‘Europe’ was proposed by Khvylovy in his earliest political essays written during the so called Literary discussion of 1925-1928, the last free debate in the Soviet Ukraine. At the outset of this public debate, ‘Europe’ was regarded in cultural term, representing an opposition of ‘eternal cultural values’ versus provincialism of socialist realism, and later as ‘free development’ against ‘ideological dominance.’ Finally, this set-off entered political realm, calling to get away from Moscow steering the course toward Western European tradition. Yet, the notion of ‘Europe’ was used not in its political or geographical meaning, but, according to Khvylovy, in psychological terms. Thus, this paper will touch upon ideological dissent of Ukrainian communist intelligentsia in the 1920s shaped as an opposition Europe versus Russia, discuss key points of Khvylovy’s concept of ‘Europe’ in its development throughout the 1920s and the precondition for Ukrainian messianism in European development.