«Press of the Ukrainian SSR to the XV anniversary of the October revolution» by Mkyhailo Ahuf as a mirror of the publishing industry in Ukraine in the 1920s.

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to analyze the statistical parameters, qualitative characteristics of the Ukrainian (as well as the Soviet in general) book publishing, publishing houses, groups of publications, printing, the press of the 1920s through the prism of the then-Bolshevik worldview in combination with the national-indigenous beliefs of A Press of the Ukrainian SSR to the 15th Anniversary of October (1932). Descriptive, comparative, inductive, deductive methods, as well as methods of systematization and generalization were used to analyze this work, fit it into the context of the development of national and world book publishing and periodicals, formulate conclusions. Ukrainian scientists of the Soviet era have bypassed the work of M. Aguf, fearing accusations of nationalism, and researchers of the period of independence do not pay attention to her because of her biased attitude as being openly engaged. There is a certain overlap in the book: for example, the characteristic of the publishing production of 1917–18 years in Ukraine is overlooked, the overt court falsifications in the IED case are recounted and so on. M. Aguf is constantly guided by the Communist Party guidelines and perspective in covering the development and problems of book publishing. However, it relies primarily on statistics, which enables it to characterize trends in the quantitative and qualitative development of book publishing, the dominance of propaganda-political, anti-religious literature in publishing portfolios, the centralization of the publishing sphere, the press and party-state control over them.At the same time, M. Aguf notes the significant growth of Ukrainian-language publications, publications in the languages ​​of other national minorities, Scientific, technical, reference literature, classical and contemporary fiction Ukrainian literature, the achievements of rooting in this field. It outlines IT and significant problems with the staff in the publishing and periodical sphere, development of the Union and republican printing and paper industry, book distribution, satisfaction of the Reader Queries. M. Aguf's book describes the 1920s as a very fruitful period in the development of not only the Ukrainian Soviet, but also the national book publishing.