Theoretical basis of research of the process of formation of police bodies in the Western Ukrainian lands in 1944-1953

Purpose. The aim of the study is to analyze the works of Soviet and modern Ukrainian scientists, which reveal the process of formation and specifics of the police in Western Ukraine in the postwar decade. Methods. The methodological basis of the study was a set of general scientific, special scientific and philosophical methods, as well as the principles of historicism and objectivity. The key was the historiographical method and comparative approach, which allowed to identify key approaches and trends in the study of the process of creation and operation of police bodies in Western Ukraine in the first postwar decades. Results. It is established that the scientific works which reveal the process of creation of the Soviet authorities in the western Ukrainian lands, in particular the militia, were formed on the basis of several subjective factors, which were especially evident in the Soviet period. So, first, they were usually timed to coincide with certain events related to the anniversaries of the police and the Communist Party; as a «leading and guiding force»; second, they were all based on Marxist-Leninist methodology; thirdly, they have a one-sided «positive» character, although they give an idea of the main activities of the police; fourth, they do not cover the causes of repression, and even if they do, only as a «fight against criminal and anti-Soviet» criminal elements. In the conditions of Ukraine’s statehood, the departure from ideological dogmas, as well as access to a large array of previously inaccessible to a wide range of researchers archival material made it possible to find new conceptual approaches to objectively cover the history of Soviet police in Ukraine. Scientific novelty. The analysis of the main theoretical and historical-legal approaches to the disclosure of the process of creation and activity of police bodies in the western Ukrainian lands in the conditions of the second wave of Sovietization is given. Practical significance. The results of the preliminaries can be obtained from the previous history and legal preliminaries, preparatory special courses.

Roman Jakobson and American Slavic Studies: The First Postwar Decade

Scholars who have assessed Roman Jakobson’s legacy have concentrated on his contributions to various scientific disciplines, while those who knew him, who had been his students or his colleagues, have written about his rhetorical virtuosity, his impact as a lecturer. The present article focuses on a little-studied aspect of his professional biography: the ways in which, during the period mid-1940s to mid-1950s, the émigré scholar carried out an ambitious project to develop Slavic studies (Slavistics, slavistika) as a discipline in the United States. Jakobson’s institution-building activities, conceptualized while he was teaching at Columbia University, were implemented following his move in 1949 to the new Slavic Department at Harvard University. A private group, the Committee for Advanced Slavic Cultural Studies, with which he was closely connected, played a significant role in supporting the Harvard program, and, more broadly, helping develop American Slavistics as a discipline.

FEMININITY MODELS IN GENDER POLICY OF STALIN’S REGIME

Summary. The purpose of the study is to identify models of femininity in the gender policy of the Stalinist regime in relation to the rural part of Western Ukrainian women in the first postwar decade; to analyze the ways and methods of their construction by instruments of party propaganda. The work is based on socio-cultural and feminist methodology, which requires the study of society taking into account its multicomponent nature, including such an important stratification parameter as "gender". In addition, the methodological guidelines of the study are the principles of historicism, systematization, scientificity, verification, as well as the use of general scientific (analysis, synthesis, generalization) and special-historical (comparative, chronological and historical-systemic) methods. The scientific novelty is that for the first time in the historiography of the gender policy of the Stalinist regime in the western regions of Ukraine during the period of late Stalinism, the authors consider models of femininity constructed by Soviet propaganda in the context of forming the concept of "Soviet woman". Conclusions. The gender policy of the Stalinist regime towards the rural part of Western Ukrainian women in the first postwar decade was directed primarily to involve women to the process of Sovietization of the region. It was clearly mobilizing and ethocratic in nature. The narrative of an emancipated Soviet woman, equal to a man in the Soviet Union opposed to the "oppressed mercenary of Polish lords" of the "lordly Poland" period was imposed on society with the help of party propaganda. Using the traditional set of tools from the propaganda arsenal, the authorities methodically and purposefully worked on forming the image of the "Soviet woman". As a result, several basic models of femininity with their inherent inverse of gender roles – "woman-activist", "woman-collective farmer", "woman-leader" were constructed.

Stalinizm i rewolucja na uczelniach – odgórna demokratyzacja dostępu do edukacji wyższej 1947-1956 [Stalinism and Revolution in Universities: Democratization of Higher Education from Above, 1947–1956]

Stalinism and Revolution in Universities: Democratization of Higher Education from Above, 1947–1956The first postwar decade in Poland saw a rebuilding of the whole country, including the school system and higher education. Higher education institutions were to mold a new intelligentsia, coming from a wider social background. Initial grassroots efforts to change the elite character of universities were eclipsed from 1947 by a reform introduced from above. On the one hand, the reform curtailed the autonomy of universities and increased censorship and political control; on the other hand, however, its aim was to make university education available on an unprecedented scale to people from the working and peasant classes. This article offers a survey of tools through which this “democratization” of access to higher education was implemented, such as a new admissions process, the induction year and preparatory courses. It also shows how these tools changed the students’ social backgrounds, albeit without permanently altering the general picture of higher education in Poland. Stalinizm i rewolucja na uczelniach – odgórna demokratyzacja dostępu do edukacji wyższej 1947–1956Pierwsza powojenna dekada to czas odbudowy całego kraju, w tym systemu edukacji, i reformy szkolnictwa wyższego. Uczelnie miały stać się miejscami budowy nowej inteligencji o egalitarnym pochodzeniu. Początkowo oddolne starania, by zmienić elitarny charakter uniwersytetów, od 1947 roku zostały zdominowane przez odgórną reformę edukacji. Z jednej strony oznaczała ona ograniczenie autonomii uczelni, zwiększenie cenzury i politycznej kontroli, z drugiej jednak miała na celu umożliwienie studiowania osobom z klasy robotniczej i chłopskiej na niespotykaną wcześniej skalę. Artykuł stanowi przegląd narzędzi „demokratyzacji” dostępu do szkolnictwa wyższego, takich jak nowy proces rekrutacji, rok wstępny i kursy przygotowawcze. Pokazuje także, jak zmieniły one społeczne pochodzenie studentów, a jednak nie zmieniły trwale oblicza szkolnictwa wyższego.

Aldington, Richard (1892–1962)

Richard Aldington was one of the original Imagist poets, along with his wife Hilda Doolittle (H.D.), and Ezra Pound. He was also an industrious editor of little magazines in prewar London, and a respected critic of French literature in the postwar decade. He was profoundly affected by his experiences in the Great War, which he struggled to process, and his war novel Death of a Hero (1929) is a biting, strident criticism of the British Victorian values, which he believed led to the conflict and hindered its resolution. Aldington continued to write novels throughout the 1930s, and later achieved success as a biographer. His Lawrence of Arabia: A Biographical Enquiry (1955), which questioned the veracity of T.E. Lawrence’s claims to heroism—and those made on his behalf—was attacked by conservative critics, and damaged his reputation and saleability irreparably. Aldington died in central France in 1962.