8 - Ukraine: the ambivalent identity of a submerged nation, 1654–1945

Summary

The term gente Ruthenus, natione Polonus served to describe the political and national status and affiliation of the Ruthenian nobility during [the seventeenth century]. In Polish historiography, the emphasis has been on the second part of the definition. It has been interpreted as a class relationship that linked the nobility of Rus' with that of Poland, making both nobilities one political and constitutional body within the Commonwealth. It could be that many Ruthenian noblemen had this understanding of their place and their rights in the Commonwealth. I suggest, however, that the first part of the definition, gente Ruthenus, was as prominent in their minds as the second. The Ruthenian nobility as a whole was conscious of Ruthenian national, if not political, identity.

Teresa Chynczewska-Hennel

You have given me a sheepskin coat;

Alas, it does not fit.

The garment of your own wise speech

Is lined with falsehood's wit.

Taras Shevchenko

Little Russia, faithful to the throne and unshakable in the faith cultivates … an idea of a past; she in her leisure time mourns over her past independence.

Count Sergei Uvarov

In both Poland and Russia, the carriers of the national idea were wellestablished political elites, clearly preoccupied with the position of their respective polities vis-á-vis neighboring states. Thus, the relationship between the nation and other polities and civilizations became a key aspect of their identities. Because Ukraine is an “a-historic” nation, the well-spring of the country's modern national identity consisted of intellectuals pursuing a “restorative agenda” similar to that of the Slovaks, and other long colonized peoples.