Oleksandr Zaitsev

The purpose of the project is to write a complete intellectual biography of the most famous ideologue of Ukrainian integral nationalism, Dmytro Dontsov (1883-1973). The project is a continuation of my study of Dontsov's intellectual biography in 1920s and 1930s. The proposed research will be used as a framework for exploring the intellectual history of Ukrainian integral nationalism from its inception before the World War I to the 1970s. To explain Dontsov’s intellectual evolution, I try to grasp many aspects of the intellectual and cultural environments that developed in the different cities where he lived at different times – from St. Petersburg in the early 20th century to Montreal in the 1940s – 1970s. I try to move beyond the confrontation of ‘fascist’ and ‘national liberationist’ interpretations of the Ukrainian integral nationalism. My basic assumption is that the struggle for independence of Ukraine and the ‘epoch of fascism’ in Europe were historical contexts equally important for an adequate understanding of Ukrainian nationalism of the interwar and wartime periods. I will use the case of Dmytro Dontsov to develop an updated theoretical model of integral nationalism in stateless nations, or separatist ultra-nationalism, which I proposed in my previous works. The results of the research will be published as a monograph. The expected date of its completion is June 2024.