Section outline

  • Key Terminology: 

    1. Valuev Circular (1863) — a secret circular issued by the Minister of Internal Affairs of the Russian Empire, Pyotr Valuev, which suspended the publication of books in the Ukrainian language ("Little Russian dialect"), asserting that "a separate Little Russian language has never existed, does not exist, and shall not exist."
    2. Ems Ukaz (1876) — a decree issued by Russian Emperor Alexander II in the German town of Bad Ems, which completely banned the import of Ukrainian-language publications from abroad, the printing and publication of original Ukrainian works and translations, as well as Ukrainian-language theatrical performances and public readings.
    3. Censorship — a system of state control over the content and dissemination of information, printed publications, and theatrical performances to prevent the spread of ideas disapproved of by the imperial regime.
    4. "Muscophiles" (Russophiles) — a socio-political movement in Galicia and other Ukrainian lands under Austro-Hungarian rule whose adherents advocated for cultural and political unity with the Russian people (in opposition to the Ukrainophiles/populists).
    5. "Pseudo-folk" Literature — a term used by tsarist officials and censors to restrict the Ukrainian language exclusively to an ethnographic and domestic sphere ("for the common people"), while banning its use in science, publicism, or high literature.
    6. Kyiv Archeographical Commission / South-Western Section of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society — scholarly organizations in Ukraine whose activities became targets for the imperial authorities; notably, the South-Western Section was closed down in 1876 under accusations of "separatism."
    7. Hromadas (Communities) — semi-legal cultural, educational, and public associations of the Ukrainian intelligentsia (in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Poltava, etc.) that engaged in publishing and educational work and became targets of tsarist censorship and persecution.
    8. Russification — the deliberate policy of the Russian autocracy aimed at supplanting the Ukrainian language and culture from all spheres of life and imposing the Russian language and identity.
    9. "Little Russian Dialect" — the official designation used by the authorities of the Russian Empire regarding the Ukrainian language, deliberately denying it the status of an independent, full-fledged Slavic language.
    10. Dragomanovism / Political Emigration — the forced departure of Ukrainian scholars and cultural figures (such as Mykhailo Drahomanov) abroad (specifically to Switzerland) due to the impossibility of freely publishing Ukrainian books and conducting educational work within the Russian Empire.