Мова як інструмент формування національно-культурної ідентичності населення в умовах колоніального та постколоніального суспільства

Many factors influenced the formation of the consciousness and self-identification of the population, and all of them were actively used by Soviet propaganda to assimilate the Ukrainian people into the Soviet population with a Russian mentality at its core. The Ukrainian nation will have to deal with the consequences of the Russification of the population for a long time, because Russification took place at the deepest, most everyday level of the people's life. Russification took place considering the smallest details, which the average reader often does not even notice. It is striking that the Ukrainian writer uses the Russified form of the names of the novel's characters (Olezhek, Lida, etc.), and resorts to substituting concepts (Soviet=Russian, etc.). To please the Soviet censors, Mykola Rudenko even tried to bring the lexical composition of the literary text closer to the Russian equivalents (tailor instead of dressmaker, dress instead of gown, etc.). It is proved that Soviet propaganda used the works of prominent Ukrainian writers to influence the worldview of the population, thus forming the national and cultural identity of the Soviet person by leveling the language and culture of the republics. Using the novels “Wind in the Face” and “The Last Sabre” by the prominent Ukrainian writer Mykola Rudenko as examples, the author analyzes the process of Russification of the Ukrainian population, showing how the Russian language and mental traits of the Russian people were imposed. The reader was transformed from a “Ukrainian” to a “Soviet person” and then to a “Russian person.” And if there were individuals who tried to resist the pressure of the system, they suffered the fate of Mykola Rudenko, whose works were withdrawn from sale and libraries. The author found the acts of withdrawal of Mykola Rudenko's works from the library of an educational institution in Sumy region. The consequences of Russification and the propaganda of Russian culture still affect the worldview and linguistic behavior of Ukrainians, as they were deeply rooted by Soviet propaganda, which was introduced into the everyday sphere of communication.