A tragic misjudgment about Russia cost him dearly: the life and mysterious death of Mikhail Grushevsky.

Exactly 90 years ago, on the afternoon of November 24, 1934, at the A. Rykov City Hospital in Kislovodsk, Mikhail Grushevsky passed away – an outstanding Ukrainian historian and literary scholar, but also a significantly controversial state, political, and public figure.

Arrest, Exile, and Ban on Returning to Ukraine

The name of Grushevsky (1866—1934) is well-known among our compatriots. Mikhail Sergeyevich is regarded as the founding father of Ukrainian statehood. Beside the Teacher's House, where leaders and staff of the Ukrainian Central Rada (UCR) worked from 1917 to 1918, stands a majestic monument. On Grushevsky Street in Pechersk, both the Verkhovna Rada and the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine are located. Finally, his portrait is featured on the 50-hryvnia banknote.

Mikhail Grushevsky dedicated nearly his entire conscious life to a fundamental study of Ukrainian history – from ancient times to the second half of the 17th century ("History of Ukraine-Rus"). Among his greatest achievements is the five-volume "History of Ukrainian Literature" and over 2000 published works! Mikhail Grushevsky led the Lviv Scientific Society named after Shevchenko (1897—1913), was an academician of the All-Ukrainian Academy of Sciences (1923), and an academician of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1929).

During World War I – in November 1914 – the Russian authorities arrested him and exiled him to Simbirsk, and later to Kazan, but allowed him to work as an educator under police supervision.

In September 1916, after moving to Moscow (he was banned from returning to Ukraine), Mikhail Grushevsky plunged back into politics, participating in the publication of the literary-scientific and general political magazine "Ukrainian Life" and the weekly of literature, art, and public life "Promin." Soon, the February Revolution of 1917 erupted, leading to the overthrow of the tsarist regime.

…By that time, Mikhail Grushevsky already had a very high reputation within the Ukrainian movement. Perhaps this is why, upon his return to Kyiv, he found himself at the forefront of the political movement that was still advocating for Ukraine's rights as an autonomy within the Russian republic. On March 20, he was elected head of the Ukrainian Central Rada.

Mikhail Grushevsky increasingly leaned on left-wing movements. In May 1917, he advocated for gradual steps and wrote about the necessity of federation with "democratic Russia," effectively opposing Ukraine's state independence: "For such a federation, politicians and specialists in state law have thought for a long time. They believed it to be a logical conclusion from the entire previous development of European life. It only seemed very distant until recent events – as it now seems close and achievable. And that is why neither I nor others are at all distressed by complete political independence; we do not attach any weight to it. For the near future, broad Ukrainian autonomy within a federative Russian republic is quite sufficient. And in the future, we hope that this republic will enter into the composition of a European federation, and in it, Ukraine will become one of the strongest, most solid, and certain components – one of the pillars of this European federation" ("Where Ukrainian identity came from and where it is heading").

The hopes of many influential socialist parties for a "union with democratic Russia" led to a paradoxical result: the leaders of the Central Rada, including Mikhail Grushevsky and Vladimir Vinnichenko, even under constant pressure from broad segments of the population demanding the immediate establishment of a state, consistently resisted this inevitable process. "Representatives of Ukrainian socialist parties 'uncritically copied Moscow's socialists and, like lost sheep, spun in their shadow, which paralyzed their good intentions and plans,'" noted Father Isidor Nagayevsky in "The History of the Ukrainian State in the Twentieth Century."

The clock was ticking, and only on November 7 (20) 1917 (the Bolsheviks had been in power in Petrograd for two weeks) did the UCR proclaim the III Universal on the creation of the Ukrainian People's Republic… as part of "democratic" federative Russia. What "democratic Russia" was being referred to? This question remained unanswered…

The Tragic Mistake of the Central Rada

The most terrible, or rather the most tragic, "mistake" of the Central Rada, led by Mikhail Grushevsky, was the demobilization of the Ukrainized military force, which numbered several hundred thousand soldiers and officers with significant combat experience. It was only necessary to structure these forces. For example, Czechoslovak legions were formed from prisoners of war of the Austro-Hungarian army, and then they were "tested" in much more complex conditions. Tomas Garrigue Masaryk transported capable units of the "white Czechs" through the Far East, which became the cementing foundation of independent Czechoslovakia. The Second Polish Republic was also born in military confrontation with the Lithuanians for Vilnius (Wilno), the Czechs for Tesin (Zaolzie), Ukrainians from Galicia for Lviv and Eastern Galicia, as well as with the Germans for Eastern Silesia and Pomerania.

On January 22, 1918, the IV Universal was published, which finally proclaimed Ukraine's full independence. However, the time was irretrievably lost…

Gradually, Mikhail Grushevsky lost his positions in the national liberation movement. His conciliatory stance towards Russia (again, it is unknown which Russia, as a bloody civil war was raging on its territory between the whites and reds) proved to be absolutely disastrous and detrimental to state processes. The entire course of events from 1918 to 1921 demonstrated the absolute absurdity of the actions of the progressives and federalists who tried to mimic the actions of the Moscow Bolsheviks. A prominent leader of this movement until early 1919 was Mikhail Grushevsky…

After the uprising and the overthrow of the government of hetman Pavlo Skoropadsky in December 1918, the new authority – the Directory of the UPR – rejected Grushevsky's services. The scholar attempted to reform the All-Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, but again from socialist positions. This was a path to the complete defeat of the scholar as a politician. Leaders like Symon Petliura no longer needed representatives of conciliators and Moscow supporters and sought to defend Ukraine's independence.

Emigration and Return

In February 1919, just before the Reds entered Kyiv, Mikhail Grushevsky, along with his family, traveled to Kamyanets and then to Prague – the capital of the newly born Czechoslovakia. Abroad, the scholar also lived in France, Austria, and Switzerland, where he mostly engaged in political discussions (participating in the II International conference in Lucerne), publishing his works, and translating them into French. He met with Western leaders and realized their indifference to the Ukrainian cause.

The national rise in Soviet Ukraine after the beginning of Ukrainization in 1923 ultimately forced Mikhail Sergeyevich to decide to return home. He believed this was a compromise with the new authorities to continue his scientific work. On March 7, 1924, he returned to Kyiv with his family. Immediately after Grushevsky's arrival, the Cheka established close surveillance over him, and a formal case was opened against him. Even before returning from emigration, the scholar was elected an academician of the VUAN; he headed the historical section of the Academy until 1931.

However, by 1929, a real pogrom of Ukrainian science began, with historical commissions led by Mikhail Grushevsky gradually being liquidated. Many of his employees ended up behind bars or were expelled from the Ukrainian SSR. Ukrainization in the republic, just like in Kuban, was gradually rolled back…

On March 7, 1931, the scholar moved to Moscow with his daughter Yekaterina. And already on March 23, he found himself in a detention center. The Cheka fabricated a case against the underground "Ukrainian National Center," trying to make Mikhail Grushevsky its leader. On March 28, during interrogation, the scholar "confessed" (the Cheka promised to "take care" of his daughter Yekaterina) to belonging to the UNC, although he claimed he was only an ideological leader. Interrogations were conducted in Moscow and Kharkiv. By the end of the investigation, Mikhail Grushevsky retracted his testimony, and he was released, but they continued to monitor his every step. The Cheka received some unverified information that the scholar was preparing to flee abroad.