From the correspondence of M. P. Drahomanov: two unknown letters to M. V. Vodovozov of 1894

Abstract

This publication introduces into scientific discourse little-known letters of prominent Ukrainian scholar, politician and publicist M. P. Drahomanov (1841–1895), discovered in the fond of V. I. Vernadsky in the Archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow. Two letters written in the latest period of the life of M. P. Drahomanov, which are addressed to young economist and publicist Mykola Vasyliovych Vodovozov (1870– 1896), expand the source base not only for M. P. Drahomanov’s biographers. They show his ties with Russian liberals, who later formed the core of the party of constitutional democrats. A preface to the publication contains a biography of M. V. Vodovozov, and the author makes a hypothesis on the history of an acquaintance of the correspondent and the addressee, which could be connected with M. V. Vodovozov’s brother, V. V. Vodovozov, and members of the “Shelter Fraternity”, and through them with M. P. Drahomanov. The analysis of the published letters proves that M. P. Drahomanov endeavored to widen through the “Shelter Fraternity” members his contacts with democratic circles in Russia, and also to find financial support for publishing letters of Bakunin and Struve.