In Search of “Good Russians”: Ukrainian-Russian Encounters in the United States During the First Cold War
Abstract
The article is devoted to the topic of Ukrainian-Russian intellectual encounters in exile during the Cold War. The author focuses on Ukraine’s and Russia’s mutual representations in historical narratives in connection with their respective discourses of national identity. The article also describes sporadic attempts at establishing Ukrainian-Russian public dialogue in exile starting in the early 1960s. All of them were initiated and conducted by Ukrainian public activists and intellectuals. The author concludes that participants on both sides ascribed opposing meanings to historical terms. Russian authors, on the one hand, consistently used the modern designation “Ukrainian” as a synonym for “Little Russian,” which automatically situated Ukraine within the “pan-Russian” historical framework. Ukrainian historians, on the other hand, tried to reinterpret “Russian” as a modern national designation rather than an imperial one. Hence the Ukrainian-Russian dialogue had no chance of succeeding unless Russian participants agreed to rethink their discourse of national identity. It is no wonder that many American observers remained confused about the nature of Ukrainian-Russian debates: to them, they looked like a dead-end situation. Thus, rather than trying to find alternative interpretations of Ukrainian and Russian history, most Western specialists followed either one or the other respective national narrative.
Keywords:
Russia, Ukraine, exile, Cold War, identity, historiographyReferences
[Anonymous]. “Faith in ‘Eternal Russia.’” The Ukrainian Quarterly 7, no. 3: 197–202.
Bassin, Mark et al., eds. Between Europe and Asia: The Origins, Theories, and Legacies of Russian Eurasianism. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2015. (Crossref)
Bazanov, Petr. “Professor N.E. Andreev i ego vklad v izuchenie russkoi istorii i kul’tury” [“Professor N.E. Andreev and His Contribution to the Study of Russian History and Culture”]. Dialog so vremenem, no. 68 (2019): 215–23.
Bazanov, Petr. “Russkii myslitel’ Nikolai Ivanovich Ul’ianov o fenomene Ukrainskogo separatisma” [“The Russian Philosopher Nikolai Ivanovich Oulianoff on the Phenomenon of Ukrainian Separatism”]. Vestnik Russkoi khristianskoi gumanitarnoi akademii 16, no. 1 (2015): 157–68.
Bellezza, Simone Attilio. “Making Soviet Ukraine Ukrainian: The Debate on Ukrainian Statehood in the Journal Suchasnist’ (1961–1971).” Nationalities Papers 47, no. 3 (2019): 379–93. (Crossref)
Berdykhovs’ka, Bohumila. Prostir svobody. Ukraïna na shpal’takh paryz’koї “Kul’tury.” Кyiv: Krytyka, 2005.
Bilinsky, Yaroslav. “Political Relations between Russians and Ukrainians in the USSR: The 1970s and Beyond.” In Ukraine and Russia in Their Historical Encounter, ed. Peter J. Potichnyj et al., 165–200. Edmonton: CIUS Press, 1992.
Byford, Andy et al. “Introduction: Transnationalizing Russian Studies.” In Transnational Russian Studies, edited by Andy Byford, Connor Doak, and Stephen Hutchings, 1–34. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2019. (Crossref)
Byrnes, Robert F. A History of Russian and East European Studies in the United States: Selected Essays. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1994.
Cracraft, James. “Introduction.” In From Kievan Rus’ to Modern Ukraine: Formation of the Ukrainian Nation, edited by Mykhailo Hrushevsky, Omeljan Pritsak, and John Stephen Reshetar, i-ii. Cambridge, MA: Ukrainian Studies Fund, Harvard University, 1984.
Demkovych-Dobriansky, Mykhailo. Ukraїna i Rosiia: istorychni narysy na temy rosiis’koho imperiializmu [Ukraine and Russia: Historical Essays on Russian Imperialism]. Rome: Ukrainian Catholic University, 1989.
Dmytryshyn, Basil. Moscow and the Ukraine, 1918–1953: A Study of Russian Bolshevik Nationality Policy. New York: Bookman Associates, 1956.
Dvornichenko, Andrei I. Russkii istorik Georgii Vernadskii. Puteshestvie v mire ludei, idei i sobytii. St. Petersburg: Evraziia, 2017.
