VYACHESLAV ZAYIKYN AS A RESEARCHER OF HISTORIOGRAPHY

Abstract

The article provides a comprehensive analysis of Vyacheslav Zayikyn’s historio-graphical contributions as a representative phenomenon of Ukrainian intellec-tual history during the interwar period. Against the backdrop of methodological explorations of the 1920s–1930s, it demonstrates how his works combine source criticism with ideological verification, aiming to overcome the imperial narrative of «unity» and integrate Ukrainian science into European discourse. The article examines Zayikyn’s early reviews of revolutionary-era memoirs, their evaluations, and his characterizations. It highlights that the sсientist identified a crisis in his-torical studies, a generational shift and changes in the criteria for evaluation of the past (a state-ethical imperative), while proposing the first typology of ideological movements: renewed populism, Christian-conservative/state and nationalist-state schools. The article separately addresses his polemic with Soviet Marxist criticism: in collaboration with O. Zayikyna, the author refuted the label of «national-fas-cism,» showcasing the ideological diversity of émigré historical-legal thought. Zayikyn’s contribution to the debate on Ukrainian ethnogenesis (polemic with M. Korduba) is analyzed: based on archaeological, anthropological, and linguistic data, he advocated for an early and autonomous trajectory of Ukrainian ethnic formation, rejecting the concept of a «all-Russian nation», distinguishing between southern (proto-Ukrainian) and northern East Slavic regions. The significance of his theoretical reflections and bibliographic work in the early 1930s, which supported scientific communication, is also demonstrated. The article concludes by emphasizing V. Zayikyn’s role as a modernizer of Ukrainian historiography, who combined strictness source criticism with conceptual thinking, promoted state approaches and opened prospects for comparative studies in intellectual history.