Anastasiia Shevchenko
University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9227-3978 

Oleksii Yas
Institute of History of Ukraine of the NAS of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5816-2876 

Abstract

The aim is to highlight and analyse the scholarly, political, cultural, and social influences, circumstances, and course of M. Drahomanov’s travels in light of his formation as an intellectual.
The research methodology is based on a combination of analytical, comparative, and typological strategies with a representation of M. Drahomanov as a historian, public figure, and political thinker. The study is constructed as both a combination and a nuanced interweaving of several angles and dimensions of M. Drahomanov’s intellectual biography. The main conflicts of his journey in 1870—1873 are explored. The concept of progress in M. Drahomanov’s thought and his vision of reforming / modernising the Russian Empire are analysed. His interest in local self-governance and provincial literatures in France, Germany, Italy, and Austria-Hungary is examined. It is shown that M. Drahomanov’s concept of progress emerged in the spirit of cultural patterns of positivism, particularly the ideas of late-Enlightenment rationalism, cosmopolitanism, and humanism.
Scholarly novelty. It is established that M. Drahomanov’s vision of reforming the Russian Empire was based on his concept of progress as a social, cultural, and political evolution. This vision entailed political liberalisation, state decentralisation, the organisation of local self-government, fair judiciary, and public education based on the best European models.
Conclusions. M. Drahomanov’s journey led to important worldview and intellectual shifts, as well as an awareness of a potential turn in his life path — political emigration from the Russian Empire. It is noted that M. Drahomanov’s political conceptualisation accumulated various visions, including those of A. Herzen, P.-J. Proudhon, A. de Tocqueville, É. de Laboulaye, and others. It is argued that M. Drahomanov’s European reflections contributed significantly to the formation of his ideal of state structure, best embodied by the model of Swiss federalism, and to a lesser extent by the constitutional systems of the British Empire and the USA.The full text of the article is available at the link: https://nasu-periodicals.org.ua/index.php/uhj/article/view/21853

Svitlana Blashchuk
Candidate of Historical Sciences,
Senior Research Fellow,
Institute of History of Ukraine NAS of Ukraine
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1430-6353

Oleksii Yas
Corresponding Member of NAS of Ukraine,
Doctor of Historical Sciences,
Leading Research Fellow,
Institute of History of Ukraine NAS of Ukraine
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5816-2876

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to outline M. Drahomanov’s reading repertoire and his understanding of the purpose of the printed word. M. Drahomanov’s reading priorities are considered to be the product of his positivist conception of social progress and evolutionary vision of reforming/modernizing the Russian Empire, as well as the associated political and socio-cultural contexts. 

The research methodology is based on a combination of analytical and comparative strategies used in the history of reading and intellectual history, focused on the presentation of both reading practices and reading suggestions of M. Drahomanov. These suggestions are considered as a way of shaping personal, group, and collective worldview and, at the same time, a channel for the communication of European intellectual and cultural innovations, political and social ideas. 

The scientific novelty is related to the outline of M. Drahomanov’s reading repertoire during his foreign mission of 1870–1873. His core reading range has been determined on the basis of references in published texts and epistolary works of M. Drahomanov. It is noted that many of his publications of the early 1870s were processed during his European travels, in particular as a result of reading practices and bibliographic heuristics in Germany, Italy, France, Switzerland, and Austria-Hungary. 

Conclusions. It has been found that M. Drahomanov, as an intellectual of positivist schooling, was distinguished by the versatility and utilitarianism of reading inquiries, which was reflected in his extensive writing style. It is shown that M. Drahomanov’s reading repertoire allows for tracing his intellectual and political evolution in greater detail. It is argued that M. Drahomanov’s proposals, both in the field of translations for popular reading and recommendations to individuals, reflected his vision of the printed word. It is emphasized that he considered reading as an important channel for the communication of European civilizational achievements, cultural guidelines, and intellectual innovations for their assimilation by Ukrainianness in the Russian and Austro-Hungarian empires.

The full text of the article is available at the link: https://au.archives.gov.ua/index.php/au/article/view/297

Vermenych, Yaroslava. Concepts of Ukraine’s European Progress in the Vision of Mykhailo Drahomanov. Text. Data. Kyiv: NAS of Ukraine. Institute of History of Ukraine, 2025. 66 p.

URL: http://resource.history.org.ua/book/en/0019014

DOI: https://doi.org/10.15407/book16-0019014

 

Abstract

Through the prism of the phenomenon of Mykhailo Drahomanov, the influence of the intellectual environment on the processes of forming socio-political thought in Ukraine in the second half of the 19th – early 20th centuries is comprehended. In the context of the modern realities of the “civilizational rupture,” the concepts of civilizational progress of M. Drahomanov are studied as a process based on substantiating the necessity of Ukraine’s European geopolitical choice and the construction of a “Ukrainian project” in tandem with pan-European social processes.

The scholar’s views on decentralization and local self-government as factors of progressive development of society are analyzed. The issues of territorial unity, political independence, and conciliarity of Ukraine, which were in the focus of M. Drahomanov’s attention in the process of developing projects of community self-government and administrative autonomy, are considered.

It is emphasized that the integration of Ukraine into the European space requires the actualization of the European nature of the Ukrainian idea and the awareness of the European foundations of the Ukrainian intellectual heritage. The Ukrainian people must clearly declare their contribution to the development of the general European idea and make an attempt to bring Ukrainianness into the European idea.

To achieve this, it is necessary to perceive the European idea as “their own” and to comprehend its deep rootedness in the tradition of Ukrainian political culture.

Yas, Oleksii. History of Ukraine in the Horizon of European Civilization: Conceptual Proposals of Mykhailo Drahomanov. Text data. Kyiv: National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. Institute of History of Ukraine, 2025. 52 p.

URL: http://resource.history.org.ua/book/en/0019013

DOI: https://doi.org/10.15407/book16-0019013

 

Abstract

The views of M. Drahomanov as a historian with a positivist style of thinking are highlighted. His concept of social progress is analyzed. It is argued that M. Drahomanov preferred evolution rather than revolution. It is noted that he saw the meaning of progress in the dual improvement of the “social nature” — the individual and the community. It is emphasized that Drahomanov’s research strategy relied on the comparative method, which he regarded as the most important instrument of historical cognition. It is shown that his comparativist practices were mainly based on evolutionary and stadial principles of interpreting the historical process.

It is stated that M. Drahomanov considered the history of Europe as a single stream from antiquity to his contemporary era. It is underlined that he regarded the Reformation as a key period in the history of European civilization. According to his vision, the Reformation played a leading role in the formation of political culture and religious tolerance, as well as contributed to cultural and social emancipation in Europe. A ranking of 19th-century countries by the level of their political freedom, compiled by M. Drahomanov, is outlined.

It is noted that M. Drahomanov viewed the history of Ukraine as an integral part of European history, in particular insisting on a comprehensive coverage of the participation of Ukrainian figures in European affairs. It is shown that M. Drahomanov defended the thesis of a “broken Reformation” in the history of Ukraine, which he associated with the movement of Orthodox brotherhoods at the end of the 16th – beginning of the 17th century. The periodization of Ukrainian history proposed by M. Drahomanov, as well as its influence on Ukrainian historiography, is considered.