Hryhorii Andriiovych Poletyka: To the 300th Anniversary of His Birth
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15407/uhj2025.03.081Keywords:
Hryhorii Poletyka, Left-Bank Ukraine, Hetmanshchyna, premodern national identity, intellectual history, social history, biographical studies, “Istoriia Rusov” (“History of the Rus’ People”)Abstract
The aim was to present the figure of Hryhorii Poletyka as the leader of the ideological struggle of the Ukrainian elite for the reform of state institutions of the Hetmanshchyna in the face of the threat of centralizing pressure from the imperial government.
The methodological basis is a wide range of techniques and methods of intellectual and social history combined with biographical approaches.
The scientific novelty lies in the involvement of new sets of sources to create an intellectual biography of an outstanding public figure of the second half of the 18th century, clarification of the facts of life and activity, interpretation of his position as a defender of the interests and rights of not only the elite, but all social groups of the nation.
Main results. On a wide source basis, the facts of the biography, the contribution of Hryhorii Poletyka to the formation of the intellectual landscape of the Hetmanshchyna, and the development of the concept of pre-modern national identity have been significantly clarified. He was convinced that the integrity and autonomy of the Fatherland depended on preserving the rights of all social groups, and therefore became a recognized authority in protecting the rights of the burghers, clergy, Cossacks, and the people as a whole. He advocated governing the Hetmanshchyna through collective forms — councils, where matters would be resolved with the involvement of representatives of all groups of the population — the gentry, Cossacks, burghers, clerg y, and, in the most important cases, the common people. H. Poletyka did not call for returning to the past and preserving the “antiquity”. Actively instrumentalizing history, he saw in the traditions of the Hetmanshchyna a powerful tool for modernization following the example of enlightened peoples. H. Poletyka’s legacy played a key role in shaping the ideological guidelines and national consciousness of the next generation of Ukrainian patriots.
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