Vlasiuk S. The Ukrainian Revolution of 1917–1921 in the State Policy of Memory of Modern Ukraine

The value of the Ukrainian Revolution of 1917–1921 is analyzed, in the policy of memory of state authorities, during independence period. The events of that time played an important role in the processes of state formation and formation of the Ukrainian political nation, which also influenced the independence of 1991. As an important period for the establishment and struggle of nation-states, this topic became relevant to state power immediately after the collapse of the Soviet empire. Politicians, by appealing to it, sought to legitimize both the newly-emerging state and the authorities with all its institutions in general. Later, this topic began to be used for other reasons: discrediting the communist political system, opponents, uniting the country, mobilizing the population, achieving political dividends, etc. School textbook design is generally quite independent, but since education has one of the decisive influences on the formation of historical consciousness, this area has been and remains the object of change. The national narrative was created by professional scholars of the Institute of History of Ukraine and was picked up by the authors of the school textbooks. The content of the last, in addition to the authors’ own positions, was influenced by historical programs approved by the ministry. In general, they portrayed this period as an important stage of state formation and the struggle for preservation of independence. Regional preferences did not have a decisive influence on the conceptual changes of school historical education, but reflected the attitude of the region to the adopted paradigm or to its changes. The last were caused by the revision of the estimates of the historical past by the new authorities and thanks to the administrative resource, were implemented on the pages of textbooks during the reign of V. Yanukovych.