Soviet holidays and ceremonies as an unsustainable sociocultural experiment

The purpose of the article is to analyse the practice of forming a system of Soviet holidays and ceremonies with a critical mind, to reveal their inhumane, totalitarian nature and tasks and objectives mismatching to a democratic society building. The article uses general scientific methods of analysis and synthesis. The historical approach helped to accumulate primary data obtained from primary sources and literature on the selected topic. The axiological method made it possible to consider the value content and social value of Soviet ritualism. The scientific novelty of the article is determined by the fact that for the first time in domestic culturology the processes of introduction and transformation of Soviet holidays and ceremonies in Ukraine are covered in the context of the formation of the ideology of the totalitarian regime. The concrete facts show that from the very beginning the Bolshevik government pursued a policy of forced secularisation of the population, ousting from life (primarily public) all forms and manifestations of religious and traditional folk rituals. Conclusions. In its development, Soviet holidays and ceremonies went through several stages, each of which corresponded to a certain period of formation of socioeconomic relations in the Soviet Union, an urgent task in the field of transformation of ideology and culture. The core of the system of holiday dates of the “red calendar” were the anniversaries of the Great October Socialist Revolution, the Day of International Solidarity of Workers, the Day of the Paris Commune. The official models and scenarios of these celebrations took canonical forms during the years of complete domination of Stalin’s totalitarian dictatorship. The so-called new socialist customs and rites suffered from excessive regulation, false pathos, the overdose of communist propaganda, and therefore, not in vain, they were compared with artificial flowers. One of the main shortcomings of the Soviet all-Union ritual, which eventually led to its complete bankruptcy, should be considered complete disregard for the identity of the culture of individual peoples who inhabited the USSR.

Source: Kurochkin O. (2020). Soviet holidays and ceremonies as an unsustainable sociocultural experiment. Culture and Arts in the Modern World. 21: 116–130

Source web-site: http://culture-art-knukim.pp.ua/article/view/208241/208688