Organization and Execution Mechanism of Library “Purges” in the Soviet Ukraine (1920-1930)

Abstract

Formation of the Independent States of the former Soviet Union and formation of their own history requires clarification of a number of aspects of the Bolshevists activities in the national cultural policies. “Purges” of library holdings which were held throughout the Soviet Union, in different republics had their own peculiarities. Therefore, the article using the example of Soviet Ukraine, traced causal relationship between the work with book collections and political environment, cultural and national policies of state party-political machinery of the USSR. On the basis of archival sources there was revealed the process of organizing the library “purges” of “harmful” literature, identified the structures, given the orders and participated in this work, there was reconstructed the mechanism of their activities in the Soviet Ukraine. An important aspect of this study is analysis of motives of withdrawal from the library of works of Ukrainian authors. Particular attention is paid to the various instructions, lists of literature and authors, which were used by the bodies of political censorship at work with book collections.