Destruction of the fundamental foundations of the traditional way of life of the Ukrainian countryside during the years of its total governmentalization (the end of the 20-ies - the first half of the 30-ies of the XXth century)

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Bohdan Khmelnytsky National University of Cherkasy, Cherkasy, Ukraine

Destruction of the fundamental foundations of the traditional way of life of the Ukrainian countryside during the years of its total governmentalization (the end of the 20-ies - the first half of the 30-ies of the XXth century)

Valeriya Motuz PhD (History), Lecturer in the Department of

Archeology and special branches of historical science

Abstract

The Purpose of the Article. Taking into account the growing practical and scientific interest in the current situation in the agricultural sector of Ukraine's economic activity, especially the state agrarian policy and its history, the author of this publication outlines the purpose of its writing, which arises from the need to form conceptual ideas about radical and tragic break in the first the five years of the Stalinist dictatorship of the traditional way of life of the Ukrainian peasantry with its cultural and economic outlook, and is defined by a new approach to the assessment of the theoretical and political foundations of the social development of the Ukrainian countryside at the turn of the 1920s - 1930s. The Research Methodology. Principles of science, objectivity, historicism, determinism and a systematic approach. The Research Novelty. This article is the first in the Ukrainian historiography that examines a set of basic problems of the history of the total governmentalization of the Ukrainian village during 1929 - 1934 and its results. The Conclusions. Completely studying the theoretical aspects of the issue "Destruction of the fundamental foundations of the traditional way of life of the Ukrainian countryside during the years of its total governmentalization (the end of the 20-ies - the first half of the 30-ies of the XXth century)" the author of this publication concluded that socio-political development (socio-economic, socio-political, class, socio-psychological and domestic processes and phenomena) of the Ukrainian countryside under the conditions of a severe command- repressive regime led to the destruction of the natural conditions of a rural life, a break in thoughts and views of a relatively conservative peasantry foundations of a social justice and the formation of entirely new trends in the socio-psychological image of the peasant. As for the mechanisms and principles of the destruction of the traditional way of life of the Ukrainian peasantry during the historical period, they included an extremely wide range of methods, means of influence and pressure that combined both cultural, educational and purely violent approaches.

Key words: totalitarianism, the Soviet totalitarianism, administrative-command system, early Stalinism, the second "communist assault”, "top-down revolution”, the first and second five-year plan, governmentailzation of countryside, complete collectivization, destruction of traditional way of life of the Ukrainian peasantry.

Анотація

Руйнування фундаментальних основ традиційного укладу життя українського села у роки його тотального одержавлення (кінець 20 - перша половина 30-х рр. ХХ ст.)

Валерія МОТУЗ

кандидатка історичних наук, старша викладачка кафедри археології та спеціальних галузей історичної науки Черкаського національного університету імені Богдана Хмельницького, Черкаси

Мета статті. Виходячи зі всезростаючого практичного та наукового інтересу як до сучасного становища в аграрному секторі господарської діяльності України, передусім державної аграрної політики, так і його історії, авторкою публікації окреслена мета її написання, що випливає з необхідності формування концептуальних уявлень про радикально-трагічний злам у перше п'ятиріччя сталінської диктатури традиційного для середовища українського селянства укладу життя з його культурними та господарськими світоглядними цінностями, а також визначається новим підходом до оцінки теоретичних і політичних основ соціального розвитку українського села на межі 20 - 30-х рр. ХХ ст. Методологія дослідження. Принципи науковості, об'єктивності, історизму детермінізму та системності. Наукова новизна. У цій статті уперше у вітчизняній історіографії розглядається комплекс основних проблем історії тотального одержавлення українського села в 1929 - 1934 рр. та його результати. Висновки. Комплексно вивчивши теоретичні аспекти проблеми "Руйнування фундаментальних основ традиційного укладу життя українського села у роки його тотального одержавлення (кінець 20 - перша половина 30-х рр. ХХ ст.)” авторка публікації дійшла висновків, що соціально-політичний розвиток (соціально-економічні, суспільно-політичні, класові, соціально-психологічні та побутові процеси і явища) українського села в умовах жорсткого командно-репресивного режиму призвів до руйнування природних умов сільського буття, зламу в думках і поглядах консервативного селянства про підвалини соціальної справедливості та формування абсолютно нових тенденцій у соціально-психологічному образі селянина. Стосовно ж механізмів та принципів руйнування традиційного укладу життя українського селянства у зазначений історичний період, то вони включали надзвичайно широкий спектр методів, засобів впливу та тиску, які поєднали в собі як культурно-просвітницькі, так і суто насильницькі підходи.

