The impact of historical realities of the 1920s of the 20th century on premarital personal relationships of the ukrainian youth

Abstract

Political, economic and social experiments carried out in the 1920s of the 20th century were studied by many specialists. However, there has been a lack of publications devoted to the impact of historical realities of that period on premarital personal relationships of the Ukrainian youth.
 On the basis of literature, mass media and archival sources, the influence of the Revolution and that time social realities on the premarital personal relationships of the Ukrainian youth is considered. Attention is paid to the influence of the theories of “free love” and “a glass of water” on personal relationships of boys and girls.
 It is concluded that political, economic and social experiments of the Bolsheviks significantly influenced the premarital relationships of the Ukrainian youth. In the youth circles, the theories of “free love” and “a glass of water” became popular. Under their influence, the centuries-old traditions of premarital relationships between boys and girls were significantly distorted; a crackdown was had on the institution of the family, traditional understanding of the responsibility of parents for upbringing of their children. The new state simplified the registration of marriage and divorce procedure to a minimum. At the same time, in the village where the absolute majority of the Ukrainians lived, new visions of premarital relationships were not widely spread. There the premarital relationships of young people were preserved mainly in traditional forms, which presupposed creation of family couples within their social stratum. But in cities, a certain part of young people rushed to establishing “new” personal relationships between boys and girls. Primarily, they were the members of the Komsomol. On the basis of those “new” relationships extreme frivolity and banal immorality could not but grow. In the new vision of premarital personal relationships the authorities brought the thesis of an unconditional primacy of the interests of the political regime instead of the personal feelings of the beloved. That thesis was actually acknowledged to be fundamental and persistently promoted by the authorities.