«WORD TO THE LIVING»: SERHIY YEFREMOV DURING THE FIRST BOLSHOVIC AGGRESSION AGAINST UKRAINE (JANUARY – MARCH 1918)

Abstract

In the context of the era, the publications of the outstanding literary critic and critic, editor of the newspaper «Nova Rada», leader of the Ukrainian Socialist-Federal Party Serhiy Yefremov are analyzed. The newspaper saw the light of day in 1918 during the first arrival of Soviet power in Kyiv («Letter without an envelope», addressed to Yuri Kotsyubynsky , an article in memory of Volodymyr Shulgin as a participant in the battle near Kruty and others), which testify to the author’s rejection of Bolshevism as an ideological phenomenon,. S. Yefremov was a patriot, a person who was passion and at the same time fair, observant and prudent, mostly skeptical of the authorities. For Yefremov, the Bolsheviks, their leaders and executors are the perpetrators of «Cain’s work», «Cain’s attempt» on the sovereignty of Ukraine. At the same time, S. Yefremov self-critically characterized the errors of the Central Rada, which, in his opinion, led to a tragic turn in the development of the revolution. The events near Kruty were covered in S. Yefremov’s article «Weapons of the Time», printed in the columns of «Nova Rada» on March 7, 1918. Yefremov’s article «Accounts», reprinted in the collection «Pid obuhom» (Kyiv, 1918), contained key generalizations about the first attempts of Bolshevik-imperial expansion into Ukrainian lands. Bolshevism and one of its most characteristic manifestations - imperial expansionism - were assessed by Yefremov as the greatest danger for Ukraine. The authors prove that S. Yefremov’s attitude towards Russian democracy, monarchists-Black Hundred, Bolsheviks and White Guards and numerous «sympathizers» with one or the other, his reflections on the national question in general, assessment of the state and prospects for the development of Russian-Ukrainian relations are very relevant.