Little Russian identity

The Little Russian identity was a cultural, political, and ethnic self-identification[1] of a population of Ukraine[2] who aligned themselves as one of the constituent parts of the triune Russian nationality.[3][nb 1] The Little Russian identity combined the cultures of Imperial Russia and Cossack Hetmanate.[5]

The beginning of the development of the Little Russian identity in the Cossack Hetmanate dates back to the mid 18th century.[5][6]

The new ethnonym was promoted instead of the widespread name Ruthenian (русини, rusyny). The struggle between the two projects of national identity lasted until the dissolution of the Russian Empire. The revolutionary events of 1917 led to a rapid strengthening of the Ukrainian national idea, which was backed by many Western Ukrainians in Galicia who joined the political life in Kiev. Because of their adjacency to the Russian White Movement, political activists with Little Russian, and Pan-Russian views were among the social groups who suffered the most during the Revolution, and the troubles of the Civil War; many of whom were killed during the war or forced to emigrate.[1]

After the end of the Civil War, the process of Ukrainian nation-building was resumed in the territory of Ukrainian SSR by the Bolshevik party and the Soviet authorities, who introduced the policy of korenizatsiya, the implementation of which in the Ukrainian SSR was called Ukrainization. As a result, the term "Little Russian" was marginalized and remained in usage only among White emigres.

  1. ^ a b Котенко А. Л., Мартынюк О. В., Миллер А. И. «Малоросс»: эволюция понятия до первой мировой войны
  2. ^ Wolczuk, Kataryna (2001), The Moulding of Ukraine: The Constitutional Politics of State Formation, Central European University Press, p. [1]
  3. ^ Долбилов М., Миллер А. И. (2006). Западные окраины Российской империи. Москва: Новое литературное обозрение. p. 606.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. ^ Wilson, Andrew. Ukrainian Nationalism in the 1990s: A Minority Faith. Cambridge University Press. London: 1997. page 7 & 8.
  5. ^ a b c Ilya Prizel "National identity and foreign policy: nationalism and leadership in Poland" (1998) ISBN 0-521-57697-0 p.304
  6. ^ Kohut, Zenon E. (1986). "The Development of a Little Russian Identity and Ukrainian Nationbuilding". Harvard Ukrainian Studies. 10 (3/4): 559–576. JSTOR 41036271.


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