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"Radyanskyy Krym" Newspaper

Concise summary: the first Ukrainian-language regional newspaper of Crimea Oblast, founded by decision of the Presidium of the CC CPU in September 1954 and launched in September–October 1955 as the print organ of the Crimean Regional Committee of the CPU and the Regional Council of Working People's Deputies.

Overview

The creation of the Ukrainian-language regional newspaper "Radyanskyy Krym" became one of the key decisions of the republican leadership of the UkrSSR to shape a Ukrainian information space on the peninsula following its transfer in 1954. Despite sabotage and delays on the part of the local Crimean party apparatus, the CC CPU secured the allocation of state funds, transport and printing equipment, permission from the CC CPSU, and the establishment of subscription quotas across all districts and cities of Crimea Oblast (including Sevastopol).

Key Details / Subtopics

  • Resolution of the CC CPU and resource support (September 20, 1954): The Presidium of the CC CPU adopted a resolution "On the Publication of the Regional Newspaper 'Radyanskyy Krym'" with a single print run of 20,000 copies. To organize the editorial office, the government instructed the Ministry of Culture of the UkrSSR to allocate 100,000 rubles, the State Planning Committee (Derzhplan) of the UkrSSR 30,000 rubles for furniture, as well as to provide a "Pobeda" automobile.
  • Sabotage by the Regional Committee and Mykola Pidhornyi's letter (August 1955): Due to sabotage by the Crimean Regional Committee of the CPU led by Dmytro Polyanskyy, the launch of the newspaper was derailed (it had been planned for November 1, 1955). On August 2, 1955, the Second Secretary of the CC CPU M. Pidhornyi sent a letter to the CC CPSU, emphasizing that over 200,000 Ukrainians lived in Crimea (25% of the oblast's population, and up to 35% in northern rural districts), whose demand for Ukrainian literature and press was growing rapidly.
  • Publication launch and subscription campaign (September 1955): In early September 1955, permission arrived from Moscow. On September 30, 1955, the Crimean Regional Committee of the CPU signed a resolution on the launch of the newspaper in Pravda format, published 5 times a week (single print run of 20,000 copies). To guarantee distribution, the regional committee established mandatory subscription quotas for the oblast's cities and districts ranging from 450 to 1,700 copies.
  • Linguistic calque and coverage of the Petro Kishka monument (May 1956): In a report dated May 28, 1956, on the unveiling of the monument in Sevastopol, the newspaper rendered under the headline "Monument to Petro Koshka" the surname of Ukrainian sailor Petro Kishka as "Koshka". This reflected both a shortage of qualified Ukrainian studies specialists in Crimea Oblast and the forced presence of linguistic calques due to fear of accusations of "bourgeois nationalism".
  • Comparison with the modern state of Ukrainian-language press: In Petro Volvach's work, the focused state support of the UkrSSR in the 1950s for establishing "Radyanskyy Krym" is contrasted with the contemporary neglect of the sole Ukrainian-language newspaper Krymska Svitlytsia, which was deprived of proper state funding after being relocated from occupied Simferopol to Kyiv.