“THAW” THROUGH THE PRISM OF PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT IN INTERSTATE RELATIONS (BASED ON MATERIALS FROM THE UKRAINIAN SOCIETY FOR FRIENDSHIP AND CULTURAL RELATIONS WITH FOREIGN COUNTRIES)

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to determine the correlation of new directions and forms of work of a public organization during the “thaw” era with traditional practices inherent in Soviet totalitarianism. The research methodology is based on a civilizational approach to understanding the historical process and is complemented by human-centered approaches. The work uses both general scientific principles (objectivity, systematicity, analysis) and special historical principles – comparative historical, historical, and source studies, etc. The peculiarity of the study is its reliance on materials from the archival fund of the Ukrainian Society for Friendship and Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries, a significant part of which is being introduced into scientific circulation for the first time. The scientific novelty is due to both the expansion of the source base and the attempt to substantiate the presence of social and cultural transformations in the Ukrainian society of the outlined period. Conclusions. The “thaw” period has been studied through the prism of public involve ment in the implementation of socio-political tasks, which has contributed to the formation of a contradictory image of this historical stage. On the one hand, strict subordination to the party decisions was maintained, the dominance of the Communist Party’s optics in the interpretation of internal and external problems, on the other hand, there was a desire to demonstrate the “democratization” of Soviet society and strengthen the role of the public