“Is the West?” – Dmytro Dontsov and His Searching for the Ideal of Civilization

Abstract

The article discusses the point of view of Dmytro Dontsov, who was a co-founder of the ideology of Ukrainian nationalism, and his attitude towards the pro-Western cultural orientation of Ukraine. That question was one of the key issues in Ukrainian intellectual discourse of the interwar period, one of the participants of which was also Dontsov. He came from Zaporozhye, but in the interwar period he stayed outside the borders of Soviet Ukraine and lived in Lviv. This allowed him to freely express his views. In numerous publications, he emphasized the need for Ukrainians to adopt the Western system of values and “break with the East”. The way he understood “the West” and described its values were under an ideological influence. Dontsov’s views evolved and depends on his preferences of countries that, in his opinion, could become models for Ukraine and Ukrainians. His fascination of German-speaking, Anglo-Saxon or Romance nations was under influence of finding and discarding periodic “preferences” and produced the ideological synergy of values. Dontsov’s public annunciation in the interwar period caused that he was often perceived as a supporter not so much of integral nationalism as a promoter of fascism and Nazism. Arguing with his opponents, Dontsov tried to downplay their accusations and to develop the concept of nationalism through references to Western European culture.