Ключові слова: тоталітаризм, радянський тоталітаризм, адміністративно-командна система, ранній сталінізм, другий "комуністичний штурм”, «революція згори», перша та друга п'ятирічки, одержавлення села, суцільна колективізація, руйнація традиційного способу життя українського селянства.

1. The Problem Statement

From the historical sources of the early Stalinist period in Ukraine and the scientific researches, which are related to the issue presented in the relevant article, it can be learned that at the end of the 20-ies - the first half of the 30-ies of the XXth century there was a tragic stage in the life of the Ukrainian society, especially the peasantry, for at this time the destruction of its traditional way of life and activity continued.

At the heart of the modernization of the Ukrainian countryside according to Stalin's patterns there was a radical model of a social adjustment, which was formed on the basis of appropriate conceptual foundations and mechanisms for the implementation of the state policy. First of all, there are three main points:

- strengthening the grassroots of the political system and the creation of an advanced grain procurement machine;

- governmentalization of a peasant society and forced socialization of its means of production;

- a repressive policy on dissenters and aggressive implementation of the communist ideology in the minds of the peasantry.

For their implementation, brutal methods were applied, including an endless oppression, first of all, a direct economic robbery, which, in turn, led to the huge tragedy of the Ukrainian people - the loss of millions of people, radical changes in the way of life for the Ukrainian peasantry, the destruction of a labour potential of rural areas, the formation of the psychology of the vanquished, broken and obedient executor of orders. The establishment during the mid- 1930-ies of a new (kolkhoz) countryside, already unable to withstand the strong resistance to the Soviet power, was the result of the destruction of the personal space of the Ukrainian peasantry.

The Analysis of Resent Researches and Publications. The expediency of such research is also explained by the state of its historiography. The logic of the historiographic process is such that at some stage the accumulated factual and conceptual material requires new verified generalizations in certain directions of the historical process. Accordingly, the issue of a radical change in the traditional way of life of the multi-million Ukrainian peasantry during the end of the 1920-ies - the first half of the 1930-ies, above all its social status, culture and worldview, was no exception.

In the domestic historiography of the first years of independence, it is necessary to highlight the fundamental scientific publication of such historians as V Danylenko, G. Kasyanov, and S. Kulchytsky “Stalinism in Ukraine: 1920-ies -1930-ies” (Danylenko, 1991), in which scientists formulated the main directions of development of this problems in the historical science.

In this context, it is necessary to emphasize the development of the problem of obtaining the Ukrainian countryside in the scientific work of S. Kulchytsky, who laid down the basic conceptual foundations for studying the interwar history of Ukraine, including peasant problems and the specifics of agrarian relations during the period of a continuous collectivization (Kulchytsky, 2013; Kulchytsky, 2013).

The researchers quite rightly emphasize that the political terror and repression have significantly deformed the moral and psychological state of the Ukrainian peasantry. A considerable number of special publications, monographs, and scientific collections are devoted to the analysis of the tragic page of the recent history of Ukraine - the Holodomor- genocide of 1932 - 1933. First of all, these are the works of O. Veselova, V. Marochko, O. Movchan (Veselova, Marochko, Movchan, 2000), S. Kulchytsky, E. Shatalina (Kulchytsky, Shatalina, 1990) and other authors. Their scientific works are distinguished by a thorough analysis of the nature of the 1932 - 1933 Holodomor-Genocide. These authors are united by the conclusion that the 1932 - 1933 Holodomor-Genocide was a pre-planned and implemented Stalinist nomenclature a state action aimed not only at subjugating the Ukrainian peasantry but also at achieving a more global goal - to change its mentality.

