The Formation of the Image of the “Eenemy” in Soviet School Textbooks of the Humanities Block (1930s): Based on the Materials of Kyiv Publications

Abstract

The article examines the peculiarities of the formation of the image of the enemy in the schools of the Kyiv region in the first half of the 1930s. Based on the analysis of such textbooks as: social studies, world history, Ukrainian language and literature, the author traces the genesis of the image of the enemy from external to internal. Besides, the proposed work singles out the main categories on which Soviet propaganda focused, which tried to form in students a negative attitude towards the rich, landlords, “kurkuls”, clergymen, and all those who opposed the Bolshevik government. Despite the modest attention paid to the mentioned topic by foreign specialists, those works that directly affect our problems are singled out. The process of modification of negative connotations regarding the forces against which the Bolsheviks fought was traced. Thus, at the initial stage in the textbooks, the most criticism was directed at rich people, among whom large landowners stood out. Priests and monks, compared to the wealthy, were perceived not as “alien” but more negatively, as “enemy”. Peasants, to whom the term “turtle” was applied, were even more negatively perceived. In the future, the label “enemy” was applied to all those who waged a struggle against the Bolshevik government. In the mentioned context, the Ukrainian national forces, which were conducting armed competitions for their own state, were perceived as incomparable.