Information on the thesis

The research is dedicated to the idea of nationhood in «Surma» and «Rozbudova
Natsiyi» – there are two journals that became a reflection of the Ukrainian national
liberation movement in the interwar period.
The main themes of articles, notes, and publications, published in these magazines,
are due to socio-political and geopolitical transformations that influenced the statehood
of Ukraine in the 20-30’s. It is decided to explore the international factor, since the idea
of nationhood and unity is deeply correlated with the influence of other countries. We
are talking about the occupation of Ukrainian lands by neighboring countries, an attack
on national cultural identity. Magazines as propaganda and ideological bodies formed
the values of a conciliar, strong spiritually and economically independent state.
It is proved that the international discourse in the «Rozbudova Natsiyi» was
different from «Surma». While in the «Surma», messages depicting other countries had
primarily propaganda features, in the official «Rozbudova Natsiyi», the international
context acted as an information, structural and ideological factor. It was also important
for both magazines, complementing their structure.
The research deals with the magazines «Surma» and «Rozbudova Natsiyi» as
nationalist publications in the international light. Historiography about them is
investigated, information about format and content is collected. The features of the
structure and authors of journals, topical journals spectra, as well as genre and stylistic
peculiarities. Comparative analysis and dialectical method of research helped to
determine the complementarity of these journals. At first, the role of the «Surma» was
mainly propaganda with a very tangible artistic component. «Rozbudova Natsiyi» was
designed to organize training for the Congress of ukrainian nationalists. After 1929,
«Surma» slowly took on the role of a military magazine, and the «Rozbudova Natsiyi»
became the program and ideological body of the OUN, which in particular considered
various problems of cultural and economic development of the country.
The study proposes to consider the idea of statehood (nationhood) on the pages of
magazines in conjunction with the idea of unity and the idea of struggle. That is, the
receipt of the Ukrainian state, the establishment of ethnic borders and the development
of economic, social, political, cultural spheres of an independent full-fledged country. It
is investigated that in many respects in these ideas there is an international component.
In this work methods of struggle for statehood which were covered in magazines
are analyzed. In particular, propaganda, provocative means, tactics and terror were
investigated. It is noteworthy that the authors of the magazines have never sought
compromises in matters of independence and the struggle against the occupiers.
Attention is focused on the images of enemies, internal and external (Poland, Russia).
Personal enemies of the Ukrainian statehood are investigated, in particular, J.
Pilsudskyi.
It is noted that the magazines call for terror as justified in the international
conditions of the struggle for the statehood of Ukraine. They are not only calling for the
struggle and for armed insurrection to obtain independence of the state, misleading,
how to fight (tactics of conducting fight in the «Surma») and build this country (the
debate about the socio-economic sphere in the pages of «Rozbudova Natsiyi»). In
addition to the open enemy, Poland, for Ukraine, there are two types of «deadly»
internal enemies: orientation camps, which are represented by the «bolsheviks», which
are focused on Moscow, and camps, which spread hopes for Poland.
The relevance of the geopolitical and international context on magazines is with
the present days, when we have to fight for their conciliar, independent state against the
occupier and the northern aggressor – the Russian Federation.
The international component of the journals is highlighted, in particular, the
prerequisites for cooperation with the Ukrainian diaspora in the USA, which unfolded
especially vividly after the murder of the school curator S. Sobinsky (the so-called
«case of seventeen»). This case was the impetus for active cooperation with the
ukrainian diaspora in America, which was covered in the pages of the magazine
«Surma». This cooperation was very active and as a result the magazine began to issue
an application for overseas Ukrainians.
The lessons of gaining statehood on the basis of the liberation movements of other
countries in the magazines «Surma» and «Rozbudova Natsiyi» (first of all on Ireland
and Finland examples) are analyzed.
The research emphasizes that today, in the conditions of war with Russia, it is
important to understand the value of the conciliar Ukrainian state, as well as to study
the historical lessons of the struggle for independence in the interwar era on the basis of
the materials of the magazines «Surma» and «Rozbudova Natsiyi» as repeaters of the
ideas of UWO and OUN. The work carried out clear allusions to the occupation of
Ukrainian lands by neighboring countries in the interwar period, an attack on national
cultural identity in the international light.
Key words: «Surma», «Rozbudova Natsiyi», ideology, national liberation
movement, interwar period, nationhood, unity, international context, independence,
propaganda.