Edgerton, William B. “Review of Between Gogol’ and Ševčenko: Polarity in the Literary Ukraine: 1798–1847, by George S. N. Luckyj.” Slavic Review 34, no. 1 (March 1975): 189. (Crossref)
Engerman, David. Know Your Enemy: The Rise and Fall of America’s Russian Experts. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.
Fedevych, Klymentii I., and Klymentii K. Fedevych. Za viru, tsaria i Kobzaria: malorosiisʹki monarkhisty i ukraïnsʹkyi natsionalʹnyi rukh (1905–1917 roky). Kyiv: Krytyka, 2017.
Fedotov, Georgii. Sobranie sochinenii v dvenadtsati tomakh, vol. 9. Moscow: Martis, 2004.
Filipowicz, Mirosław. Emigranci i Jankesi. O amerykańskich historykach Rosji. Lublin, 2007.
Gerasimov, Ilya. “Narrating Russian History after the Imperial Turn.” Ab Imperio, no. 4 (2020): 21–61. (Crossref)
Gerber, Theodore P. The State of Russian Studies in the United States: An Assessment by the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES), July 2015. New York: ASEEES & Carnegie Corporation of New York, 2015. https://www.aseees.org/sites/default/files/downloads/FINAL-ASEEES-assessment-report.pdf.
Gyidel, Ernest. “Ob ‘Ukrainofil’stve’ Georgiia Vernadskogo, ili variatsiia na temu natsional’nykh i gosudarstvennykh loial’nostei.” Ab Imperio, no. 4 (2006): 329–69. (Crossref)
Halecki, Oscar. “Imperialism in Slavic and East European History.” American Slavic and East European Review 11, no. 1 (Feb. 1952): 1–26. (Crossref)
Halperin, Charles J. “(Re)Discovering George Vernadsky.” Journal of Modern Russian History and Historiography, no. 11 (2018): 134–57. (Crossref)
Hillis, Faith. Children of Rus’: Right-Bank Ukraine and the Invention of a Russian Nation. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2013. (Crossref)
Holubenko, Petro. Ukraїna i Rosiia u svitli kul’turnykh vzaiemyn [Ukraine and Russia in Light of Their Cultural Relations]. New York, Paris, and Toronto: Ukraїns’ke Slovo, 1987.
Hrushevsky, Michael. A History of Ukraine. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1941.
Hrushevsky, Mykhailo, Omeljan Pritsak, and John Stephen Reshetar. From Kievan Rus’ to Modern Ukraine: Formation of the Ukrainian Nation. Cambridge, MA: Ukrainian Studies Fund, Harvard University, 1984.
Hunczak, Taras, ed. Russian Imperialism from Ivan the Great to the Revolution. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1974. (Crossref)
Huttenbach, Henry R. “The Ukraine and Muscovite Expansion.” In Russian Imperialism from Ivan the Great to the Revolution, ed. Taras Hunczak, 167–97. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1974. (Crossref)
Kappeler, Andreas et al., edited by Culture, Nation and Identity: The Ukrainian-Russian Encounter (1600–1945). Edmonton: CIUS Press, 2003.
Kappeler, Andreas. ‘Great Russians’ and ‘Little Russians’: Russian-Ukrainian Relations and Perceptions in Historical Perspective. Seattle, WA: The Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, University of Washington, 2003.
Kasianov, Georgii, Valerii Smolii, and Oleksii Tolochko, eds. Ukraїna v rosiis’komu istorychnomu dyskursi: problemy doslidzhennia ta interpretatsiї [Ukraine in Russian Historical Discourse: Problems of Research and Interpretation]. Kyiv: Instytut istoriї Ukraїny, 2013.
Kerensky, Alexander. “Dismembering Russia.” New York Times, July 29, 1951.
Kerensky, Alexander, Michael Karpovich, Georgy Fedotov et al. “Russia’s History.” New York Times, July 8, 1951.
Kohanik, Peter G. Rt. Rev. Highlights of Russian History and the “Ukrainian” Provocation. Passaic, N.J.: [author’s edition], 1955.
Kohanik, Peter G. Rt. Rev. The Biggest Lie of the Century, “The Ukraine”: Historical Facts Concerning Russia and “The Ukraine.” New York: Russian Orthodox Clergy Assoc. of North America, 1952.
