«Only in the Peasantry Lies the Future of the Ukrainian Revival»: the Agrarian Discourse of Revolutionary Journalism by Mykhailo Hrushevskyi

The aim of the article is to comprehend the agrarian discourse of M. Hrushevsky’s revolutionary journalism. The methodological basis of the research is an interdisciplinary approach with particular emphasis on the structural-functional systematic analysis of historiographical facts and the method of critical analysis of documentary material. The scientific novelty of the article is an attempt at a special analysis of the conceptual and ideological principles and problem-thematic diversity of M. Hrushevsky’s journalism of the revolutionary era. Conclusions. The article has concluded that M. Hrushevsky focused most of his journalism on overcoming the atomization of leaders and members of the Ukrainian movement. Therefore, he was rapidly developing a new unifying ideology for Ukrainians, which had to meet the requirements of those times, largely breaking with the old cultural slogans. At the same time, the historian made a lot of efforts to build a network of Ukrainian media, realizing that without them it would not be possible to spread the ideology of the new Ukrainians outside Kyiv. In fact, in the columns of restored and newly created magazines, he shared with the public his own understanding of current challenges and offered solutions. M. Hrushevsky called for conscious and dynamic self-organization of the peasantry as a quantitatively dominant class, which in his view was the main socio-cultural basis for the development of Ukrainian statehood. His journalism performed ideological-educational, informational, and mobilizing functions. Due to the dialogically constructed discourse and focus on the problems of the people, the journalistic letters of the chairman of the Central Council had a considerable resonance, contributing to the growth of political culture in broad peasant circles.