THE UKRAINIANS’ RESISTANCE TO THE ANTI-RELIGIOUS POLICY OF THE SOVIET TOTALITARIAN STATE ON THE WAY OF PRESERVING THEIR NATIONAL AND SPIRITUAL VALUES: the 1960s – the 1970s

Nadia  KINDRACHUK; Volodymyr  VASYLCHUK

doi:10.24919/2519-058X.25.269552

Authors

Nadia KINDRACHUK PhD hab. (History), Professor of Department of Professional Education and Innovative Technologies at Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University, Ukraine https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7505-0668
Volodymyr VASYLCHUK PhD hab. (History), Professor of Department of Psychology and Tourism at Kyiv National Linguistic University, Ukraine https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6753-4686

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24919/2519-058X.25.269552

Keywords:

church, religion, the Ukrainians, national identity, totalitarianism, communist ideology, atheism.

Abstract

Seeing the spread of a religious worldview as a serious threat to the monopoly of the CPSU – KPU, the Soviet government during the 1960s – the 1970s of the 20th century strongly exercised control over the spiritual life of the Ukrainians and instilled atheism in them forcibly. The Ukrainian worshippers became the object of increased attention of the state security authorities. However, the party leadership did not succeed in displacing the religious worldview from the Ukrainian ethnic environment completely. Persecution of worshippers gave rise to religious dissidence. The purpose of the article is to do research on the active resistance of the Ukrainians to the anti-religious policy of the communist authorities of the Ukrainian SSR during the 1960s and the 1970s on the way to preserve their own national and spiritual values. The Research Methodology. During the research, such scientific methods as analytical and logical, historical and systemic, explanation, search, synthesis, comparison, complex selection have been applied. In the article there has been also used the method of analysis to find out the level of growth of the Ukrainians’ national consciousness. The principles of systematicity and multifactoriality, etc., have been used to determine the role of the Ukrainian intelligentsia in the defense, preservation and promotion of the Ukrainian national identity in the 1960s and the 1970s. The Scientific Novelty. In the the article there has been elucidated the role of spiritual opposition in preserving the ethnic identity of the Ukrainians in the 1960s and the 1970s; the manifestation of national self-awareness of the Ukrainians during the Soviet anti-religious campaign of the 60s – 70s of the 20th century has been demonstrated; the desire of the Ukrainians to preserve their own national and spiritual separateness has been highlighted. The Conclusion. Despite the anti-religious policy of the Soviet totalitarian state, total oppression by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union – the Communist Party of Ukraine, the Ukrainians did not retreat from the church, but resisted the communists' atheistic policy actively. Christian values continued to be the basis of the spiritual life of the absolute majority of the Ukrainian ethnic group.

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