ПРЕСА УКРАЇНСЬКОЇ КОМУНІСТИЧНОЇ ПАРТІЇ (БОРОТЬБИСТІВ)

Abstract

The article considers the history of establishing and functioning of the party periodicals in Ukraine in 1919–1920. The aim of the research is to find out the main conditions of formation of the press system of the Ukrainian Communist Party (borotbysty), to trace the thematic spectrum of publications of the leading figures of the Party. The object of the study are organs and newspapers of the Ukrainian Communist Party (borotbysty), that were published in Kharkiv, Kyiv, Poltava, Vinnytsia (such as «Borotba / Struggle», «Borotbyst / Fighter», «Chervona borotba / Red struggle», «Chervonyy stiah / Red flag», «Chervonyy prapor / Red banner», and others). During the short period of Party existence, the leaders of the Ukrainian Communist Party (borotbysty) managed to form a network of party periodicals in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Poltava, Kherson, Odesa, Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr, Pryluky, etc. Most of the titles of party newspapers contained the word struggle or its derivatives in the logo. The main topics of publications are party documents (acts, memoranda, appeals, resolutions of party congresses and conferences), current party activities, chronicles of political affairs, letters from workers and peasants, debunking of political enemies and the opposition. Poems, short stories, and feuilletons were also published. Among the editorial boards and permanent employees of this press were party figures, writers, and publicists (V.Ellansky (V. Ellan-Blakytny), H. Mykhailychenko, V. Chumak, M. Lebedynets, M.Avdienko, O. Shumsky, A. Richytsky (A. Pisotsky), M. Pankiv, and others). Most of them were People’s commissars of education, ministers in the Soviet government, as well as members of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Ukraine, but the regime of Stalin annihilated them. Their creative biographies and activities in editorial and publishing fields need to be studied and rehabilitated. In prospect, it is important to research thoroughly the heritage of the political leaders, to decipher cryptonyms and pseudonyms, which often occur on the pages of periodicals of the Ukrainian Communist Party (borotbysty).