Chapter Украина в наследии Жаботинского

Overview & Synopsis

The Ukrainian Theme in the Legacy of Vladimir (Ze’ev) Jabotinsky. Vladimir (Ze’ev) Jabotinsky (1880-1940) combined the characteristics of a convinced individualist, a nationalist-statist, and an equally convinced liberal with a tendency toward anarchism. He respected every people’s struggle for independence and called nationalism “the individualism of nations”. In his prose, essays and journalism, Jabotinsky was able to synthesize rational analysis with fearless intuition. This combination enabled him to predict both World Wars I and II and the Holocaust, long before Hitler invaded Poland. As a young man he lived for several years in Italy, which he considered his spiritual homeland. His views were formed, on the one hand, under the influence of Italian socialists, Garibaldi and Italian culture in general, and, on the other hand, under the influence of Ukrainian socialists, champions of independence. He maintained friendly contacts with some of them because he combined his Zionism with Ukrainianophilia, which survived despite the monstrous Jewish pogroms organized by the Petlyura troops in 1919-20. A special theme touched upon in the report is the supposed echoes of Ukrainian spontaneous individualism in Jabotinsky’s anarchist tendencies.