Ukrainian Scientific Intelligentsia in the Context of Implementing Social Policy of the Soviet Power in the 1920s

Abstract

The purpose of the research paper is to analyze the implementation of the Soviet power’s social policy regarding the scientific intelligentsia, including through the prism of the activities of the All-Ukrainian Committee for the Assistance to Scientists (VUKSV) in the 1920s as an institution supporting the Ukrainian scientific community in the context of political and social and economic crisis.

The scientific novelty is in the characterization of the Soviet state’s social policy regarding scientific intelligentsia and using the VUKSV to organize financial and food assistance for it.

Conclusions. The Ukrainian scientific intelligentsia belonged to those strata of society in the 1920s that were particularly acutely affected by social, political, and economic changes that led to a deterioration in their quality of life. Inflation, the closure of a number of higher educational institutions and scientific institutions, the lack of a stable income, and the famine of 1921-1923 put the scientific intelligentsia in conditions of struggle for physical survival.

Research into the activities of the VUKSV has become important for understanding the mechanisms of survival and adaptation of the Ukrainian scientific community during the period of radical social changes. Soviet state bodies sought ways to subordinate the scientific intelligentsia. For this purpose, institutions of control over it were established. However, the activities of the All-Ukrainian Committee for the Assistance to Scientists in the conditions of the 1920s became one of the most important stages in preserving the Ukrainian scientific tradition during the period of social and economic crisis. During the times of famine, political repressions, and economic collapse, it was through the VUKSV that it became possible to provide support to many outstanding Ukrainian scientists, allowing them to preserve their scientific potential and continue to make a significant contribution to the development of national science. Preserving scientific personnel potential and the conditions for scientific activity in the 1920s became extremely important for shaping the future scientific environment in Ukraine.