Zigzags in Cultural Policy of the Soviet Union in the Cold War Epoch

Abstract

Presented article has been written based on the report, which was delivered at the International Workshop “The Cultural and Academic Relations between the Eastern Bloc Countries and the West during the Cold War Period” organized by the Ohara Institute for Social Research/Hosei University (Tokyo, Japan) in cooperation with the State Institution “Institute of World History of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine” (Kyiv, Ukraine) and Jagielonian University (Krakow, Poland).In order for reading this article to be more accessible for the scholars of post-Soviet countries, far and near abroad, the author, on exceptional basis, used Russian as the language of her research. Because exactly Russian was the language of learning of the author’s Japanese colleagues, professors from the Hosei University / Tokyo and other universities during their studying in the USSR in the Cold War years.The article underlines that accession of Ukraine to the Soviet Union as the Union Republic-co-founder and its commitment to the establishment of the new social and economic system involved a series of public transformations. In the Soviet Union, the industrialization, collectivization, and cultural revolution were conducted, numerous universities, scientific institutions, theatres, and other culture centers were opened. Soviet culture, as officially defined, served the purpose of construction of a socialist society. At the same time, the cultural policy of the Soviet Union had not only the objectives of changing public consciousness, covered the principles of liquidation of private property and repudiation of religion, but also, on the base of communist ideology, it was intended to provide a formation of the «New Soviet Man». The author demonstrated the Cold War influence on the culture of the USSR. The research highlighted that the development of new industries and scientific discoveries of global significance by the Soviet scientists enabled to use to a greater extent of human achievements for further progress and cultural wealth accumulation. The article deals with the achievements and loses in the process of Ukrainian national identity assertion.