MYTHS OF RUSSIAN PROPAGANDA IN THE INTERPRETATION OF YURY SHEVELOV

Abstract

The article clarifies the role of the legacy of the remarkable scientist in disproving a number of russian propaganda myths directed against the Ukrainian language, culture, and history of Ukraine. It is important to note that Y. Shevelov, as a linguist, made a lot of efforts to deconstruct the myth of the existence of a united old-russian language, from which arose the idea of ethnic unity among three East-Slavic folks. For a long time, this concept was dominant in official imperial and later Soviet science. Contrary to the ideological notion of a united old-russian language, the researcher developed and substantiated his own scientific vision of the Ukrainian language‘s genesis, which is shared among the most modern scientists.
It is claimed that Yury Shevelov has refuted several myths about the Ukrainian language in his writings on the problems of the functioning of the modern Ukrainian language and the Soviet language policy. Y. Shevelov contrasted the propaganda assertions about the flourishing of the Ukrainian language under the USSR with serious scientific studies, in which he proved from the extensive factual material that the Soviet government in many respects outmatched its tsarist predecessors. In particular, it is talking about interference in the internal laws of the language, which was an innovation of the Soviet language policy.
It is indicated that the scientist critically assessed the move and consequences of the Ukrainization policy, which modern Russian propaganda uses as one of the proofs of the crucial role of Vladimir Lenin and the Bolshevik Party in the creation of modern Ukraine. As Y. Shevelov proved, Ukrainianization emerged as a tactical move of the ruling regime as a result of intraparty and international events and was curtailed after the final confirmation of totalitarian power in the early 1930s. It is noted that in his works, the researcher considered purely linguistic phenomena in close connection with political processes. Y. Shevelov‘s works provide a lot of valuable material for exposing one of the basic myths of modern Russian propaganda—the myth of the Great Patriotic War. The scientist points to the aggressiveness of the prewar Soviet foreign policy, aimed at expanding the area of communism, and the unheard-of militarization of all spheres of social life.