THE NEWSPAPER PERIODIC’S DISTINCTIVE FEATURES FUNCTIONING IN UKRAINE IN THE 40-IES OF THE XXTH CENTURY

Abstract

The purpose of the research is to show the newspaper periodicals’ publication and functioning peculiarities in the context of the socio political conditions of the time, to reveal the main topics and content of newspapers in the 40-ies of the XXth century. The research methodology is based on the principles of scientificity, historicism, objectivity, systematicity, specific analysis, taking into account the methodological pluralism, which is relevant to the modern history science. The scientific novelty lies in the fact that the newspaper periodical’ publication and functioning specific in 1940 and its role in forming the general socio political atmosphere in society have been analyzed in the context of social, political and economic challenges of the postwar period, taking into account the influence, politicization of life in Ukraine. The Conclusions. It is identified that the press in the 1940-ies, as well as during the entire Soviet period, played a significant role in the public life of the country. It was the ruling Communist Party that assigned the role of the main propagandist and popularizer of its policy, so even in the conditions of post-war devastation and the economy's recovery, the state sought resources to restore the work of newspaper publishing houses. The periodicals produced and spread information based on the Communist ideology and aimed at shaping the Soviet public opinion. The periodicals of that period had a great influence on various aspects of the economic, sociopolitical and cultural life of the society and implemented quite successfully the press functions defined by the regime: organizational, educational, propaganda, counter-propaganda and sociological functions since newspapers often published articles on sociopolitical and production thematic. Leading themes in the periodicals were the victory in the war, ‘the Soviet soldiers’ heroism, the ‘the Soviet people decisive role and their political vanguard – the Communist Party’ in the victory over Fascism, the education of the population in the spirit of the ‘Soviet patriotism’, the proletarian ideas of internationalism propaganda, the proletarian of the natural and technical sciences achievement’ popularization, the struggle against ‘bourgeois ideology’. The press assisted the regime in launching ideological campaigns. In particular, slogans of struggle against the ‘Ukrainian bourgeois nationalism’, ‘cosmopolitanism and Zionism’ unfairly criticized many science and culture figures. The Soviet regime maximized the ideological function of the periodical press, focusing its efforts on promoting certain values and campaigning for their support by wiping out the function of the press in the public opinion formation, which was based on information activities.

Key words: press, newspaper periodic, ideology, propaganda, agitation, postwar period.