Ukrainian Revolution of 1917—1921 in the Propaganda Discourse of the Russian Bolshevism: Tymofii Levchuk’s Film “A Kyiv Citizen” (1958)

Abstract

The history of cinema is one of those unique cultural phenomena, which constantly attracts the attention of researchers. This phenomenon, especially in the 20th century, determined not only the direction of aesthetic transformations of the cultural development but also had an impact on the formation of ideologies and the strengthening of political regimes. This topic is relevant because the methods of propaganda that were actively used by totalitarian regimes (including the Soviet totalitarian rule) are now actively used by the undemocratic Russian administration to achieve political goals. The construction of the “Ukrainian bourgeois nationalist” image in Soviet cinema is of special interest in the context of Russia's “hybrid warfare” against Ukraine, which continues today. The instrumental technologies of ideological manipulation used in the creation of films have shown their effectiveness in shaping the worldview of the “new Soviet man”. Forms of this type of consciousness still continue to influence the political choices of many citizens of our state. The film “A Kyiv Citizen”, studied in the article, was created in 1958 by the Ukrainian Soviet film director T. Levchuk at the Kyiv O. Dovzhenko Studio. The film is a classic example of the ideologically biased film production. On the example of this film, we can observe technological principles and constructive models used by the Soviet regime to falsify the history of Ukraine in the 20th century, in particular the events of the Ukrainian revolution of 1917–1921. In the film “A Kyiv Citizen”, the events of the Ukrainian revolution of 1917–1921 were counterfeited in order to illustrate to the audience the Soviet version of the history of Ukraine and the events related to the seizure of power by the Bolsheviks. In such a way, the Soviet propaganda tried to form in the viewer a type of psychological perception of reality loyal to the “Soviet empire”. In particular, the facts related to the Bolsheviks' attempt to seize power in Kyiv in October 1917, the battles for the Arsenal plant in January 1918, and the conclusion of a peace treaty between the Ukrainian People's Republic and Germany were falsified.