STATE POLICY OF RUSSIANIZATION OF UKRAINIAN SCHOOL YOUTH (SECOND HALF OF THE 1940S – 1960S)

Abstract

The relevance of analysing the proposed problem is driven by several factors, notably the difficult situation in which contemporary Ukraine finds itself. In general, this concerns the historical experience of readiness to effectively address national security tasks amid the intensification of an information (hybrid) warfare, as well as repelling armed aggression. The authors understand the term «Russianization» as a set of views and actions aimed at the artificial assimilation of subjugated peoples (primarily Ukrainians), the forced introduction of the Russian language, culture, and customs, thereby strengthening Russian (imperial) domination. A special place in the long-term policy of Russianization belongs to its Soviet (Russian-communist) variation, which the authors have singled out as a specific field of research. The article demonstrates that the policy of Russianization in the Ukrainian SSR during the first post-war decades was a kind of continuation of former imperial traditions of subjugation. This occurred despite the fact that officially the Bolsheviks and their leaders categorically rejected their connection to the Romanov monarchy and autocracy as such. It is emphasised that the language issue played an important role in the policy of Russianization of school and university youth during the «late» rule of J. Stalin and N. Khrushchev. Based on the analysis of statistical data and other sources, the authors prove that the liberalisation of socio-political life, which occurred in the second half of the 1950s and the first half of the 1960s, hardly mitigated «linguistic» Russianization at all. Moreover, during this period, this policy even intensified. Overall, the communist regime acted cynically in its attitude toward Ukrainian youth as representatives of a distinct nation. It restricted the public use of their native language, the study of authentic history, and ultimately, the acquisition of an entire world of knowledge, reflections, feelings, and more. At the same time, it did not hesitate to manipulate the thoughts and desires of the people themselves.