Prometheism – a Forgotten Project Against Russian Imperialism | Mieroszewski Centre

film is available with Polish subtitles

Prometheism is today a relatively little-known episode in the history of Central and Eastern Europe. Yet in the 1920s and 1930s it developed into an extensive political concept that brought together representatives of nations formerly subjected to the Russian Empire and, later, the Soviet Union. Its basic premise was simple: none of these nations was capable of resisting Moscow on its own, and therefore their struggle for independence had to be pursued collectively.

Ukrainians occupied a particularly important place within the Promethean movement. Following the defeat of the Ukrainian People’s Republic, its politicians, diplomats and military officers continued their activities in exile, working alongside Georgians, Azerbaijanis, Crimean Tatars and representatives of the peoples of the Caucasus, the Volga region and Central Asia. In 1925, representatives of several émigré communities gathered in Paris and declared their commitment to a common struggle to liberate their countries from Soviet rule.

In a new documentary film, produced with the support of the Mieroszewski Centre, historians Paweł Libera and Walentyna Piskun explain what Prometheism actually was, the role Ukrainians played within it, and why Józef Piłsudski became one of its most important political advocates.

The film also shows that Prometheism was not a single, precisely formulated ‘plan to break up the Soviet Union’. Rather, it combined a political idea with cooperation between émigré elites, information and diplomatic activities and, to some extent, military preparations. With the support of the Polish state, Promethean organisations and clubs operated across Europe, journals were published, press agencies were established, and émigré representatives sought to draw the attention of European public opinion and diplomatic circles to the situation of the peoples of the Soviet Union.

Polish-Ukrainian relations are another important part of this history. The alliance between Poland and Ukraine initiated by Józef Piłsudski and Symon Petliura grew out of their shared perception of the threat posed by Bolshevik Russia, but it did not eliminate disputes over Eastern Galicia and Volhynia. Prometheism was therefore not only a story of cooperation, but also an attempt to reconcile conflicting national interests and to answer the question of whether common security could prove more important than territorial disputes.

The film also recalls that some of the ideas developed within Promethean circles outlived the movement’s political defeat. After the Second World War, they re-emerged in a different form in the political thought of Jerzy Giedroyc and Juliusz Mieroszewski. The rejection of Polish claims to Lviv and Vilnius, together with recognition of the right of Ukraine, Lithuania and Belarus to independent statehood, became one of the foundations of the political ideas developed by the Paris-based journal Kultura.

Prometheism did not lead to the break-up of the Soviet Union during the interwar period. It did, however, leave behind a question that would return repeatedly over the following decades: is lasting security in Central and Eastern Europe possible without the political sovereignty of nations remaining under Moscow’s domination? Many Polish and Ukrainian patriots sought an answer to this dilemma – and this is the story told by the film.

Featuring:

• Dr Paweł Libera (Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Institute of National Remembrance)
• Professor Walentyna Piskun (Institute of History of Ukraine, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine)

We invite you to watch it.