Contemporary Ukrainian researchers continue to study actively the various aspects of the destruction by Stalin's ruling system of the Ukraine's traditional model of a rural organization and the planting of the Soviet one. For example, the Ukrainian scientist V. Prylutsky concluded that, since the vast majority of youth lived in rural areas, the ruling party made considerable efforts to Sovietize the younger generation of the countryside (Prylutsky, 2001). The conditions for the cultural development of the Ukrainian countryside during the first five years of the Stalinist totalitarian regime are reflected in O. Rabenchuk's monograph (Rabenchuk, 2002). He also drew attention to the issue of radio control in Ukraine during the end of the 20-ies - the beginning of the 30-ies of the XXth century. In particular, the scientist revealed various aspects of the development of this field, again, through the lens of the activities of the labour-peasant inspection (Rabenchuk, 2006). Features of antireligious politics in the countryside at the end of the 20-ies - the beginning of the 30-ies of the XXth century and resistance to it by the Ukrainian peasantry was discussed in detail in A. Kyrydon's monograph (Kyrydon, 2010). The researcher of the religious situation in Ukraine during the 1930-ies V Dyakov introduced into the scientific circulation the material concerning the issue of a popular religiosity and its specific manifestations, including in the peasant environment, in particular, during the Holodomor-genocide of 1932 - 1933 (Dyakiv, 2014). The scientist R. Roslyak conducted a detailed scientific study of the issue of filming of the Ukrainian countryside during the early Stalinist period. In his article “Planning and Implementation of the Cinematification of the Ukrainian Countryside during the 1930-ies”, he discloses the specifics of its organization and holding in rural settlements of Ukraine during the first and the beginning of the second five-year plans (Rybak, 2006). The researcher O. Tkachenko (Tarapon, 2016) provided a general assessment of the effectiveness level of media companies of the Soviet media system in carrying out a complete collectivization. The issue of transformation of life of the Ukrainian peasantry during a complete collectivization is interestingly revealed in S. Bilan's monograph. In the monograph, the author comprehensively explored the issues of changes in the social structure, production activity, a cultural life and social consciousness of the Ukrainian peasantry, which suffered from the last days of early Stalinism (Bilan, 2014). In the scientific article of O. Leniuk the attention is paid to the issue of folk rites and women's issues in it during the total governmentalization of the countryside. Thus, in her scientific work, the researcher revealed the essence and highlighted the cardinal transformations in the festive and ceremonial sphere of the Ukrainian countryside, pointing at the minimization of the functional role of women in family rituals (Lynyuk, 2016).

The contemporary view of the issue of a radical restructuring of the traditional way of the Ukrainian rural society during the early Stalinism through the prism of a gender approach is demonstrated by O. Sapytska in her scientific exploration on the cultural level of the Ukrainian female peasants of the first five-year plan period (Sapytska, 2007). In general, scientific developments of modern domestic researchers in these areas created a sound theoretical and methodological base, which, in turn, contributes to the comprehensive study and objective coverage of the issue of the traditional rural way of life in Ukraine, which, through the company of a complete collectivization, changed the system of social-economic and cultural-ideological paradigms.

A significant contribution to the development of a national historiography of peasant studies was made by the authors of the two-volume scientific publication “History of the Ukrainian Peasantry” (Sobol, 2010). The emergence of this monographic study testified to the definitive departure of modern Ukrainian scholars from the use of outdated scientific approaches, methods, and stamps in the Soviet historiography.

Many interesting researches devoted to the diverse aspects of life of the Ukrainian peasantry during the end of the 20-ies - the first half of the 30-ies of the XXth century were created during the last decades by the representatives of Western historiography: N. Vert (Vert, 2001), A. Graciosi (Graciosi, 2001), and S. Fitzpatrick (Fitzpatrick, 2008). V. Noll's research project was marked by a competent approach to clarifying the real significance of these factors, their ubiquity and the degree of influence on changes in the traditional way of life in the Ukrainian countryside during the time of a complete collectivization (Noll, 1999).

Therefore, the historiographic search showed that the complex issue of the destruction of the traditional way of life of the Ukrainian countryside during years of its total governmentalization within the specified chronological limits has not been studied, and it requires, based on a systematic and classified historiographic base, a further scientific research, rethinking, re-evaluation, that will be covered in this publication.

