A new book, James Mace. Ukraine: Materialization of Ghosts, has been published. It is based on the articles by the well-known American and Ukrainian historian, political writer, public activist that focus on the history of Ukraine in the 20th century, its greatest tragedies and gains, as well as events in the first years of independence. Most of the articles were published in Den/The Day and some are original. Last week the book was launched in Chernihiv by the editor and compiler Natalia Dziubenko-Mace and some of James Mace’s friends and colleagues. The event was held at the same hall where Mace spoke 14 years ago. Many things looked different at the time, and memories of the recent past seem to be from a different country and a different universe, but the living participants and a bit faded photographs show that it was a wonderful day and all the participants were unaware of the consequences. For some reason, it happens like this – without due account of our current plans and goals which eventually become unimportant. Instead, we change unexpectedly for us.
The coming of Mace to Chernihiv in June 2002 was unexpected for all those who had something to do with it one way or another. As it became known later, he had expected no invitations and had no plans to travel anywhere – Mace was busy editing the next issue of the English-language Day and getting ready for Kyiv Mohyla Academy classes. To tell the truth, he had never been to Chernihiv before, which eased a little the situation and arguments of the receiving side. For me, the invitation of a well-known American researcher was an incredible event – I first heard about him and the conclusions of the US Commission on the Ukraine Famine in the fall of 1990 and did not even know for a long time that Mace lived in Ukraine. But why not try? After all, the very meeting with him at the editorial office of a Ukrainian national periodical is interesting, and life will show the future. Very few also believed in the likelihood of this in the city on the river Desna – the academic year was coming to a close, and the intensity of public actions is usually on the decline and societal life freezes at this period.
From the viewpoint of a bureaucrat, it was a certain violation of unwritten rules – the topmost bosses were to be notified of the speeches of foreigners, particularly so well-known, before governmental officials (it was to be precisely this kind of a public lecture). But it seemed to me, for some reason, that there would be no objections and there was no need to bother the authorities with a matter for which I was personally responsible. I only asked Mace to remember about a specific nature of the audience – he agreed, which, however, did not keep him from calling a spade a spade. For example, he expressed, quite transparently, the opinion which participants in the November 2016 presentation repeated: Ukraine will not be able to build a real state unless it dismantles the old post-Soviet system of government. The audience was shocked, which in turn unexpectedly contributed to a very free and easy dialog.
And now Chernihiv again, and Mace again… This time it is a collection of his works. About a hundred people came to the meeting – mostly students, teachers, culture institutions’ employees, regional and local government officials, and journalists. Among them were those who put questions to Mace 14 years ago, and he answered them as much as he could. It is a different question whether or not they understood him. In the view of the publication’s editor, this book is necessary, for it is the only one today that gives a key to understanding what and how happened, how to read and interpret documents. The book puts and answers a lot of questions. Mace warned us here that a Russian-Ukrainian war was possible due to a conflict between the imperial idea and Ukraine.
Indeed, he broached this subject in private conversations even more keenly than in printed texts. Not that his warnings and arguments were not accepted – it just seemed too fantastic a probability that what happened in 1917-22 could occur again. Unfortunately, it could. It is difficult to live if you have the gift of prediction based on a rational assessment of social processes. The well-known Ukrainian historian Yurii Shapoval, a colleague of Mace, pointed out at the presentation that sharing someone else’s pain was the foundation of Mace’s worldview. Once there was a rally in memory of Holodomor victims. As speeches were being delivered, Mace was crying openly. He always remained himself and reacted to our tragedy more strongly than we did. He was also sincere in his attitude to the people who surrounded him.
Oleksandr Suhoniako, president of the Association of Ukrainian Banks, explained why this was happening: Mace helped us understand ourselves, for he knew about us much more than we did. The knowledge of Ukraine’s pain permeated his personality. And he was bold enough to undertake his mission under any circumstances and to call a spade a spade. This is what the ruling strata, brought up by colonizers, never learned to do. For this reason, James Mace is for us the greatest Ukrainian in the past 25 years.
James chose Ukraine and made a colossal contribution to exploring its greatest disaster, the well-known Ukrainian researcher Vasyl Tolochko emphasized. Moreover, Mace has become the center of gravity for those readers who are impressed by his sincerity, truthfulness, and frankness.
“James Mace emerged at a right time for Ukraine,” Nizhyn University Professor Serhii Lepiavko said, agreeing with his colleague. In the 1990s, he was in fact given a “free tribune” on the pages of Den/The Day to express his opinions, when most of that time’s historians were at the crossroads after the collapse of the USSR and the generation of post-Soviet scholars had not yet formed. At the same time, Mace was one of the “engines” that were turning history from an academic science into a public one, starting the research into and the popularization of thitherto unpopular topics of Ukraine’s past.
The historians who spoke at the presentation noted that, oddly enough, Mace’s monograph Communism and the Dilemmas of National Liberation: National Communism in Soviet Ukraine, 1918-1933 has not yet been translated into Ukrainian, which limits readers’ access to it. Mace was rightfully proud of this book. It is through this subject that he came to broach Ukrainian topics, including the Holodomor. It is obviously a point of honor for us to publish the work of a person who devoted himself to Ukraine.
