Western Ukrainian magazine " Zhinochyj Gholos " (1931‒1939): a version of socialist feminism

Abstract

«Zhinochyj Gholos» magazine, which was published from 1931 to 1939 in Lviv and was the official press body of the NGO Women's Union of Ukrainian Working Women, is investigated in the article. The main objective of the study is to characterize the essence of the editorial policy of «Zhinochyj Gholos» magazine, which positioned itself as a socialist, to define the ideological discourse that shaped the magazine. This edition has come a long way from the thematic page in the socialist newspaper «Ghromadsjkyj Gholos» to an independent magazine. Gender media studios in the Western scientific tradition already have significant gains, as research has been around since the 1960s. However, gender studies are a relatively young trend in Ukrainian media studies, as holistic research only emerged in the 2000s. The methodology chosen is to combine feminist discourse analysis with the achievements of post-colonial criticism. Many of the articles in the newspaper can be called ideological texts because they spread socialist ideas. In the journal «Zhinochyj Gholos», ideological discourse was formed, including through the heroization of figures of the socialist movement of the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The magazine purposefully designed an idealized image of the Ukrainian socialist feminist. The intentionality of the text in this case coincided with its pragmatism, because the author's call for devotion to socialist ideals was found in the response of many readers of the paper. Mention of the fight against capitalists in common with men is quite common in magazine articles, indicating that the editorial board is reluctant to identify its journal exclusively with the feminist movement. First of all, the idea of economic liberation of women, the struggle for decent working conditions and their remuneration were important to the socialists, and the proletarian men were seen as accomplices in this struggle. The editorial board of the socialist magazine was of the opinion that purely feminist slogans could be taken only by the bourgeois woman, and that Ukrainian peasants and workers (who were the main readers of the magazine) would be closer to the ideas of social justice. Ideological texts of the magazine are characterized by a peculiar authorial interpretation of the political situation, their own ideological accents and specific stylistics. As a result of the study, it was found out that the Western Ukrainian magazine «Zhinochyj Gholos» offered its own version of feminism, which included feminist ideas, national-state concepts and socialist ideology. The study of the history of feminist tendencies in the media discourse and the specifics of their implementation in the press is a new trend in Ukrainian media studies.