Mykola Vasylenko was born on in the village of Esman (today a small settlement of
Hlukhiv Raion). He finished a progymnasium in
Glukhov and a full gymnasium in
Poltava. After graduation Vasylenko studied at the history and philology faculty of the
Imperial Dorpat University. In 1890 he defended his dissertation, "A critical overview of literature on the history of
Zemskie Sobory", becoming a
Kandidat nauk in Russian history. Since 1890 Vasylenko worked as a teacher of history in Kiev gymnasiums, simultaneously working for the Historical society of Nestor the Chronicler. At the same time he attended the lectures of
Volodymyr Antonovych,
Vladimir Ikonnikov, Oleksandr Lazarevsky and others at the
St. Vladimir Imperial University of Kiev. Vasylenko also was co-editor and published his scientific works in the journal
Kievskaya starina (
Kiev of old). In 1893-94 there appeared his first fundamental scientific works, particularly the monograph "The question of servitude in the
Southwestern Krai". During 1903-05 Vasylenko was a researcher for the Statistics Committee of the
Kiev Governorate. He also was a member of yiev Old
Hromada as well as other public and cultural societies. Vasylenko sympathised with the
1905 Russian Revolution, and during the period he edited a newspaper,
Kievskie otkliki. For his illegal fundraising to help workers of
Saint Petersburg and
Kiev, support of the 1905 uprising of the sappers in Kiev, connections with revolutionary leaders and the publication of articles of "anti-state" content in his newspaper, Vasylenko was convicted to a year in prison which he served in the
Kresty Prison in Saint Petersburg. During his imprisonment Vasylenko studied law, eventually passing the examinations of the Law faculty of the
Imperial Novorossiya University. In 1909 he was admitted to the St. Vladimir Imperial University of Kiev as a
privatdozent. At the time Vasylenko was a member of secret public organization and political alliance, the . In 1910 he received the academic degree of
Master of Law. However, due to "political unreliability" the Imperial administration prohibited him to teach in higher educational institutions. Therefore, Vasylenko worked as a fellow barrister for the Odessa court chamber. Around that time in 1910 Vasylenko joined the
Constitutional Democratic Party (the Kadets), which agreed to the use of the
Ukrainian language in schools, courts, churches, although they promoted only the cultural autonomy of Ukraine. His affiliation with the Kadets negatively affected relationships of Vasylenko with activists of Ukrainian national-liberation movement. After the
February Revolution, on the initiative of
Mykhailo Hrushevsky, Mykola Vasylenko was invited to the
Central Council of Ukraine as deputy chairman, but he did not actively participate in the council's sessions. On March 24, 1917 the
Russian Provisional Government appointed Vasylenko as a curator of the Kiev school district and on August 19, 1917 he became the Deputy Minister of Education in the
Russian Provisional Government. Vasylenko was a supporter of an evolutionary development of the system of Ukrainian national education, a position that did not correspond to the policy of
Ukrainisation of education developed by the I and II All-Ukrainian Teachers congresses and carried out by the General Secretariat of Education. ==References==