The Purpose of the Article. Taking into account the growing practical and scientific interest in the current situation in the agricultural sector of economic activity of Ukraine, especially the state agrarian policy and its history, the author of this publication outlines the purpose of its writing, which arises from the need to form conceptual ideas about a radical and tragic break during the first the five years of the Stalinist dictatorship of the Ukrainian peasantry's traditional way of life with its cultural and economic outlook, and a new approach is defined to the assessment of the theoretical and political foundations of the social development of the Ukrainian countryside at the turn of the 1920-ies - 1930-ies.

2. The Statement of the Basic Material

The second attempt to accelerate the transition to the communist system in Ukraine, initiated by the Stalinist team during the end of the 1920-ies, required its population to be committed to communist ideals and to steadily implement the line of the Communist Party, in particular, the resolutions of the highest party-state apparatus.

It was impossible to accomplish this rather difficult task without imposing on the Ukrainian society, and especially on its social group, such as the peasantry, which at that time constituted the absolute majority of the population of Ukraine, largely artificial, sometimes overtly contrived the Soviet ideals and orientations that did not meet the traditions for its moral and ethical principles, norms, perceptions and ideals.

The process of a political and ideological re-education was a complex phenomenon, inextricably linked to the full-scale reforms launched during the years of the first five-year plan in all areas of the Ukrainian coutryside's life.

The effect of such a combination was as follows: during the first years of Stalin's modernization of agriculture, the traditional way of life of the Ukrainian peasantry was destroyed and, in 1934, most of the rural settlements of Ukraine had a kolkhoz management system (Smoliy, 2006, p. 200).

The price paid by the rural community for “experiments on it” was extremely high - the lion's share of the Soviet transformations during the first and the beginning of the second five-year plans had a detrimental effect on the comprehensive development of rural territories of Ukraine (Kulchytsky, 1988, p. 26), and the demographic situation was particularly catastrophic (Bilan, 2012, p. 291).

The necessity of withdrawing the Ukrainian rural society from the traditional way of life was conditioned not only by the restructuring of the Ukrainian countryside into a communist system, but also by the accelerated growth of the country's industrial potential and the development of the Soviet statehood as a whole.

The agricultural production in Ukraine, being one of the key drivers of the economy, automatically became an important factor in the development of its industrial sector. Thus, the possibility of implementing the plan of a major industrialization measures in the USSR during the end of the 1920-ies - the first half of the 1930-ies, arises as a result of attracting domestic financial resources, primarily, a foreign currency received by the state from grain exports (Naboka, 2013, p. 43).

The party-Soviet leadership could not take this obvious fact into account, so in order to guarantee the uninterrupted pumping of agricultural products from the countryside, a state program of transition from individual to collective forms of land management was launched (Vert, 2001, p. 142).

The construction of the Soviet state by the early Stalinist model took place within the framework of the “socialist reconstruction” of the national economy with planned management. The accelerated pace and radical methods of transition from a semi-capitalist to a purely socialist path of state development were applied by the Stalinist leadership to the final victory of “socialism in a particular country” (Danylenko, 1991, p. 238). This process, by its nature, could not be selective, encompassing all sectors of Ukraine's economy and instilling the Soviet outlook on the society, and aimed at achieving a full control over productive forces and industrial relations.

The destruction strategy of the traditional way of life of the Ukrainian peasantry was carried out by the Stalinist leadership through the implementation of a set of interdependent measures with clear elements of harsh punitive practices.

The first measure is related to the passport reform introduced in the USSR in 1933, which became a kind of “a social cleansing” of the population of the country, dividing it into “credible” and “unreliable”. According to it, passports were not issued at all to rural residents unless they were workers of the Soviet farms (Kulchytsky, 2013, p. 124). It meant that the majority of the population of the Ukrainian SSR was deprived of the opportunity to move freely around the country and to travel abroad.

