THE IMAGE OF THE "HERO" IN THE HISTORICAL NARRATIVE OF THE UKRAINIAN SOVIET PRESS: INFLUENCE ON THE FORMATION OF HISTORICAL CONSCIOUSNESS AND IDENTITY

Abstract

The article attempts to analyze the phenomenon of creating/recognizing "heroes" - prominent personalities within a certain community - with the help of such a powerful source of information dissemination as newspapers. This process is considered within the framework of the formation of the historical consciousness of a given community, namely, the figures of past figures rather than contemporaries are studied.

The idea of prominent figures of the past and their honoring foster a sense of national pride, actualize certain values, and encourage certain actions. In authoritarian and totalitarian societies, all these factors force the current political elite to control the process of forming historical consciousness and the images of such "heroes."

In the Soviet Union, the pantheon of heroes of the past was formed under the strict control of the party and its leaders. The Soviet press created heroes - outstanding personalities who, through their activities and creativity, brought a "brighter future" closer, "fought against the exploiters," defended the rights of the common people, organized and led the masses in their struggle. Certain criteria were used to determine such individuals, namely, how much their activities met the interests of the masses and illustrated the theory of class struggle.

Sometimes figures already recognized by society were included, as was the case with Bohdan Khmelnytsky, Taras Shevchenko, Hanna Skovoroda, Ivan Franko, and other well-known Ukrainian writers and political figures. Their works, and sometimes their biographies, were subject to reinterpretation or even falsification to suit the prevailing ideology and current slogans. This, for example, happened to B. Khmelnytsky. In the works of all the above-mentioned figures, confirmation of the ideologeme of "friendship of nations" was found.

The Soviet Ukrainian press also fulfilled an important task of the state and the authorities: the creation of "new heroes." The publications, in our opinion, followed a certain pattern. All of these "heroes" were at the origins of Bolshevism, were associated with the social-democratic labor movement, were fascinated by Marxism from a young age, and were engaged in agitation and propaganda activities, for which they were arrested, imprisoned, and exiled to Siberia by tsarist gendarmes. Separate mention should be made of publications about "soldiers of the revolution" and "red commanders" who "heroically fought" on the fronts of the civil war, liberating Ukraine from the enemies of the Soviet system, the "Hetmans and Petliurists." Thus, the real "new heroes" of Soviet Ukraine at that time were those who destroyed the Ukrainian liberation movement and established Soviet rule.