Abstract
During the period starting from mid-1930s and thru 1940s the historical science in the Soviet Union was under total control of communist ideology. The influence of societal and political processes upon the development of scientific historical research can also be seen very clearly throughout that same period. All historical science institutions of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic were guided by communist ideology and all the research produced at that time was dominated by formational approach to interpretation of historical events. As a representative of Ukrainian Soviet scientific community, Lazarus Slavin, having just moved to Kiev in 1938, did not only begin to actively incorporate himself into the life of archaeological science of Ukrainian SSR but also started working with the Institute of History of Ukraine as a member of the collective of authors working on the Institute’s behalf. The time from 1930 thru 1950 became the period of consolidation of Ukrainian Soviet historical science. But the rise of patriotism after the end of the World War II, newly resurrected investigations into “traitors”, “spies” and “enemies of the state” and the peak of the confrontation with “Ukrainian bourgeois science” (first and foremost with historical scientific concepts of Mykhailo Hrushevsky have become a reason for harsh criticism of the representatives of historical scientific community working in the Academy of Science of Ukrainian SSR. As a result of this process quite a few works of the Ukrainian scientists were confiscated and removed from public access for many decades (practically until the Ukrainian independence in 1991). It has also led to realignment of the entire historical science according to the principles that were imposed by the political agenda of the Communist Party. Despite all the obstacles encountered during his scientific and pedagogical career L. Slavin has remained primarily a researcher and a mentor. And in order to advance his scientific and teaching endeavors he had to adjust to the realities of the life in science at that time.
Translated title of the contribution | Do historians know? Lazarus Slavin in the framework of countering with "Ukrainian Bourgeois science" |
---|---|
Original language | Ukranian |
Pages (from-to) | 241-250 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | Краєзнавство |
Volume | 3-4 |
Publication status | Published - 1 Feb 2016 |
Externally published | Yes |