The publicism of Ivan Franko: seditious thoughts at the background of modernity
The article seeks to analyze a little-known publicism of I. Franko. It was prohibited in the period of the Soviet totalitarianism, and was made available for research only during the modern era of history of Ukraine. Publicistic articles of I. Franko covering problems of emergence, molding and development of the Ukrainian state, contain deep reflections on ultimate need of its existence as a fundamental basis for progress and prosperity of the Ukrainian people. A necessity of studying the indicated publicistic works is determined not only by restoration of historical justice, but also awareness of their resonance with many contemporary Ukrainian problems rooted in the very old times and yet awaiting their solutions. Furthermore, Ukraine faces new challenges ― a need to make up the lost time to preserve and strengthen its positions in complex world geopolitical situation; overcoming tough economic dependence on other countries; war with the Russian Federation, a problem of not nominal, but real unity of the country, as well as spiritual one. Ivan Franko is regarded as one of the first critics of the essential flaws of scholarly socialism, communist concept of state, social and democratic doctrines. He considers in his publicistic articles, a vulnerability of the Marxism theory, as well as raises issues with academic integrity of its creators (specifically, attribution of other scholars’ copyright). Keywords: Ivan Franko, publicism, national ideal, state independence, Malorussianism, Moscowphilism, social-democratic ideology, historical memory, challenges of modernity.