Ideas of national formation in Ukrainian intellectual space of 19th – early 20th centuries

The goal of the research is theoretical and methodological comprehension of nation-building concepts of domestic political thought of the 19th – early 20th centuries in the context of the effectiveness of their impact on the then social and cultural life. Itis about the role and place of the “Ukrainian question” in the destruction of the RussianEmpire and about the theoretical understanding by the national intellectual elite of waysto build on its ruins a viable national state organism. Among the variety of methodologicalapproaches for the study was chosen mental, which seems to be the most productivein axiological generalizations on the construction of identities and the formation of nationalconsciousness at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. The scientific novelty liesin the emphasis of research on the specifics of national ideas, codes, symbols, value systemsunder conditions of insane centralizing pressure, ideological conflicts, the powerfulinfluence of wars and revolutions on the state of public consciousness. Conclusions. Torecreate the social background of the identification search of the Ukrainian communityat the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries it is impossible without taking into accounttwo obstacles: external – in the form of imperial doctrines of Russia and Polish “Kressideas” and internal – sharp contradictions of self-identifications in the conscious sphereand behavioral stereotypes. The existence of the Ukrainian ethnos in the system of separationof its parts, confrontation of political forces and ideological constructionsproved to be a complicating factor that hindered the consolidation intentions. Toodifferent, sometimes internally contradictory and inconsistent, Ukrainian projects ofthe second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries still give an idea of the strengthof resistance to imperial pressure, which eventually became a means of social mobilizationand contributed to the national liberation movement from cultural to politicalphase. Their clear consolidation context with the representation of popular in the 19thcentury the ideas of the nation are evidence of the intellectual maturity of local elitesand their awareness of the potential for solidarity.