Strategie władz wobec ustnej twórczości ludowej w okresie stalinowskim (na materiałach ukraińskich)

In 1920-1950, Soviet authorities used different strategies in response to Ukrainian folklore. On the one hand, they recognised folklore as the “voice of the people”, while stressing the importance of oral traditions in the formation of the “new man”, thus encouraging the collection of folklore materials. According to Soviet ideologists, folklore can be seen as a source of inspiration for poets and musicians who create new songs for the working people. For some folklorists such ideas came as an incentive for creating a new “Soviet folklore”. For decades, the Soviet propaganda machine would widely imitate the traditional Ukrainian folklore expressed in oral form, while at the same time praising the pantheon of “communist saints”. Simultaneously, the Ukrainian Soviet folklore ignored Authentic Folklore, which was often highly critical of the Soviet reality.