Kohut, Zenon E. History as a Battleground: Russian-Ukrainian Relations and Historical Consciousness in Contemporary Ukraine. Saskatoon: Heritage Press, 2002.
Kolsto, Paul. “Is Imperialist Nationalism an Oxymoron?” Nations and Nationalism 25, no. 1 (2019): 18–44. (Crossref)
Kononenko, Konstantyn. Ukraine and Russia: A History of the Economic Relations between Ukraine and Russia (1654–1917). Milwaukee: Marquette University Press, 1958.
Korchmarchyk, F.B. Dukhovni vplyvy Kyieva na Moskovshchynu v dobu het’manskoї Ukraїny [Spiritual Influences of Kyiv on Muscovy in the Age of Hetman Ukraine]. New York: NTSh Press, 1964.
Kosarenko-Kosarevych, Vasyl’. Moskovs’kyi sfinks: mit i syla v obrazi Skhodu Evropy [The Muscovite Sphinx: Myth and Power in the Image of Eastern Europe]. New York: [author’s edition], 1957.
Kravchenko, Volodymyr. The Ukrainian-Russian Borderland: History versus Geography. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2022. (Crossref)
Kravchenko, Volodymyr. Ukrainian Historical Writing in North America during the Cold War: The Struggle for Recognition. Lexington Books, 2022.
Krupnytsky B. Teoriia III Rymu i shliakhy rosiis’koї istoriohrafiї [The Third Rome Theory and Pathways of Russian Historiography]. Munich: Church Archeography Commission, 1952.
Kurilla, Ivan and Victoria I. Zhuravleva, eds. Russian/Soviet Studies in the United States, Amerikanistika in Russia: Mutual Representations in Academic Projects. Lexington Books, 2015.
Kuzio, Taras. Crisis in Russian Studies? Nationalism (Imperialism), Racism and War. Bristol: E-International Relations Publishing, 2020.
Kuzio, Taras. Russian Nationalism and the Russian-Ukrainian War: Autocracy-Orthodoxy-Nationality. London and New York: Routledge, 2022. (Crossref)
Kuzio, Taras. “US Support for Ukraine’s Liberation during the Cold War: A Study of Prolog Research and Publishing Corporation.” Communist and Post-Communist Studies 45, no. 1 (2012): 51–64. (Crossref)
Lunt, Horace. “Notes on Nationalist Attitudes in Slavic Studies.” Canadian Slavonic Papers/Revue Canadienne des Slavistes 34, no. 4 (December 1992): 459–70. (Crossref)
M.V., “Pidsumky dyskusiї pro ukraїns’ko-rosiis’ki vzaiemyny,” [Summary of the Discussion on Ukrainian-Russian Relations]. Suchasnist’, no. 6 (1962): 125–7.
Manning, Clarence A. A History of Slavic Studies in the United States. Milwaukee: Marquette University Press, 1957.
Margolin, Arnold D. George Fedotov and His Predictions on the Future Fate of the USSR and of Its Enslaved Peoples. Scranton, PA: Ukrainian Workingmen’s Association, 1955.
Martin, Terry. The Affirmative Action Empire: Nations and Nationalism in the USSR, 1923–1939. New York: Cornell University Press, 2001.
Miller, Aleksei et al., eds. Rossiia-Ukraina: Istoriia vzaimootnoshenii. Moscow: “Iazyki Russkoi kul’tury,” 1997.
Ohloblyn O. Moskovs’ka teoriia III Rymu v XVI-XVII st. [The Muscovite Theory of the Third Rome in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries]. Munich: Church Archeography Commission, 1951.
Pap, Michael S., ed. Russian Empire: Some Aspects of Tsarist and Soviet Colonial Practices. Cleveland: John Carroll University and Ukrainian Historical Association, 1986.
Polons’ka-Vasylenko, N. Teoriia III Rymu v Rosiї protiahom XVIII ta XIX storich [The Third Rome Theory in the Course of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries]. Munich: Church Archeography Commission, 1951.
Potichnyj, Peter J. et al., eds. Ukraine and Russia in Their Historical Encounter. Edmonton: CIUS Press, 1992.