Such restrictions were the matter of more than one day. During the first five years of Stalin's socio-economic restructuring of the Ukrainian countryside, there was a practical restriction on the fundamental rights and freedoms of the peasant in Ukraine as a person and citizen. Launched in the year of the “great turning point” (November plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU(b) (1929) (Stoychev, 2008, p. 164), its subsequent consolidation at the state level was already received during the Stalinist “crushing blow” (1932 - 1933), in particular, the resolution of the RNA of the Ukrainian SSR and the Central Committee of the CP(b)U of 09.04.1933 regarding the so-called “kolkhoz withdrawal” (Smoliy, 2006, p. 203). In such a simple way, the multi-million Ukrainian peasantry quickly and effectively was refused in the opportunity to obtain a passport. In doing so, the Communist-Soviet system of the government created a favourable basis for a radical change in its social status (Smoliy, 2006, p. 201).

The implementation of an administrative-repressive system of a rural management and the refusal of a full administrative and political registration of citizenship of its inhabitants, fixed their stay of the latter in a semi-serf status, as evidenced by their compulsory holding in a kind of “reservation”- collective farm (Smoliy, 2006, pp. 201, 209, 211). Under such difficult conditions, the rural population of Ukraine became the actual hostage and victim of the totalitarian regime of the Soviet-Stalinist model.

The second measure concerned the process of establishing a reliable pillar to the current regime in the countryside. During the period under study, manipulating the land issue and a certain diversity of basic aspirations and preferences of the rural society, the Communist- Soviet nomenclature, as in the previous decade, continued to focus on rural poverty stubbornly (Kapustyan, 2005, p. 204), despite the fact that the very poor were regarded by the vast majority of the peasantry as idle (CSAPOU, 1930, p. 27). Therefore, this choice automatically made the Soviet power not very popular with the Ukrainian peasantry.

Due to this, the implementation in the rural areas of Ukraine of an unnatural collective- farm system of economy for them took place in the context of their institutional development. In particular, from the end of the 1920-ies - the first half of the 1930-ies, the grassroots Soviet institutions managed to cover all spheres of life of the Ukrainian countryside with a total state control (Kulchytsky, 1988, p. 12).

It was difficult to accomplish all these tasks without properly introducing into the public consciousness sufficiently broad layers of the relevant positions of the communist doctrine (Bilan, 2014, p. 216). The solution to this set of challenges was further complicated by the fact that virtually all power or simply pro-governmental structures existed alienated from the population, and the opposition or loyalty of the peasantry to power depended largely on the nature of a campaign organized by it within the Soviet state planning economy (Sobol, 2010, pp. 154-155).

The third measure concerned the economic measures in the Ukrainian countryside. Having secured the function of a total control over the state of affairs in agriculture, the ruling party and its power structures sought to achieve a full control of all aspects of its life.

The cruelty and cynicism of the Soviet leadership became the method of “education by starving” (Kulchytsky, 1990, p. 40). From 1931 to 1934, the Ukrainian population, primarily the peasantry, suffered from the terror by famine, which peaked in 1932 - 1933 (Veselova, 2000, p. 71). The Holodomor, as an artificially created phenomenon, became one of the effective methods in changing the traditional way of life of the rural society in the direction required for the Soviet power.

The reason for this strategy of the party-Soviet leadership was due to the nature and needs of the Stalinist totalitarian regime, in particular, to put on the knees of those unwilling to lose their economic, and therefore political freedom. The rebellious peasantry was curtailed by a direct physical slaughter (Kulchytsky, 2013, p. 367).

Doubtful achievements of the campaign from 1932 to 1933 were: practically destroyed ancient Ukrainian countryside with its rich, well-established mental field, generous and colorful folk traditions, well-proven rational methods of management, a true cult of careful work on land (Kulchytsky, 1990, p. 42); largely eradicating the original of the landlord feelings, which was fundamental to the identity of the Ukrainian peasant (Bilan, 2014, p. 319); for several generations, social fear, apathy and political passivity were implanted into the consciousness of the Soviet peasantry (Samardak, 2003, pp. 168-167).

