Issue 142 (2019)

I. Patryliak, Dr. Habil. (History), Professor

ORCID: 0000-0002-4534-4654

Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv, Kyiv, Ukraine

A. Sliusarenko, Dr. Habil. (History), Professor, Academician of the NAES of Ukraine

ORCID: 0000-0001-5947-4233

Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv, Kyiv, Ukraine

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17721/1728-2640.2019.142.11

WAR ON THE «IDEOLOGICAL FRONT». THE YEAR 1968

The ideological struggle against the "counter-revolutionary manifestations" accompanied the entire history of Soviet society. However, there have been times when the war on the "ideological front" has intensified. For the most part, this was under the influence of major external shocks or during major ideological campaigns in the middle of the country. One of the episodes when foreign perturbations influenced the ideological confrontation within the USSR was the events of 1968 in Czechoslovakia. The special impact of the Prague Spring was felt in Ukraine, which was directly bordered by the Czechoslovak Republic, and had its powerful traditions of anti-Soviet ideological struggle. It is not surprising, therefore, that the State Security Committee of the USSR Council of Ministers has been particularly vigilant about the "ideological front" in Ukraine. Based on their understanding of the "ideological war" as an external sabotage, KGB analysts prepared relevant documents for top party leadership. The readers are invited to submit an archaeographic publication of the KGB document: "Memorandum. On some trends in the ideological diversion that is being carried out by the enemy in Ukraine". Separate 17-page typewritten document prepared specifically for the needs of the Communist Party Central Committee on September 11, 1968. The document contains six major challenges to the "ideological war" in Ukraine - confrontation with foreign "nationalist centers", confrontation with "internal ideological enemy", confrontation with "opposition" »Increase in the number of educated youth among anti-Soviet groups, opposition to the emergence of such phenomenon as anti-Soviet postcards, opposition to a part of the“ pro-stalinist ”society, confrontation organized strike of workers and farmers.

Keywords: State Security Committee (KGB), Central Committee of Communist Party of Ukraine, ideological sabotage, anti-Soviet literature, nationalists, bourgeois state, self-published (samvydav).

Received by the editorial board: 12.07.2019

References

1. Bazhan, O. (2008). Public Mood in Ukraine during the Czechoslovakian Crisis of 1968 through the Reports of the Soviet Security Service. From the Archives of All-Ukrainian Extraordinary Commission – State Political Administration – People’s Commissariat of the State Security – Committee for the State Security, 1/2(30/31), 37-53. [In Ukrainian]

2. Dmytruk, V. (2008). “Prague Spring” and Ukraine. From the Archives of All-Ukrainian Extraordinary Commission – State Political Administration – People’s Commissariat of the State Security – Committee for the State Security, 1/2(30/31), 7-36. [In Ukrainian]

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