Pritsak, Omeljan. “The Problem of a Ukrainian-Russian Dialogue.” In Ukraine and Russia in Their Historical Encounter, ed. Peter J. Potichnyj et al., ix-xiii. Edmonton: CIUS Press, 1992.
Prokop, Myroslav. “Do pytannia ukraïns’ko-rosiis’kykh vzaiemyn.” [Concerning the Question of Ukrainian-Russian Relations]. Suchasnist 6, no. 1 (1961): 49–61.
Prokop, Myroslav. Ukraїna i ukraїns’ka polityka Moskvy [Ukraine and Moscow’s Ukrainian Policy]. Munich: Suchasna Ukraїna, 1956.
Prymak, Thomas. Gathering a Heritage: Ukrainian, Slavonic, and Ethnic Canada and the USA. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2015. (Crossref)
Prymak, Thomas. Maple Leaf and Trident: The Ukrainian Canadians During the Second World War. Toronto: Multicultural History Society of Ontario, 1988.
Riasanovsky, Nicholas. “Old Russia, the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.” American Slavic and East European Review 11, no. 3 (Oct. 1952): 171–88. (Crossref)
Riasanovsky, Nicholas V. “Review of Proiskhozhdenie ukrainskago separatizma by N.I. Ulianov.” Russian Review 26, no. 4 (Oct. 1967): 411–13. (Crossref)
Smal-Stocki, Roman. A Tribute of the Shevchenko Scientific Society to Professor Manning: Collection of Papers, Presented at the Conference Honoring Prof. Clarence A. Manning, PHD On His 70th Birthday Anniversary. New York: Shevchenko Scientific Society, 1964.
Smolii, Valerii et al., eds. Ukraїna i Rosiia v istorychnii retrospektyvi, 3 vols. Kyiv: Naukova Dumka, 2004.
Sokhan’, Pavlo, ed. Pereiaslavsʹka rada 1654 roku (istoriohrafiia ta doslidzhennia). Kyiv: Smoloskyp, 2003.
Soroka, Mykola. “On the Other Side: The Russian-Ukrainian Encounter in Displacement, 1920–1939.” Nationalities Papers 37, no. 3 (May 2009): 327–48. (Crossref)
Sysyn, Frank. “English-Language Historiography in the Twentieth Century on the Pereyaslav Agreement.” Russian History/Histoire Russe 32, no. 3–4 (2005): 513–29. (Crossref)
Torbakov, Igor. “Becoming Eurasian: The Intellectual Odyssey of Georgii Vladimirovich Vernadsky.” In Between Europe and Asia: The Origins, Theories, and Legacies of Russian Eurasianism, ed. Mark Bassin et al., 113–36. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2015. (Crossref)
Tromly, Benjamin. Cold War Exiles and the CIA: Plotting to Free Russia. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019. (Crossref)
Trotsky, Lev. “Ob Ukrainskom voprose” [On the Ukrainian Question]. Biulleten’ oppozitsii, no. 77–78 (1939). Accessed December 14, 2023. https://www.marxists.org/russkij/trotsky/works/trotm465.html. (Crossref)
Ukrainskii separatism v Rossii. Ideologiia natsional’nogo raskola [Ukrainian Separatism in Russia. The Ideology of National Schism]. Moscow: Moskva Press, 1998.
Vernadsky, George. Bohdan, Hetman of Ukraine. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1941.
Vernadsky, George. “Preface.” In Michael Hrushevsky, A History of Ukraine, ed. Oliver J. Frederiksen, V–XIV. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1941.
Volkov, E.V. “Antibol’shevistskaia rossiiskaia ėmigratsiia v SShA: k voprosu o spetsifike diaspory,” Magistra Vitae: ėlektronnyi zhurnal po istoricheskim naukam i arkheologii, no. 1 (2017): 152–62.
Wynar, Lybomyr. Mykhailo Hrushevsky. Ukrainian-Russian Confrontation in Historiography. Toronto, New York, and Munich: Ukrainian Historical Association, 1988.
Zelenko, I. “Throwing Away Friends.” The Ukrainian Quarterly 7, no.1 (1951):10–3. (Crossref)
University of Alberta https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2232-6699
