Open AccessOVERCOMING BY UKRAINIAN HISTORIOGRAPHY PREDICTIONS OF SOVIET RESEARCHES IN THE COVERAGE OF M. REPNIN’S FIGURE
Author(s) -
Bohdan Vuyko
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
ukraïnoznavčij alʹmanah
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2520-2626
DOI - 10.17721/2520-2626/2019.24.8
Subject(s) - historiography , ukrainian , elite , autocracy , empire , politics , context (archaeology) , reactionary , political science , ideology , history , law , democracy , political economy , sociology , philosophy , linguistics , archaeology
The article traces the overcoming of the modern Ukrainian historiography of the bias of the Soviet researchers on the coverage of the figure of M.G. Repnin. It is established that, for ideological reasons, Soviet scholars wrote little about representatives of the ruling elite of the imperial era. The governor-general form of government was only highlighted as a reactionary, brute force of autocracy and serfdom in the regions. The position of military governors was considered in the same context. The individual traits of the military governors were not taken into account, materials that revealed their worldview, socio-political beliefs were not examined. Their vision of the prospects for the development of a trusted region were considered solely from prejudiced class positions. It has been proved that the positive moment of the recent Ukrainian historiography was that when it came to new source information, it overcame the Soviet approach to treating governors-general as tsarist satraps who tried only to preserve autocracy in the remote regions of the Russian Empire. The appeal to the chief figures of the Governor-General, their individual traits, has enabled modern scholars to break the tradition of Soviet historiography in this matter. The governor-general is a form of government, and government officials themselves are seen as intermediaries in establishing constructive relations between the center and the regions. Thus, the main activity of Governors-General, including M. G. Repnin, convinced researchers, was directed to the benefit of the regions. An important achievement of modern Ukrainian historiography was the fact that the works specifically dedicated to the figure of the Governor-General of Little Russia M.G. Repnin came out. Modern researchers are convinced that M. G. Repnin was an outstanding personality not only for his time, but also to a great extent ahead of him. His worldview and realities did not fit into the generally accepted imperial canons at that time, and the effort to Europeanize his entrusted region became the factor that ultimately led to his resignation and accusation of striving for autonomy.