Borets A. Petro Stebnitskiy's Journalistic Texts: the Issue of State and Nation

The dissertation deals with the journalistic texts of Petro Stebnitskiy, a notable figure in the Ukrainian national movement of the beginning of the 20th century. More than 150 works (written between 1898-1919) have been analyzed as a part of national discourse with strongly marked features of nation-building and anti-colonialism. His journalistic heritage is regarded as the result of complex interaction between two rivaling discourses: dominant imperial and national one. The concepts of federalism and autonomy dominated in Stebnitskiyy's texts before 1917. Although P. Stebnitskiy declared adherence to political views of M. Drahomanov, his views on these concepts were different. According to the writer federalism was not a universal principle of arrangement of political life but rather the way to assure economic and cultural rights of the Ukrainian people under current political conditions. P. Stebnitskiy appreciated the Russian empire in his own way also he saw it as a commonwealth of nations where cultural, linguistic and other differences should be tolerated. The concepts of state and independence had a significant place in late 1917 and 1918. After the Ukrainian People's Republic proclaimed its separation from Bolshevik Russia the writer justified this step as forced one. P. Stebnitskiy used historical and economic arguments to legitimize Ukrainian independence. However, in his texts one can notice attempts to relieve the Ukrainian national movement of responsibility for this decision. In his writings Ukrainian independence is presented rather as a spontaneous action caused by unfavorable circumstances than a deliberate act of the Ukrainians.