Emancipation through Education

My monograph, which appeared in 2002 in Wien (Vienna) in the publication Verlag für Geschichte und Politik, is dedicated to the positive historical experience of Galician Ukrainians at the turning point of the 19th and 20th centuries. The issue is the gradual development of their social structure, which at that time consisted more than 90% of peasants. The role of national elite was traditionally carried out by a relatively thin layer of clergy. Because Greek-Catholic pastors could marry, this layer was able to reproduce itself. Priests` sons generally married daughters of priestly families and also became ordained. Mindful of their social responsibilities, many pastors became bearers of various cultural and social initiatives which could improve the peasants` lives. During the period discussed in the book a gradual change occurred: priests` sons more often chose a secular education, while for peasants` sons a religious career continued to be another type of elevation to a higher social level. In general, both sons of priests and peasants turned more and more to secular higher education. This change was, obviously, often accompanied by conflicts, for example conflict between father and son. In addition, in the beginning many priests distrusted the educated secular youth, especially since a portion of it had socialist outlooks. However, in terms of their goals, both educated elites proved to be united. Both understood their communal responsibility in the cultural and social elevation of Ukrainian peasantry. Andrej Sheptyckyj, consecrated in 1901 as a Greek-Catholic metropolitan (archbishop), played a decisive role in eliminating his clergy`s reservations against secular intelligentsia. Significant, for example, is the fact that the Greek-Catholic clergy, led by their new metropolitan, actively and successfully took part in initiatives regarding higher education for women. The secular intelligentsia significantly accelerated the economic, cultural and political self organization of Ukrainians in the kingdom. The transitional period between the 19th and 20th centuries is often called "the era of attorneys" in Ukrainian historiography. Graduates of legal departments, economically independent and not subject to anyone`s directives, transformed their offices into local centers of national self-organization. At the same time, a sufficient number of graduates of philosophy departments made possible a swift buildup of Ukrainian middle education (private secondary schools), scientific institutes, press and publishing. This generally liberal thinking and democratically active educated stratum was a product of the Austrian higher education system. In accordance with the so-called Organisationsentwurf (Organization plan) of 1849, all Austrian secondary and other practical schools were built on identical principles. Habsburg legislation regarding the rights of nationalities gave the opportunity, during the second half of the 19th century, to multiply the single system of secondary schools within their educational programs and organization, using the languages of nationalities in the Austrian half of the monarchy. The Cisleithanian universities also strove to educate a spiritually united, though multinational, elite. The significance of this educational system in the formation of Ukrainian secular intelligentsia is shown in the book by numerous examples of separate secondary schools, universities, and also in individual biographies.