Yas Oleksii

Marxist socialism vs Rebellious anarchism, or Zurich story of 1873 in the intellectual biography of Mykhailo Drahomanov

Section: Biographical Studies of the Ukrainian Emigration

Abstract: The purpose of the research is to study M. Drahomanov’s visit to Zurich in 1873, as well as the accompanying contexts, reflections, and reminiscences. The research methodology is based on a combination of analytical, comparative, and typological strategies combining the cognitive patterns of classical and nonclassical science, including factor analysis and reverse causality. The scientific novelty is associated with the introduction of Ukrainian subjects and problems into the macro-contexts of European political, intellectual and cultural history of the early 1870s. The article highlights the constitution and course of the main events in the history of the “Russian colony” in Zurich during 1870-1873. It is noted that the colony was multinational and multicultural. It included, but not limited to, many students who came from sub-Russian Ukraine. Itis emphasized that this informal community emerged as a mosaic network of circles, groups, and communities of different orientations. It is shown that the“Russian colony” became the territory of fierce competition between supporters of M. Bakunin’s anarchism and P. Lavrov’s populism, which tended towards the centralist scheme of Marx’s socialism. The author examines the rudimentary trends in the formation of the cult of professional revolutionaries in the Russian emigration environment as a forerunner of the mass spread of terrorist practices. It is noted that a significant role in the life of the colony was played by Ukrainian intellectuals, particularly S. Podolynsky. Zurich reflections, contexts and retrospectives in the practices and texts of M. Drahomanov are in the focus of the study. Conclusions. It is argued that the visit to Zurich in 1873 has become a highlight in M. Drahomanov’s intellectual biography. It is emphasized that M. Drahomanov’s stay in Zurich demonstrated the fundamental differences between his political standards of values, oriented to the evolutionary concept of modernization of the Russian Empire, and the revolutionary visions of the Russian emigration leaders. It is proved that M. Drahomanov’s Zurich-time reflections were one of the key factors that led to his choice of Switzerland in 1876 as the forefront of Ukrainian political emigration. It is argued that the Zurich episode in M. Drahomanov’s biography was one of the first milestones on the way to the political separation of Ukrainianness from the all-Russian coordinates.

Keywords: Drahomanov, intellectual biography, Zurich, “Russian colony”, socialism, anarchism, nihilism.

  Full-text PDF    https://doi.org/10.15407/ub.26.032     Citation

• Yas Oleksii (Institute of History of Ukraine NAS of Ukraine (Kyiv, Ukraine), [email protected]) ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5816-2876

Cite:
Yas Oleksii (2025). Marxist socialism vs Rebellious anarchism, or Zurich story of 1873 in the intellectual biography of Mykhailo Drahomanov. Biographistica Ukrainica, (26) 32-83. (In Ukrainan). https://doi.org/10.15407/ub.26.032

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