Historical Memory and National-Political Identification of the Rusyns (1914–1920)

Rusyn. 2015. № 4 (42). Pp. 126-142.

I.V. Nam, N.I. Naumova

Through the example of the Rusyns’ national movement that developed in an acute confrontation between the two national-political forces – the Ukrainophiles and the Russophiles (Muscophiles) – the article explores the role of collective historical memory in nation-building and of political identification in the context of the global social changes, namely the First World War and the Civil War in Russia. Based on an analysis of archival documents, it is shown how the political elite of the pro-Russian Rusyns’ movement used the discourse of historical memory (referring to the all-Russian historical past) for the ‘reunification’ of Sub-Carpathian Rus’ with Russia as a ‘stronghold of all-Russian values’. In case of a successful achievement of this goal the Rusyn population could transform into a local form of the all-Russian political nation – one of the possible prospects for the national development of the Eastern Slavic population of Galician Rus which, however, did not become a reality.