THE TRAGEDY OF ENLIGHTENMENT BY ANDRIІ ALІEXІEІEV

Abstract

The scientific publication, grounded in historiographical and historical research, as well as in archival and criminal records of the repressed scholar Andrii Alieksieiev, presents an analysis of the key officials of the repressive and punitive policy of the Bolshovite regime against the Octovitian complacency of Mykolayivshchyna during the Great Terror. This is illustrated by mechanisms employed in order to combat oppositional and alternative views. The utilisation of archival materials has been instrumental in elucidating the presence of falsification mechanisms, which have been accused in the context of the alleged «counter-revolutionary nationalist organisations». The analysis of the key factors (massive scale under the slogans of fighting «counter-revolutionary» and «anti-Soviet elements», exceptional cynicism, political and ideological nature, etc.) of the government’s repressive policy against the educational elite during the Great Terror, on the basis of the archival and criminal case of the teacher Andrii Konstantynovych Alieksieiev, allows us to confirm the relevance of the topic, convincingly testifying to the exceptional cynicism and comprehensiveness of political repression. It has been proven that the main goal of this repressive approach was the establishment of an «atmosphere of fear», an active fight against any alternative official point of view, the depletion of personnel potential to the people’s education, consolidation of total control over marriage in all areas of activity. The scientific novelty of this research lies in the fact that it introduces documentary material into the field of science, directing a comprehensive analysis towards the Soviet government’s repressive policies against different faiths in the region. The specifics and patterns of current terrorism on the regional level are revealed. It is shown how, relying on compromising evidence regarding social origin, in our case, the family of a tsarist officer and the brother who emigrated to France, the NKVD authorities strengthened the accusations against an educator who had been innocently arrested. In the second half of the 1930s, the author identifies the mechanisms of terror and falsification of charges. The logistics consisted of arrests based on information received by the NKVD officials, finding any compromising evidence (e.g. social origin, membership of opposition parties, gaps in the biography) that exacerbated the charges, extracting sincere «confessions», and quick verdicts by the Troika. As was shown by the decisions on rehabilitation based on additional investigations, the punishment was not the result of even an ephemeral crime.  It has been proven that the dominant principle of the Soviet state system was the doctrine of «class struggle», whereby the success of Soviet society in building socialism prompted resistance from internal and external enemies who infiltrated the country with spies and «wrecking elements». Teachers in the Mykolaiv region, as well as across Ukraine, were accused of «bourgeois nationalism». Under these slogans, a large-scale «purge» of public education institutions was carried out, claiming the lives of thousands of citizens.