SLAVIC IDEA IN OLGERD BOCHKOVSKYI’S INTERPRETATION
Authors:   Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, BARAN Zoya 
Published: January 2021

Background: Slavic idea, which was based on the idea of the ethnic, linguistic-cultural and historical affinity of the Slavs, was intensified at the beginning of the twentieth century in conditions of political enslavement of the majority of Slavic peoples. It became an integral part of such concepts as Austro-Slavism, Illirism-Yugoslavism, Russian imperial Pan-Slavism, and neo-Slavism. In the interwar period, the ideas of Slavic unity aroused interest in almost all Slavic states and became the subject of discussion on the pages of the special periodicals. The Ukrainian intellectual O. Bochkovskii outlined his point of view. Purpose: The purpose of the article is to analyze the interpretation of O. Bochkovsky (in 1916, investigating so-called non-historical nations, distinguishing three phases in the process of their national revival: national awakening, economic emancipation, politicization of the movement), the idea of Slavic unity in all its manifestations at various stages of historical development . Results: O. Bochkowski believed that in the process of national revival, the desire of small Slavic peoples to rally on the grounds of belonging to the Slavs played a positive role: in uniting, the peoples hoped to stand in the struggle for their own existence, seeking support from the most numerous and strongest people. Therefore, among the Balkan and Austrian Slavs, Slavophilism was often identified with Russophilism. O. Bochkovsky criticized the philosophy of Slavophilism for lack of concrete measures in the program to solve the most important - the national problem in Russia. In Pan-Slavophilism, he identified two opposite directions: Pan-Russianism and Austro-Slavism. Pan-Russianism (Russian political Pan-Slavism) was used by the official Russian authorities outside the Russian Empire (in Austria-Hungary, the Balkans) to mask their imperialist goals. Austro-Slavism regarded as a typical manifestation of the Slavophilism of the enslaved Slavic peoples, who began on the path of rebirth. O. Bochkovsky considered contradictory statements of the new course of Neo-Slavism: taking the principle of national self-determination and independence of the Slavic peoples, Neo-Slavism neglected the national movement of the Ukrainian people. Scientist called the First World War, which actualized the national question, a signal for the enslaved peoples, a process that initiated the formation of future interethnic relations. Evaluating the difficulties of the process of national consolidation of Yugoslavia after the end of the World War, the scientist assessed Illrimism as a consonant ideology, believing that Serbo-Croatian dualism was primarily due to cultural differences. He positively appreciated the formation of the "Kingdom of Serbia, Croats and Slovenes" and expressed regret over the degeneration of Illirism-Yugo-Slavism in Pan-Serbian central-ism. The scholar explained the formation and effective functioning of the Czechoslovak state in the absence of the Czech-Slovak antagonism. O. Bochkovsky assessed negatively appearance in the 1920-th a new Russian ideology – Eurasianism. O. Bochkovsky acknowledged for every nation the right to independence and the formation of their own state. He considered Pan-Slavism to be utopia, since after the First World War, there was an urgent need to protect the Slavs, and the isolation of a single Slavic people, which could have become a leader for the whole of the Slavic region, would constitute a threat to the independence of the weak Slavic peoples . More he considered the creation of political unions within continents, such as Pan-Europe, Pan-Asia, Pan-Africa, Pan-Amerika. Key words: Austro-Slavism, O. Bochkovsky, illirism, Eurasianism, neoslavism, Pan-Slavism, slavophilia, Yugoslavism.