«Peasants are becoming ukrainians»: processes of modernization of the ukrainian village in the interpretation of Andrew Wilson

The article deals with the problem of the historical transformation of the Ukrainian village of the first third of the twentieth century. She has long been in the scientific interests of professional Ukrainian historians, but a number of limitations of a methodological nature, due to their weak ties with Western researchers, often lack of direct contacts, mostly due to the language barrier, until recently prevented complex study of the extremely complex process of modernization Ukrainian village during the 19th and 20th centuries. As a result, this problem remains virtually unclear in the context of a whole series of productive methodological approaches of the second half of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st century. The purpose of the intelligence is to trace the analysis of the processes of modernization of the Ukrainian village of the first third of the twentieth century in the studios of the famous British researcher Andrew Wilson, thereby expanding the cognitive boundaries of the stated problem. A thorough analysis of the scientific work of A. Wilson testified to his good knowledge of the history of Ukraine. Despite the historian's efforts to make a competent presentation and to trace the whole historical process of development of Rus (Ukraine), he nevertheless managed to substantially analyze the formation of the Ukrainian national community of the modern age. Actually, the main work that attracted our attention is the symbolic name «The Ukrainians: Unexpected Nation». Studying the history of Ukrainian modernism, A. Wilson stepped aside from the rule of linking this phenomenon exclusively with the world of intellectuals, creative personalities and politicians. His attention was attracted by the peasant world, which in the Ukrainian version turned out to be «totally dominant», at least in ethnic culture. Avoiding the obstacle caused by giving priority to the urban environment, the researcher boldly approached the development of the working hypothesis issue - in his arguments, the peasants in the short period of one generation «become Ukrainians». However, Ukrainianization did not last long, since in the early 1930's they were «modified» in «Soviet people». The novelty of the interpretation of the problem is the positive assessment of the contribution of A. Wilson to the study of problems in the Ukrainian village, and on this basis – the fact of a much more complicated process of its modernization than previously thought.