The fourth measure was aimed at transforming the religious consciousness of the Ukrainian peasantry. One of the well-established historical features of the peasant's traditional outlook was their sincere religiosity, which was understood not only as a purely theological category, but also as a moral and ethical one. In the traditional Ukrainian rural environment, Christianity and the Orthodox Church played the same social and consolidating role, historically acting as an expression of national interests, the bearer of the Ukrainian language and culture (Kyrydon, 2010, p. 43). It is very telling that even the age-old agricultural calendar corresponded to the religious one, the whole system of holidays was in one way or another connected with the Orthodox faith (Dyakiv, 2014, p. 237).

The combination of reverential inclination and respect for the higher divine forces always determined the behaviour of the Ukrainian peasantry. Instead, the future communist society was declared by the Soviet authorities as atheist, and therefore the traditional religious mentality of the peasant society was a major obstacle to the formation and adoption of a new ideology (Kulchytsky, 2013, p. 381).

Competing with the deep-rooted, millennial-established moral principles of Christianity and the authority of the Church and its clergy required a considerable concentration of effort on the part of the Soviet authorities.

Realizing that using purely violent administrative methods would be quite dangerous to deal with religion, as it could lead to a massive fierce resistance by the peasantry, especially by the older generation, the Communist Party carefully designed a very large-scale, antichurch and anti-faith propaganda campaign. Thus, numerous aggressive clubs of unbelievers, mass circulation of special anti-religious newspapers and magazines, leaflets, posters, “butterflies”, slogans, spreading rumors, etc., should have discredited the Church and clergy in the eyes of the Ukrainian peasantry and convinced it of regressivity and righteousness of religion worldview (Evseyeva, 2004, pp. 317-318).

These actions were, however, only a prelude to the next transition from agitation- propaganda to purely repressive methods of fighting in issues of conscience, which were manifested in the direct prohibition of worship, the forcible closure of religious buildings, and often even their intentional and demonstrable destruction, criminal prosecutions, at first glance, provided the desired result for the Soviet authorities (Shapoval, 1997, p. 359). Outwardly, a religious life seems to have died down. However, it was a superficial “visual” atheization of the population, in particular, a rural one.

The fifth measure was directly related to gender policy in Ukraine during the first five- year plan. More specifically the gender policy aimed at involving women to build a kolkhoz system for an agricultural production.

Females were highly regarded in the traditions of the Ukrainian people, which is confirmed by their place and role in the ritual system. A female-mother, female-wife, sister, daughter had a significant impact on the course of events both in the family and in society at large. The conquest and consolidation of power by the communists on the ground was impossible without the appropriation of such a large demographic group of the population as womanhood properly (Sapytska, 2007, p. 25).

Exactly the Soviet activism, commitment, and interest of the Ukrainian peasant mothers and educators of the younger generation needed to stimulate and in every possible way to facilitate the process of implantation of Bolshevik attitudes into the social consciousness. On this basis, active daily work of the ruling party aimed at involving women in the cause of building the Soviet society was a prerequisite for the establishment of a new power in the Ukrainian countryside. In particular, it manifested itself in the organization of various women's groups (a mother and child, literacy campaign, tailoring and sewing, cooking, etc.), women's departments, delegate meetings, as well as the nomination of peasant women to power structures (Lynyuk, 2016, p. 63).

It should be noted that to some extent the Soviet authorities did their part, because the rural woman did become more emancipated and independent, and could express her opinion actively (Samardak, 2003, p. 26). This, however, was not always to the benefit of the Soviet authorities, because the numerous shortcomings in its activities, often bordering on direct crimes, at the time of collectivization caused a wave of popular actions all over Ukraine, with an active participation of women (Khmelnytska, 2013, p. 239).

The Soviet human, as the creator of the “bright future”, simply had no right to discredit himself by manifesting any attachment to the pre-Soviet system, which was most fully reflected in the system of popular consciousness with numerous traditions, customs, ceremonies and holidays. Non-communist rites and household commonality for party ideologues were a clear brake on the construction of the Soviet way of life. In their belief, centuries-old traditions should necessarily yield to party decrees and new revolutionary holidays (Tarapon, 2016, p. 98). Therefore, the sixth measure of the destruction of the traditional way of life of the rural population of Ukraine in the first five years of the early Stalinism era concerned planting of the Soviet rites in the appropriate area.

