Ukrainian samvydav of the 1960s as a space of parallel reality
Ideological dominants and rhetorical strategies in the publicism by M. Braichevskyi and Ye. Sverstiuk
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.28925/2311-259x.2026.2.2Keywords:
dissident, samvydav, journalistic discourse, imperial myth, national narratives, rhetorical strategies, ideological dominantsAbstract
The article examines the specifics of the functioning of Ukrainian uncensored journalism (samizdat, Ukr.: samvydav) in the 1960s as an instrument of intellectual resistance to the Soviet totalitarian system. The relevance of the topic is based on the need to rethink the origins of the modern decolonization of the Ukrainian humanitarian space through the analysis of M. Braichevskyi’s treatise Accession or Reunification? Critical Remarks on One Concept and Ye. Sverstiuk’s pamphlet About the process of Pogruzhalskyi, which laid the foundations of national revival.
The subject of the study is ideological and semantic dominants, rhetorical strategies and mechanisms of refutation of colonial ideologies in the journalistic texts of M. Braichevskyi and Ye. Sverstiuk. The article uses a comprehensive approach based on a combination of general scientific and literary methods: historical-genetic, hermeneutic, comparative-typological, and the method of discourse analysis.
The results of the study have shown that these texts, despite the genre difference, form a single discursive strategy for overcoming colonial dependence. The study revealed that M. Braichevskyi employs a logical-rational method to deconstruct the official Soviet historiographical concept of 1654. Through the analysis of terminological substitutions, the historian returns to Ukraine the status of a subject of international law of the 17th century and refutes the ideology of “eternal friendship of peoples”.
At the same time, Ye. Sverstiuk’s pamphlet is regarded as an example of emotionally expressive invective. Using the arson attack on the State Public Library of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR as a metaphor for the destruction of national memory, the author appeals to moral and ethical principles — dignity and responsibility toward future generations.
The common point of both works is the recovery of Ukraine’s status as an active participant in history and culture. M. Braichevskyi restored the political subjectivity of the Cossack state in the European context, and Ye. Sverstiuk substantiated the spiritual subjectivity of the nation, for which culture and memory are existential values that require protection from imperial encroachments.
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