„The third way“ of farmers in the views of Milan Hodža and Vyacheslav Lypynsky: an attempt at a comparative analysis

The article formulates the author’s definition and reveals the essential features of „the third way“ − an alternative to the left (socialism and communism) and right (liberalism, capitalism and fascism) development models of the agrarian countries of Central and Eastern Europe, which was formulated and justified by the ideologues of agrarianism at the end of 1910s – in the 1920s.Using the example of the views of the classics of Czechoslovak (M. Hodža) and Ukrainian (V. Lypynsky) agrarianism, the common and different views of the thinkers on the theory and practice of the „third way“ are clarified. It is substantiated that the ideology of agrarianism in the vision of M. Hodža and the „wheat ideology“ of V. Lypynsky are almost identical phenomena in terms of their content. In both cases, their fundamental principle is the recognition of the peasantry as a force capable of creating a new, fairer social order thanks to its special social, spiritual, moral, and economic qualities. The views of M. Hodža and V. Lipynsky are similar in the issues of „agrarian democracy“, defense of the economic and moral advantages of agriculture, small private ownership of land, cooperation, as well as state regulation of the economy. The essential differences in the views of the two intellectuals lie in belonging to different forms of agrarianism − radical-conservative (V. Lypynsky) and moderate, parliamentary-oriented (M. Hodža), as well as in fundamentally different approaches to the perspective of the internationalization of the agrarian movement. The thesis that the Ukrainian version of agrarianism was a self-sufficient and organic component of Central and Eastern European agrarianism received further development.