IDEOLOGY AS A FACTOR OF CONSOLIDATION OF UKRAINIANS IN THE POST-COLONIAL ERA
Authors: Obushnyi Mykola 
Published: May 2020

The article is devoted to the disclosure of the place and role of ideology as a factor in the consolidation of Ukrainians in the post-colonial era. It is proved that in the Ukrainian state-building process the problem of consolidation of Ukrainians is relevant and complex, and still remains one of the most important. As Ukrainian progress, which opens up new opportunities for the socio-economic, political and spiritual development of Ukrainian society, depends on its solution. It is emphasized that effective work of subjects of consolidation of Ukrainians depends on a complex of socio-economic, political and spiritual factors. One of the determining factors in the spiritual sphere is ideology, which should be national in its essence, since it is intended to unite all representatives of ethnic and national minorities of Ukrainian society, based on the ideas of spirituality, social justice and national patriotism, taking into account historical traditions and existing realities of the modern world. Exactly this kind of unifying ideology should determine the main direction of the Ukrainian policy of the unity of society, the system of its ideals and values. Therefore, the search for such an ideology is an important factor in the consolidation of Ukrainians, especially in today post-colonial era. World experience clearly shows that those societies that have an ideological consolidation core, which is understandable and supported by every citizen, are developing more dynamically. According to its status, this consolidation core is one of the ideological foundations of state ideology, the discussion on its development is still ongoing. Its acuteness intensifies the existing confrontation of the various, though not formed party ideologies, which somehow still claim to state status, trying to revise the legislative norm, according to which the most important carrier of state ideology is the Constitution. And other bearers of state ideology have the right, within their powers and ideological directions, to use the fundamental principles of state ideology, such as: to defend state independence and sovereignty, democratic social order, civil society, human rights, etc., but they shoyd not revise these fundamental basics of statehood. A special protection needs a consolidation aspect of state ideology, since it is a kind of manifestation of civic education and the core of person politicization. In each state, ideology is called differently - Americanism, Russianism, Polonism, Zionism, and so on. In Ukraine, due to the kind of scientific ostracism that appeared (and quite well-grounded) after the proclamation of independence in connection with the contemporary ideology and mono-ideology that was in the Soviet Union, it is difficult to name the ideology. Nowadays, a number of scholars and party ideologists are inclined to think that the term "solidarism", based on the ideas of the consolidation of the ideology of Ukrainians, could be used, based on the ideas that only solidarity of just cooperation and mutual assistance of all members of society is the basis of social, economic and political progress.
It is noteworthy that some Ukrainian political parties in their updated (after the Revolution of Dignity) programs use the term "solidarism" to consolidate Ukrainians. In particular, the political party, the People's Front, defines its programmatic task to restore the territorial integrity of Ukraine, liberate it from terrorists, foreign troops, mercenaries, and to conduct reforms. The PF ideologists associate these tasks with the consolidation of Ukrainians. Ideologists of the Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reform (UDAR) political party proceed from the assumption that only a consolidated country can be effective and competitive in the world. "We must realize, - stated in the UDAR program, that the goals that unite us are more important than the historical myths and ideologies that can separate us." A lot of attention is paid to the problem of consolidation of Ukrainians through the disclosure of the idea of
solidarity in the program of the political party "Petro Poroshenko Bloc Solidarity "(new edition). In this program it is declared for the first time that the party puts the idea of solidarity at the basis of its ideology. The idea of solidarity in the «Batkivshchyna» Party, whose program was adopted in 1999, has its own story, but as long as this solidarity spirit is officially not reflected as an ideology in its program.
The article contains a recommendation for Ukrainian political forces to study more thoroughly the ideological grounds of solidarity ideas with a view to their possible use in their political and ideological activities.