ON MARCH 28, 1898 WAS BORN MYKOLA STSIBORSKY, A FATHER OF NATIONCRACY

On March 28 was born Mykola Stsiborsky, a leading figure of Ukrainian nationalist movement of first half of XX century, an author of numerous articles in nationalist publications and co-author of the draft constitution of the Ukrainian state. Stsiborsky was one of the founders and chief theorists of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN).

Mykola Stsiborsky is well known as a developer of the concept of Nationcracy as an alternative to both liberal-capitalist (Western) and totalitarian-socialist (Eastern) political paths.


Nationcracy is a socio-political doctrine and a concept of state regime according to which the process of state governance is carried through representative bodies of state authority, organised on the basis of solidarity of all socially useful sectors of the nation. The basic principles of the political concept were first described by Stsiborsky in his eponymous essay in 1935.

As was noted above Stsiborsky was the principal theorist of the OUN. He believed that the idea of democracy that began to spread throughout the world following the French Revolution had reached its high point prior to the First World War and subsequently came into decline. He wrote that democracy and capitalism were inseparable, and that the two systems helped bring about much material progress and innovation throughout the nineteenth century. He also saw them as fundamentally flawed. Stsiborsky felt that democracy and capitalism required equal rights and freedoms while, at the same time, nature was inherently not equal. With time, the weak were bound by the capitalist system to become enslaved by the strong and the democratic slogans of universal brotherhood were considered by Stsiborsky to be merely sentimental and empty phrases. The reality in a democracy, according to Stsiborsky, was that political rights and social control are directly proportional to economic power. Democracy thus became a playground for competing groups, each promoting its own interests rather than those of the nation as a whole. These interests vie for votes, and employ bribery and corruption. For these reasons, Stsiborsky felt that ultimately the most creative, talented, and best elements in a democratic society retreat from politics in disgust.

Stsiborsky considered socialism and communism to be identical in their theories and worldview, and wrote that both were flawed reactions to democracy's failures. He rejected their emphasis on the Proletariat (working class) and claimed that socialism, as well as communism, inevitably leads to a dictatorship in favor of one social group at the expense of others in the nation.

In opposition to democracy, socialism and communism, Stsiborsky admired Italy's fascism. In contrast to Democracy's "liberty, equality, fraternity" he praised Fascism's "duty, hierarchy, discipline." Stsiborsky wrote that society should be organized according to the principles of National syndicalism, a socioeconomic system adopted by Benito Mussolini. Instead of competing political parties or social classes he proposed that an authoritarian one-party government should harmoniously unite all social groups, which would prevent exploitation of some classes by others and would focus all of the nation's social elements onto the goal of national development rather than on the development of particular groups such as social classes. Stsiborsky supported a fascist ideas which he claimed represented a "cult of creativity" in opposition to democracy's "cult of numbers/votes." He rejected the old traditional elite in favor of a new one, arising from the people, characterized by its genius and willpower.