ІДЕОЛОГІЧНА СТАБІЛІЗАЦІЯ ТА МЕНТАЛЬНА РЕІНТЕГРАЦІЯ СТУДЕНТСЬКОЇ МОЛОДІ УКРАЇНИ ПІСЛЯ ДРУГОЇ СВІТОВОЇ ВІЙНИ

Abstract

Being trapped by the military confines or having witnessed the realities of the World War II and the occupation period, the young people entering state higher educational institutions were in dire need of a massive and organized ideological influence and mental reintegration. Future teachers and engineers were supposed to repose an unconditional faith in the Communist Party guiding force, Stalin’s military genius and the triumph of Communism. Notwithstanding gloomy realities, famine, moral terror, right deprivation and the final human indignity, young people were obliged to study and work within Marxism-Leninism canons. The All-Union Leninist Young Communist League appeared to be a structural component of the giant machine producing mental pressure and ideological influence on the then society. Komsomol, being smoothly incorporated into the higher educational system, was highly trusted to fulfill crucial functions.

The challenges of the post-war period and peaceful coexistence restoration provided the historical background to unfolding the process of the student youth’s consciousness unification and embedding ideological mindset. The post-war generation proved to be both more educated and more loyal and Sovietized. Besides, having experienced the horrors of World War II, the young post-war generation suffered similarly induced trauma. Thus, due to increasing ideological pressure, political narrow-mindedness, lack of critical thinking skills and limited access to objective information, the generation of the 1940s–1950s was not determined enough to practice political disobedience with all its impatience resulting in a series of economic upheavals taken place during the second half of the 20th century within the period of social tension.