Shevchenko Society hosts Hunczak's presentation on Pereiaslav Council of 1654 (02/01/04)

Shevchenko Society hosts Hunczak's presentation on Pereiaslav Council of 1654

by Dr. Orest Popovych

NEW YORK. - The Shevchenko Scientific Society (NTSh) on January 24 hosted a program in which Dr. Taras Hunczak reported on the recent international scholarly conference in Kyiv dedicated to the 350th anniversary of the Pereiaslav Council and Treaty of 1654. Held at the Kyiv Museum on January 14-16, the conference was co-sponsored by the Shevchenko Scientific Society of the U.S.A. and the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (CIUS). It featured about 20 presentations by historians from Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, Poland and North America. The latter was represented by Dr. Hunczak, a professor of history and political science at Rutgers University, as well as director of the History and Philosophy Section at NTSh, and by Dr. Zenon Kohut, the director of CIUS.

The Pereiaslav Treaty, signed by the Ukrainian Kozak Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky in January 1654, accepted the overlordship of the tsar of Muscovy (the name "Russia" was introduced only in 1721). From the Ukrainian standpoint, that treaty resulted in disastrous consequences for Ukraine's future, leading to the demise of its statehood, its political and spiritual development, culture and language. According to Russian and Soviet interpretations, however, Pereiaslav was an event worthy of celebration, being hailed as the happy "reunification" of Ukraine with Russia, and continuously providing the historical justification for Russia's imperial designs on Ukraine, which have not abated to this day.

The program at NTSh was opened by the society's president Dr. Larissa Onyshkevych. She reminded the audience that back in 2001, in anticipation of the upcoming anniversary of Pereiaslav, NTSh had launched a contest for the best monograph on the subject of the consequences of the Pereiaslav Council for Ukraine. Out of the 15 scholarly manuscripts received by NTSh in response to this invitation, grants were awarded to five individuals and one group of 11 historians.

This group has already produced an anthology titled "Pereiaslav Council of 1654," which was published in Kyiv by Smoloskyp in 2003 (in Ukrainian). The publication was sponsored jointly by NTSh and the CIUS. By now it has been presented in 25 cities throughout Ukraine.

In addition, NTSh co-sponsored with CIUS the Kyivan conference - Dr. Hunczak's talk, said Dr. Onyshkevych, turning the proceedings over to Prof. Vasyl Makhno.

In his presentation, Dr. Hunczak blended historical background with the analysis from his lecture in Kyiv, later showing selected video footage of himself and other speakers from the Kyivan conference.

In Dr. Hunczak's opinion, Pereiaslav was not a treaty in the usual sense of an agreement between two heads of state, but rather a bizarre circus. The Ukrainian leader and the Kozak elite, indeed the entire population of Ukraine, were required to take an oath of allegiance to the tsar of Muscovy, whereas the Moscow representative offered only promises in return. In other words, the oath was not bilateral. There was tremendous opposition to the treaty in Ukraine; several Kozak regiments refused to take the oath and, most significantly, so did the entire Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The original text of the Pereiaslav Treaty was never found, and the copies that exist are of dubious authenticity.

Ivan Vyhovsky, who became the Kozak hetman after Khmelnytsky's death in 1657, repudiated the Pereiaslav Treaty altogether, trying instead to form a Ukrainian principality that would become an equal partner in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Moscow's response was to send an army of 150,000 into Ukraine, but Hetman Vyhovsky with his Polish and Tatar allies dealt the Muscovites a crushing defeat at Konotop in 1659. Dr. Hunczak stated: We, Ukrainians, remember only our own defeats, but why don't we celebrate the glorious victory over Moscow at Konotop?"

Unfortunately, the effect of the victory at Konotop was short-lived, as internal dissention and fratricidal strife tore Ukraine apart. In the end, the Muscovites prevailed when in 1667 they signed with the Poles the Treaty of Andrusovo, which divided Ukraine between Russia and Poland along the Dnipro River. With this treaty, the tsar of Muscovy violated his side of the Pereiaslav Treaty, in which he had agreed to protect the Ukrainian Kozaks from the Poles.

In the opinion of Dr. Hunczak, the Treaty of Andrusovo was the crowning victory of Moscow's diplomatic efforts, which took full advantage of the vague terms of the Pereiaslav Treaty (later falsified further in favor of Moscow) in order to establish for Moscow a foothold in Europe. For centuries prior to that, Muscovy had been expanding eastwards, while a westward expansion was impossible due to the existence of a powerful Polish state. However, once Poland had been defeated by Khmelnytsky, a power vacuum arose in which Moscow saw and seized its opportunities.

Dr. Hunczak's talk was followed by a deluge of questions and comments from the full-house audience, including one about the issuance by the National Bank of Ukraine of a commemorative silver coin honoring Pereiaslav. In response, Dr. Hunczak expressed his utter contempt for those in Ukraine who celebrate Pereiaslav as a positive event in the country's history. He said that only those Ukrainians who lack a sense of national dignity and identity could feel that way. "Can you imagine India celebrating the anniversary of its conquest by the British?" asked Dr. Hunczak.

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