THE SOVIET MYTH OF THE «UKRAINIAN PEOPLE’S REUNIFICATION» AS AN IDEOLOGICAL WEAPON AGAINST THE UKRAINIAN LIBERATION MOVEMENT

Abstract

Based on the analysis of the Soviet myth of the «Ukrainian people’s reunification», the article has revealed the enemy image construction and dissemination process, which Soviet propaganda used in the struggle against the Ukrainian liberation movement in the annexed Ukrainian territories. The authors adhere to a contemporary methodological approach to understanding the myth as an ideologically marked narrative, which is the primary communication tool between the political regime and the masses. The role of the myth of the «Ukrainian people’s reunification» in the official historical memory’s version and the use of this myth by the Stalinist regime as an alternative to the Ukrainian national idea of unity has been clarified. The transformation of the mythologeme about the enemy in the Soviet official discourse during World War II and the post-war years has been traced. The authors have established that Soviet ideologists directed the image of the internal enemy against the Ukrainian liberation movement, portraying the national powers, which fought for the independence and unity of Ukraine, as betrayers of the Ukrainian people and attributing to them a class nature and dependence on Western states. The article has identified the main characteristics of two images of the internal enemy, «Ukrainian bourgeois nationalists» and «Ukrainian-German nationalists», which were constructed in Soviet narratives. Using the example of the party leaders’ proclamations, historical and literary essays, and propaganda articles, authors have described the attempts of the Soviet power to turn the Western Ukrainian community against the Ukrainian liberation movement and to demonstrate the futility of an independent and unity Ukraine idea. The article has also defined various ways of spreading Soviet mythology and the influence of the myth to liquidate the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and enforce ideological campaigns.