IDEOLOGICAL CONTROL OF THE STALINIST REGIME OVER THE INTELLIGENTSIA IN THE UKRAINIAN SSR: 1945 – 1953

Abstract

The article focuses on the analysis of the content, main forms and methods of ideological control over the intelligentsia, which was carried out by the Stalinist regime in the Ukrainian SSR in 1945 – 1953. The purpose of the work is to find out the role of censorship bodies and public exposing campaigns, called "Zhdanovshchyna", in establishing a strict political and ideological control over literature, art and science in the USSR, creative and scientific intelligentsia of the Republic. The methodology of the research: the article is based on the theory of totalitarianism and the principles formulated by Karl Friedrich; traditional general and special historical methods have been used. The scientific novelty of the article consists in involvement of original documentary material from the central state archives of Ukraine and the Russian Federation. The Conclusion. Ideological control was one of the basic features of the Soviet totalitarianism, an effective tool of government control over the creative and scientific intelligentsia, all public life. Analysis of archival documents shows that censorship remained a key element in the system of ideological control, blocking official channels of mass communication and preventing any deviations from accepted ideological standards. At the same time, during the first postwar years, the Stalinist regime carried out numerous exposing campaigns, essentially political and ideological purges in literature, art, and science, accusing the Ukrainian artists and scholars of “national limitations” and “Ukrainian bourgeois nationalism”. Such control over the activities of the intelligentsia, over all spheres of a spiritual life ensured the ideological monopoly of the Communist Party in the society.