ІВАН КЕДРИН – ЗНАКОВА ПОСТАТЬ В ІСТОРІЇ УКРАЇНСЬКОЇ ПОЛІТИКО-ПРАВОВОЇ ДУМКИ

The role of I. Kedryn-Rudnytskyi, a Ukrainian public and political figure and publicist who, having lived for almost a century, devoted almost his entire life to the struggle for the establishment of Ukrainian statehood is highlighted, although he is little known to the general public. The exceptionally noteworthy and instructive intellectual heritage of I. Kedryn-Rudnytskyi is studied, which introduces a deep, impartial analysis of the historical processes that took place in Galicia and the Dnieper region during the First National Liberation Struggle as well as in the pre-war years. The memoirs that cover the main periods in his dramatic, full of life trials, biography and characterize him as a thinker, public and political figure, journalist and ideologist of Ukrainian political and legal thought of a national-democratic orientation are especially relevant. The formation of I. Kedryn-Rudnytskyi as a person is traced. It is shown that the formation of his worldview was significantly influenced by his stay in Kyiv, where he ended up after escaping from russian captivity, where he was after being wounded as a soldier of the AustroHungarian army. Studying at the Faculty of History and Philosophy, meeting Professor Ahatanhel Krymskyi, working in Ukrainian state institutions, the newspapers “Hromadske Slovo” and “Promin”, stormy events that changed as if in a kaleidoscope (the activities of the Central Rada, the capture of Kyiv by the Bolsheviks, the entry of the Germans into Kyiv, the Hetman’s coup, the coming to power of the Directory, its fall under the onslaught of the troops of Bolshevik russia) – all this made him a “university student” who unswervingly adhered to Ukrainian-centric views in life and in socio-political activity. It is emphasized that the idea of the unity of Ukrainian lands was Kedryn-Rudnytskyi had to defend himself in a fierce ideological struggle with opponents, both in Galicia and in the Dnieper region. It is established that in his works on cultural, historical, political and legal issues, the publicist substantiated the fundamental principles of the formation of Ukrainian political and legal thought, which he consistently adhered to in his state-building activities. Keywords: Ivan-Kedryn-Rudnytskyi, socio-political activity, national liberation struggles, Ukrainian political and legal thought, Act of Conciliarism, Ukrainian-Polish relations, Sovietophilism, Ukrainian nationalism.