The negation of the old could not have been effective without the simultaneous implementation of the new. A characteristic feature of all Soviet holidays was the intrinsically programmed connection with the political, economic, cultural and international challenges of the time. The content of the festive slogans and appeals, evidenced in the opinion of the Soviet officials and party functionaries, is convincingly evidenced by the public's attention to them (Sadovenko, 2017, p. 77). The proof of the inability of the Soviet propaganda to overcome most of the outward manifestations of the traditional rite of the Ukrainian peasantry is its survivability. After all, the overwhelming array of rituals, only in a slight modification, nowadays, like many centuries ago, fulfills its established mental function in the Ukrainian countryside (Tarapon, 2016, p. 101).

As the main bearer of the further intellectual and physical potential of the people, the most suitable for changing the world outlook group of population - the youth - become one of the main objects targeted by the active efforts of the Soviet education system and ideological pressure (Prylutsky, 2001, p. 83). The younger generation, having yet unformed worldviews, lacked life experience, as a rule, was much easier to break with established customary norms, life style, and even sought and was not afraid of radical changes in their lives.

Stalinist nomenclature could not fail to take into account this circumstance, therefore introduced a state youth policy among the urgent measures in the matter of destroying the traditional way of life of a rural population in Ukraine.

Realizing that the youth will have to build a new socialist state, and therefore, it should become the pillar of the ruling party, its leadership directs all efforts to overcome the connection of generations, to break the youth with national traditions - and in this way achieve its full Sovietization. Established by the Communist party, a subsidiary youth organization, the Komsomol, in the Soviet system of a social order, became the party's foremost detachment in everything: the automatic implementation of all the directives launched to it; an active participation in every campaign of every direction, fight against the opposition, dekulakization, closing of temples or preventive vaccinations against diseases; ensuring the popularization of the Soviet system, the “leaders” of the party and the state, education and formation of youth devoted to the totalitarian state, etc. (Markova, 2014, pp. 36-37).

The main task of the Bolshevik party during the first five-year plan of the Stalinist “revolution from above” was the widespread imposition of the communist ideology and the replacement of a traditional spiritual culture by a new “socialist”, based exclusively on Lenin-Stalin canons (Bilan, 2014, p. 273). In fighting mercilessly for “building of the future beautiful society” (in fact, for strengthening its domination in the country), the party made an extensive use of all the available cultural arsenal for this purpose, especially for work in the Ukrainian countryside, where it never had strong roots and therefore needed support.

The policy of the Soviet state in the cultural sector of the Ukrainian countryside was ambivalent. The modernization of the economy required skilled staff, the propaganda apparatus was ineffective under conditions of illiteracy of the vast majority of the population, so the party proclaimed the “cultural revolution” which was, first and foremost, a step towards its approval in the countryside (Avtushenko, 2000, p. 121). Positive phenomena of educational processes were elimination of a mass illiteracy, provision in the villages of a real possibility of the compulsory primary education, introduction of a clear system of a further school education (Bilan, 2012, p. 292).

But at the same time, the mechanical unitarization of the educational process led to a decline in the unique educational traditions of Ukraine, since from that moment all education became completely under the control of the totalitarian regime, first of all, it had to fill the hearts and souls of all knowledge-applicants with political and ideological postulates, and more obligatory to teach all pupils the principles of the irreconcilable morality of class struggle (Bilan, 2014, p. 276). This was to determine the main directions of a spiritual formation of the young generation, and therefore of the society as a whole.

In this general context, the pressure on the minds of the peasants was exerted especially persistently, literally on a daily basis, through all the institutions, centers, public associations that were traditionally existing and specially created for this purpose, and especially through the formation of a cultural and educational character. If rural education directly affected only children, adolescents, and part of adults, then cultural and educational organizations had to reach the entire population (Rybak, 2006, p. 165). Clubs, village buildings, reading houses, red corners, libraries, circles of different directions all had a clearly defined and carefully controlled the programme by the Soviet leadership (Avtushenko, 2000, p. 122). It should be emphasized that they all played a dual role as active leaders of the party politics, agitators in the service of the Soviet state, and at the same time as a controller of everything that happened in a particular locality, in any particular village or even a farm. The functions performed by all these structures were far from purely enlightening (Sobol, 2010, p. 182). The complete ideologization and politicization of the activities of the cultural and educational centers of the Ukrainian countryside should not only contribute to the strengthening of the totalitarian system, but also be fully focused on it. The village cultural and educational centers were to become the generators of a new worldview, which would ensure the complete transformation of the traditional consciousness of the Ukrainian peasantry into the mass Soviet (Bilan, 2014, p. 278).

