Vynnychenko with and without bromine

The head of government, a fiery speaker, an “enemy of the people,” who tried to advise Stalin on politics and worked for many years on his own theory of universal happiness. This is how historian Oleksandr Kucheruk portrays Volodymyr Vynnychenko in his new book. Contemporaries called Vynnychenko at the very least tactless, if not odious, and he, in turn, was even more categorical in his statements: he called Hrushevsky “an envious, dishonest old man,” Skoropadsky “a drooling cretin,” and mentioned his opponent Petliura in his diaries as often as he mentioned his wife Rozalia.

Vynnychenko is the author of the thesis “honesty with oneself,” who at the same time preferred not to believe in the Holodomor, because he was waiting for royalties for books from the Soviet authorities. His life is endless contradictions, women, and changes in political views.

Oleksandr Kucheruk, without embellishment, describes a talented writer and public figure, thirsty for power and recognition, who went from trying to revive Ukrainian statehood to trying to join the Soviet government.