Concept of slavic unity in the programming documents of the Saint Cyril and Methodius fellowship - the first ukrainian political organization

In the article, based on an analysis of sources and literature, the authors set as their goal to uncover the concept of Slavic unity developed by members of the Cyril and Methodius Fellowship, the first Ukrainian political organization. The main sources for the article were the program documents of the fellowship: the Law of God, or the Book of the Being of the Ukrainian People; The Charter of the Slavic Fellowship of Saints Cyril and Methodius; Appeals: “Brothers Ukrainians!” and “To Russians and Poles”, works by T. Shevchenko and others. The authors examine the ideas of members of fellowship in the pan-European context of national political organizations that arose in many European countries in the middle of the 19th century, for which a combination of national slogans with the idea of freedom and democracy was common. The authors argue that in the history of the Ukrainian national liberation movement, Cyril and Methodius Fellowship occupies a special place, which should be evaluated in several contexts. In pan-European - the organization was the Ukrainian counterpart of national organizations that arose throughout the continent in the 30-40s of XIX century under the influence of the Napoleonic wars, antimonarchist revolutions and the spread of the ideology of romanticism - “Young Germany”, “Young Italy”, “Young Poland” and others. Common to all these organizations was a combination of national slogans with the idea of democracy. In the specific circumstances of Eastern Europe, Cyril and Methodius were representatives of the concept of Slavic unity. However, in comparison with the political demands of other pan-Slavic movements (Austro-Slavism, Illyrism, Russian Pan-Slavism), Ukrainian Fellowship was distinguished by a radical program of a democratic Slavic federation. It is emphasized that the program goals of the Slavic unity of the Cyril-Methodius people were significantly different from the Russian governmental pan-Slavism and oppositional Slavophilism. The ideas of a centralized Slavic empire centered in St. Petersburg were opposed by a program of a federal Slavic republic with its capital in Kiev. Thus, in the program of the Cyril and Methodius Fellowship, a fusion of Slavic and Ukrainian ideas that were born and grew at the dawn of liberation from colonial and national oppression, the spiritual revival of the Slavic peoples, their unbridled desire for state independence and freedom was included. The authors conclude that despite the fact that the idea of pan-Slavism has lost its relevance today, the progressive views of members of the Cyril and Methodius Fellowship sound quite relevant at the beginning of the 21st century. Today, the Ukrainian and other Slavic peoples need to know the truth about the organization, whose activity had a significant impact on the Ukrainian and national Slavic liberation movement.

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