Ukrainian history has been rewritten many times, «fitting» into a format convenient for the totalitarian regime, where there was no place for mentions of fighters for the interests of Ukrainians, but stories about Ukrainian culture were ideologically verified. That is why we have to revive the names of forgotten but outstanding Ukrainians. One of those who stood at the origins of Ukrainian book publishing was a native of Zhytomyr, Antin Mykhailovych Lyakhotsky
A boy who was born in 1853 in Zhytomyr region un a family of a priest, must had been traditionally became a priest too. When it came time to choose an institution for study, of course Antin Lyakhotsky chose a seminary in Zhytomyr. However, we will never know whether it was his own choice or a tribute to family traditions. We know one thing for sure: throughout his life Antin Lyakhotsky studied actively, and after graduating from high school he chose secular life – he moved to Kyiv and got a job as a secretary of the Kyiv County Court.
During his life in Kyiv, Lyakhotsky became close to the progressive members of Old Community organization, which included the best representatives of the Ukrainian intelligentsia. The seriousness of the organization’s intentions and plans was confirmed by the fact that even joining its ranks was not easy: in the 1870s, the Old Community accepted only people with higher education and those who received the support of all members. Open voting made the process transparent, and those who were voted against were not accepted into the organization. The cultural, educational and political activities of the «Old Community» usually attracted the attention of the police – searches began. Khvedir Vovk, an associate of Antin Lyakhotsky, asked him to hide illegal literature. As a result of the search, the literature was found and Lyakhotsky was arrested. The story of Antin’s release from prison is extraordinary and fascinating, and could even become the plot of an adventure novel. Opposite the then police station was a tavern, which was often frequented by law enforcement officers. Hvedor Vovk’s acquaintances used this circumstance to implement Lyakhotsky’s liberation plan: they disguised themselves as workers, met the police, and tried to «make friends.» New «friends», with whom the underground often spent evenings in a tavern together, allowed to stay overnight in the department if the party ended late.
Friends found out in which cell Lyakhotsky was being held, soldered the guards and released Antin, whom they decided to send to Geneva, where Drahomanov was working at the time, for security reasons.
Having the addresses of Ivan Franko and some of his comrades in Lviv and Vienna, Lyakhotsky crossed the Austro-Hungarian border, came to Lviv and began working there as a ticket seller in the Ukrainian theater. The acquaintance with Ivan Franko was a new impetus for active political activity and a new reason for his arrest in January 1877. Ivan Franko wrote in a letter to Mykhailo Drahomanov on January 10, 1877: «Dear sir! Yesterday, it was 9, the postman brought Pavlyk a letter from you early, but did not find him at home. In the afternoon, Yastremsky and Lyakhotsky were arrested, not knowing where and what. In the afternoon at five o’clock Pavlyk sang to pick up your letter at the post office and gave it to me. Opil was searched by Pavlyk until seven in the evening. Pavlyk is under the eye of the police, he can’t write to you, but don’t send him anything now until there is an end to it. Do not know what will happen to Pavlyk, «Friend», etc. Our comrades are glorious, it seems that this is all their information.» The last sentence is an accusation against Muscovites, «our glorious comrades,» who informed the Austrian authorities about the activities of Antin Lyakhotsky, Mykhailo Pavlyk, and Serhiy Yastremsky. In March 1877, Lyakhotsky and other detainees were released from custody with the demand to leave Galicia because they had not been able to prove their guilt. Antin Lyakhotsky refused to return to Russia, and he was sent to Prussia. Initially, the refugee emigrated to Vienna, and from there to Switzerland. According to Levko Khmelkovsky, when he came to Geneva and came to the student «commune», it was there that they talked about Kuzma Prutkov – a famous literary figure. Lyakhotsky did not want to call himself Kuzma. He even had a residence permit issued in the name of Lakhozky-Kouzma. It was in Geneva that Antin Lyakhotsky, together with Mykhailo Drahomanov, became the organizer of a free Ukrainian printing house. Here they began to publish the magazine «Hromada», as well as illegal works of Ukrainian scientists and writers. In total, more than a hundred books were printed in this printing house. Drahomanov’s anthology «Community» was also published, which was published five times between 1878 and 1882 and very quickly became a well-known socio-political publication abroad. It was here, in a free Ukrainian printing house, thanks to the dedicated work of many Ukrainians, including Antin Lyakhotsky, that the world saw Taras Shevchenko’s miniature «free-spirited» Kobzar, which included works banned by Russian censorship. It was decided to take as a basis the edition of «Kobzar», made in Prague in 1876, and to publish only 55 x 85 mm and a circulation of 1000 copies.
