The 1920's are the most exciting, controversial and productive period of modern Ukrainian theater and literature. Ukraine was recovering from nearly a decade of extreme social upheaval. The Russian Communists realized that without engaging the dormant productive forces, as well as national aspirations, of Ukraine, they would not be able to preserve and rule the newly founded USSR. This awareness led them to resort to a tactical deviation from the rigid Marxist-Leninist strategy and to introduce the New Economic Policy, followed in the mid-20's by short-lived Ukrainization, policies that promoted Ukrainian language and thus helped legitimize Soviet rule in Ukrainian eyes.
Left to its own devices, Ukrainian culture showed amazing signs of vitality. Despite acute economic hardships, a new generation of writers, artists and scholars lost no time in setting up artistic organizations, academic and educational institutions, theaters, literary magazines, and publishing houses. Given the fact that in the 19th century Ukrainian language was banned from literature, public and scientific discourse, these developments amounted to a small cultural miracle.
Literary organizations mushroomed and waged a never-ending acrimonious debate about the future of Ukrainian culture. There were local maverick modernists and highly sophisticated, multi-talented neo-classicists, symbolists and populists, as well as aggressive socialist-realists who never hesitated to lash out at their Western-oriented fellow-writers.
Out of this cauldron came some first-class poetry (P. Tychyna, Ie. Pluzhnyk, V. Svidzyns'kyi) and prose (V. Pidmohyl'nyi, H. Kosynka). These authors, together with V. Stefanyk and B. I. Antonych from Western Ukraine, constitute a relatively small but glorious group that any literature could be proud of.
The greatest achievements of Ukrainian theater of this period are inseparable from the name of L. Kurbas. L. Kurbas revolutionized Ukrainian theater elevating it in style, aesthetics and repertoire from the provincial to the level of modern Western European performing arts. As the head of Berezil' and Molodyi theater companies, he perfected his rigorous system for intellectual and technical training of actors. By engaging the best available playwrights (M. Kulish) and artists (A. Petryts'kyi, V. Meller), he originated a unique Ukrainian Expressionist theater, highly acclaimed throughout the Soviet Union.
This flourishing of Ukrainian culture during the 1920's was a manifestation of growing national self-confidence. Even Ukrainian communists at times opted for more autonomy and expressed desire to part ways with their Moscow comrades. M. Khvyliovyi, tacitly supported by some Ukrainian leaders, called upon Ukrainian intelligentsia to "move away from Moscow" towards "psychological Europe."
Such a step was intolerable for a totalitarian state. 1929 marks the beginning of large scale repressions in Ukraine. Writers and scholars were among the first who faced the firing squads. Except for V. Vynnychenko, nearly all the authors presented here perished during the Stalinist terror. The vacuum created by their absence cannot be filled and the wounds caused by their death continue to be felt by Ukrainian culture.