POST-WAR INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE UKRAINIAN SSR (1946–1965): ORIGINS AND EVOLUTION OF MODERN UKRAINIAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

Abstract

This article aims to examine the genesis and evolution of modern Ukrainian historiography concerning the development of post-war industry in the Ukrainian SSR during the period 1946–1965. The research methodology is grounded in the anthropologization of historical research, incorporating non-partisanship, scientism, culturology, and such principles of historical research as historicism, objectivity, systematicity, comprehensiveness, and continuity. The scientific novelty of the study lies in assessing the features of the modern domestic historiography emergence, particularly the emphasis placed by Ukrainian scholars on the constraining role of the bureaucrat- ic-administrative apparatus over industrial production, labour, and the socio-political engagement of workers.Historians of the 1990s and early 2000s argue that the policy of extreme statism prioritized state power andmilitary strength over the interests of workers and the value of human labor. Within the daily realities of theso-called “construction of communism,” and under the dominant influence of the military-industrial complex,a self-destructive economic system that systematically disregarded the human needs emerged.Conclusions. A key achievement of the first period of independent Ukrainian historiography was the understanding that the post-war twentieth century introduced significant structural distortions that have had alasting negative impact on the contemporary evolution of the independent Ukrainian state. Thus, the post-warindustrial restoration policy was grounded in the prioritization of heavy industry, which played a decisive rolein ensuring the growth of the military and economic strength of the USSR. Priority was given to restoring the operations of Union-level enterprises, whose output was deemed essential for the reconstruction of the Soviet Union’s leading industrial branches. The labour force for these industrial initiatives was supplied on the basis of the principle of universal labour duty, which was enforced through a combination of both coercive measures and limited social incentive.