SOVIET MONUMENTAL PROPAGANDA PROBLEMS IN WESTERN UKRAINIAN LANDS IN 1944 – 1953

The article characterizes the problems of Soviet monumental propaganda in the Western Ukrainian lands in the post-war years, mainly related to building monuments of republican significance. Based on the analysis of archival documents, the author has outlined the peculiarities of legislative regulation and financing of the monuments’ construction, which affected the delay or non-implementation of government decrees regarding the construction of memorials. The financial problems and the shortcomings of the Soviet bureaucratic system have been described in the example of the building of monuments to Lenin in L’viv, Drohobych and Chernivtsi, the monument to Oleko Dundych in Rivne, the “Hill of Glory” in L’viv, and the military cemetery in Stanislav. The reasons contributing to the failure to fulfill the tasks of monumental propaganda included the limitation of funding for building monuments by both the central and republican authorities, the lack of funds in local budgets, and the delay in submitting or approving project or financial documentation. Furthermore, an ideological factor has been identified as the primary reason for postponing the construction of memorials to Ivan Franko and Taras Shevchenko in L’viv. The author concluded that Soviet memory politics, which aimed to Sovietize the memorial space rapidly, lacked the resources to create essential symbolic places to disseminate Soviet commemorative culture in the Western Ukrainian lands effectively. The delay in constructing new monuments of republican significance caused dissatisfaction among the party leadership, which demanded an immediate solution to these problems. These demands, in turn, resulted in cost-cutting measures during monument building, leading to deviations from their original projects. The article pays particular attention to the issue of the quality of typical monuments to the state’s leaders and fallen soldiers of the Soviet army, which was also one of the problems of Soviet monumental propaganda.