An important role in the destruction of the traditional way of life of the rural population through the spread in its environment of the proletarian ideology was played by information technologies of that time.

This measure was characterized by the latest methods of manipulation of a public opinion, which in some cases provided a rather effective influence on the consciousness of the Ukrainian peasantry. The complete monopoly on the media allowed the Communist Party to concentrate in its hands a powerful arsenal of agitation media (Tkachenko, 2014, p. 130). Full of ideological implications, newspapers, magazines, books, radio and film programmes created, in much of the peasantry, the illusion that there was no alternative to the Soviet power politics and the futility of any resistance to it (Vert, 2001, p. 386).

The Soviet press become an integral part of life, from the central editions to the kolkhoz small print runs. It was sometimes distributed by the will of the subscribers, but for the most part by forced discharging (Sobol, 2010, p. 194). The Communist Party made full use of the press to produce the materials that would prove all the benefits of each step, decision, slogan, and provide coverage of the work of the Soviet authorities in exceptionally positive colors. For the same purpose, the press promoted all government decisions concerning economic, political, cultural, educational and spiritual life (Tkachenko, 2014, p. 130). Having established the absolute control over the work of the press, the Communist-Soviet personnel nomenclature persistently squeezed out old, traditional views based on the spiritual values of the Ukrainian peasantry that had been tested for centuries, and introduced new ideas and beliefs into its consciousness and being (Bilan, 2014, p. 315).

One of the most important means of the communist “melting down” of people is radio broadcasting. The invention became extremely convenient to instill totalitarianism, because it made it possible to spread information very quickly and universally. Therefore, unlike other achievements of civilization, kolkhoz wired radio receivers, primitive, but mass, loudspeakers quickly became an attribute of a rural house (Rabenchuk, 2002, pp. 126-127). It is clear that, like the press, radio also became completely under the control of the Communist Party.

The cinema was equally actively used in the Ukrainian SSR for propaganda, it became another powerful tool in the communist upbringing of the peasantry. In the language of motion pictures, the dry ideological precepts were perceived by them much easier and deeper, because here the viewer was persuaded by the attractive image of the positive hero, and on the contrary caused at least subconsciously at once a clearly depicted enemy of the Soviet system, and therefore firmly penetrated into the minds of people (Roslyak, 2011, p. 227).

However, the issue of making full use of the possibilities of cinema was the lack or unsatisfactory condition of the necessary material and technical base. Over time, the expansion of the use of technical innovations in the Ukrainian countryside allowed the Soviet authorities the opportunity unforcefully, unobtrusively, even outwardly (comedy), in the form of recreation, to actively promote a new system, outlook, life (Parahina, 2016, p. 98).

The Conclusions

stalinist dictatorship nationalization countryside

Completely studying the theoretical aspects of the issue “Destruction of the fundamental foundations of the traditional way of life of the Ukrainian countryside during the years of its total governmentalization (the end of the 20-ies - the first half of the 30-ies of the XXth century)”, the author of this publication concluded that a socio-political development (socio-economic, socio-political, class, socio-psychological and domestic processes and phenomena) of the Ukrainian countryside under the conditions of a severe command-repressive regime led to the destruction of the natural conditions of a rural life, a break in thoughts and views of relatively conservative peasantry foundations of a social justice and the formation of entirely new trends in the socio-psychological image of the peasant. As for the mechanisms and principles of the destruction of the traditional way of life of the Ukrainian peasantry during the historical period, they included an extremely wide range of methods, means of influence and pressure that combined both cultural, educational and purely violent approaches.

Acknowledgement. We express sincere gratitude to all members of the editorial board for consultations provided during the preparation of the article for printing.

Funding. The author has not received any financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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