Volodymyr Masliychuk
Marxist Schemes of Ukrainian History:
Matviy Yavors'kyi, Volodymyr Sukhyno-Khomenko,
Mykola Horban'
Marxist schemes of Ukrainian history have never been a subject of a detailed study, even though they offer a series of noteworthy solutions to important problems. Bound with Soviet power as they were, Marxist historians attempted to combine Marxist internationalism with the national scheme of Ukrainian history. The most important and the most controversial in this regard were works of Matviy Yavors'kyi and Volodymyr Sukhyno-Khomenko. Although not devoid of superficiality, these works were attempts to insert Ukraine's historical experience into a broader context. There were also alternatives to Marxist interpretations of Ukrainian history. For example, Kharkiv scholar Mykola Horban' examined the problem of class movements with reference to the history of everyday life—an intellectual effort that could potentially result in alternative inleroretations of numerous episodes of Ukraine's past. Marxist interpretations of Ukraine's histoiy of the 1920s were put down by Bolsheviks. Consequences of this intellectual loss are still apparent.