The idea to publish the book in this format arose after the infamous instructions of the Russian government: a circular of Interior Minister Valuev, which banned the publication of books and periodicals, staging plays «in the Ukrainian dialect», and the so-called Emsy decree of 1876, in which Tsar Alexander II «Did not allow the import of books and pamphlets printed abroad in the Ukrainian language into the empire without the special permission of the management of the printing department.» That is why the progressive Ukrainian community abroad undertook to prepare and publish the «free» Geneva «Kobzar». It was Lyakhotsky, known as Kuzma, and Theodor Wolf (as Khvedor Vovk was called abroad), a Ukrainian anthropologist, who chose the twenty most anti-monarchist works of Shevchenko banned by the empire. Many of the poet’s works, published in a «sloppy» edition, have not been seen before by the inhabitants of the empire – they were published in Russia only after the revolutionary events of 1905, and the poem «My God, disaster again» was published in this collection for the first time. The collection includes not only Shevchenko’s «seditious» poems, but also the humiliating Ems decree of 1876 without changes. Only to the signature of the publishing house «Head of the Main Department of Press Affairs Grigoriev» publishers iponically added: «University Professor», as well as added a preface about the life and work of Shevchenko, written by Khvedir Vovk. Ivan Franko mentioned that «the miniature Kobzar made a great sensation in Galicia, and thousands of copies were sent to Russia because copies could be hidden in one’s pocket.» In order for the publication to reach readers in tsarist Russia, an «unusual way» was invented: books were delivered together with packages of Avadi paper used by smokers. The small assemblies were wrapped, packed and stacked between real packets of smoking paper so that they could not be distinguished from Avadi paper parcels when checked at the border. That’s how the packages got to Ukraine. In 1878, Khvedir Vovk returned to Kyiv and brought with him a lot of illegal literature, including the «free» Kobzar. They distributed books in different ways, even managed to sell them in the Ilnytsky bookstore near the Golden Gate. The books were distributed very carefully: in order not to lose all the literature in case of a search, one or two books of «Kobzar» were kept in a separate room, where only buyers with a recommendation were asked to enter.
The first edition of Panas Mirnyi’s novel «Do the oxen roar when the manger is full?» In addition to publishing, Antin Lyakhotsky was also the author of his own works, which he signed under the pseudonym Kuzma. In a letter from Sofia dated February 23, 1895, to the writer Mykhailo Pavlyk, Lesya Ukrainka mentioned a copy of the Narod magazine: « Uncle asks to send more copies,as people are eager to read and we do not want to take our books off hands». The connection between Lesya Ukrainka and Antin Lyakhotsky is not accidental. Writer and publicist Levko Khmelkovsky wrote that «Kuzma was the godfather of Svitozar, the son of the Drahomanovs, and here people ask him to read, and we often walked with him.»
The vitality of Lyakhotsky’s image is given to us by details preserved in the memoirs of his contemporaries: «In his spare time he liked to drink beer at Landtolt’s bar and drank a lot, but he was not drunk. «Katsaps are drunkards, they can’t drink: they drink a little and are already fooling around,» Kuzma explained. A sincere and skilful man, Kuzma-Lyakhotsky remained in the memory as a good master and a loyal friend. Contemporaries recall that there were always a lot of people in the printing house, as if in a club. For them, Kuzma cooked borsch in a large cauldron for several days. Also, he always lent money, which Kuzma did not have. The coins were stacked in columns in a closet. When someone asked for money, Kuzyma said: «Take it in the closet.» When returning the debt, he reminded: «Put it in the closet, but do not confuse»; «The locals brought him baskets of ryzhki from the forest. The Swiss did not eat these mushrooms, and Kuzma loved them. He salted, marinated, and taught the Genevans to «eat them after vodka.»
Not surprisingly, in Geneva, Antin Lyakhotsky quickly gained recognition and support: in 1906 he was entrusted to lead the Ukrainian community of this city, then such trust was shown by his compatriots for the second time in 1915. Soon life forced Lyakhotsky to move to Lausanne, where on April 24 (May 7 in the new style) in 1918 the life of Antin Lyakhotsky ended.
In the literary collection «Among the Storm», published in 1919 in Lviv at the expense of the society «Enlightenment», an obituary was published (author’s note – spelling preserved unchanged): , in Switzerland, Antin Mikhailovich Lyakhotsky, better known by the nickname «Kuzma». An ordinary but deeply honest man, a petty official from Kyiv, far from any politics, during the difficult times of the brutal reaction of the second half of the 1970s, he was forced to flee abroad. There, in Geneva, he soon became a native one in a close émigré circle, and almost every line of Drahomanov’s Geneva publications was the work of this humble worker for the benefit of his distant homeland. He spent almost his entire life in printing, helping M. Drahomanov in his work. By the end of his days, he met his faithful assistant and friend, a man who «until the last days of his holiday kept the legacy left after his late batik in Geneva,» – as his son M.P. Drahomanov’s son wrote. Drahomanov in a letter to the editorial board of Nova Rada in Kyiv. All his life he rushed to Ukraine, but died abroad, not fulfilling his desires. The deceased left his family in Switzerland, seemingly without any material means of subsistence, and therefore the best homage to his memory would be to support his family.
Almost nothing is known today whether the descendants of Antin Lyakhotsky from Zhytomyr are alive today. However, the biography of prominent compatriots who defended the interests of Ukraine is not only a prospect for further historical research, but also our gratitude for their courage and devotion to Ukraine.