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DOI: https://doi.org/10.34069/AI/2022.58.10.15
How to Cite:
Kozhanov, A., Sikorska, V., Shypotilova, O., Myrgorodska, N., Kurasova, N., & Nenov, I. (2022). Ukrainian oppositional press
during the late 1980s – the early 1990s: social-communicative aspect. Amazonia Investiga, 11(58), 140-150.
https://doi.org/10.34069/AI/2022.58.10.15
Ukrainian oppositional press during the late 1980s – the early 1990s:
social-communicative aspect
Українська опозиційна преса кінця 1980-х – початку 1990-х років: соціально-
комунікативний аспект
Received: October 25, 2022 Accepted: November 27, 2022
Written by:
Andrii Kozhanov56
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6696-6874
Victoriia Sikorska57
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7278-8464
Olena Shypotilova58
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9842-8157
Natalia Myrgorodska59
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5850-754X
Nataliya Kurasova60
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8672-0110
Ivan Nenov61
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4312-7082
Abstract
The article is researched with the problem of the
socio-communicative influence of the Ukrainian
opposition press of the late 1980s and early
1990s on Soviet and post-Soviet society. The
researchers established that the founders of such
publications were activists of public
organizations, including the Ukrainian Helsinki
Union and the People's Movement of Ukraine.
The role of the famous Ukrainian political figure,
dissident and journalist Vyacheslav Chornovil in
the development of the press service of the UHU
has been clarified. Namely, V. Chornovil
initiated the establishment of “Ukrayinskiy
Visnyk”, the independent information agency
UNVIS. During 1989-1990 members of
opposition organizations established press
services network in Moscow, Kyiv and Lviv, and
also actively cooperated with well-known
information organizations such as Radio Liberty.
The independent information agency UNVIS
created by Vyacheslav Chornovil with like-
minded people became an important factor in the
establishment of a number of independent
56
PhD (Candidate of Historical Sciences), Department of Ukrainian studies, National University Odessa maritime academy, Ukraine.
57
Candidate of philological sciences, faculty for work with foreign students, Odessa National Maritime University, Ukraine.
58
PhD (Candidate of Historical Sciences), Department of pre-university training, Оdessa national maritime University, Ukraine.
59
Department of Pre-university Training, Odessa National Maritime University, Ukraine.
60
Department of Pre-university Training, Odessa National Maritime University, Ukraine.
61
PhD (Candidate of Political Science), Department of Pre-university Training, Odessa National Maritime University, Ukraine.
Kozhanov, A., Sikorska, V., Shypotilova, O., Myrgorodska, N., Kurasova, N., Nenov, I. / Volume 11 - Issue 58: 140-150 /
October, 2022
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newspapers and publications, and foundation of
self-publishing libraries.
Keywords: independent press, People`s
Movement of Ukraine, self-publisher, activists,
dissident.
Introduction
The Ukrainian self-published press was founded
still in 1929. A well-known Ukrainian historian
and journalist Vakhtang Kipiani connects this
event with the name of the Kharkiv writer Ivan
Bagrianiy, who had published an “Ave Maria”
collection and had put, instead of the name of the
publishing house, the word “Self” in the
publisher’s imprint. The author distributed his
books into small book selling stores, and then
informed his friends of where these books can be
bought. Later on, however, the Soviet authorities
still learned about these copies and confiscated
them.
The phenomenon of self-publishing was renewed
during 1964-1965 in the Ivano-Frankivsk region
by a group of activists headed by Zynoviy
Krasivskiy. They created a magazine “Will and
Motherland”. The magazine consisted of 13-22
typewritten pages and was issued quarterly. In
the conditions of the underground, publishing of
such a magazine was quite a difficult process not
only because of the pressure of authorities, but
also because of the technical difficulty of the
copies’ making up (Salaban, 2019).
During the 1980-1990, the newly-based public
and political associations in the Ukrainian SSR
started launching their own network of self-
published underground periodicals, which
gradually became the basis for creating an
independent press of Ukraine.
The Ukrainian self-publishing can be classified
according to thematic genres: religious, sports,
musical, humorous, as a mass media and political
one. In our study, we will examine the
oppositional self-publishing during the 1980s –
1990s, because it became the main instrument of
enlightenment and anti-propaganda to the Soviet
Union’s totalitarian model. Opposition
organizations actively used various leaflets,
ballot papers and newspapers in their fight
against the communist authorities.
Literature Review
Among the latest scientific studies of this
problem, we can name the academic works by
historians O. Bazhan, V. Danylenko,
V. Derevinskiy, A. Kaminskyi, G. Kasianov,
S. Kulchytskiy and others.
Another group of scientific studies includes the
works of O. Obertas, V. Derevinskiy, V. Kipiani,
A. Kozhanov, Ya. Seko, O. Shanovska and
O. Shypotilova.
More substantially the theme of the self-
publishing was examined in the monograph by
O. Obertas “Ukrainian Self-Publishing”
(Obertas, 2010). However, as to the historian
Ya. Seko’s opinion, this monograph places the
research emphasis on the texts’ analyzing and so
there can be no talk about making any serious
estimation, with the origins of the Ukrainian self-
publishing remaining as vague as the Andromeda
nebula (Seko, 2012). The monograph is focused
not so much on the circumstances of place and
time, but on the complex of problems of the
essence and characteristic features of the self-
publishing. In meanwhile, for an average reader,
a statement that the self-publishing was created
by the men of the sixties is quite sufficient to be
believed to (Kozhanov, 2014).
Besides, the work of O. Shanovska, focused on
the research of the Ukrainian self-publishing –
which had turned into a powerful and popular
reaction to the Soviet ideology as well as its
moral and ethical outlook – has also became a
valuable contribution to this study. As to
O. Shanovska, the self-publishing highlighted
the main ideological trends of the opposition
movement in Ukraine during the 1960s-1980s.
Publications of the self-published press hit their
peak within 1965-1972, whereas an especial
influence and importance was reached by
“Ukrayinskiy Visnyk” that emerged in 1970. So
the historian O. Shanovska, in her scientific
study, came to the conclusion that the Ukrainian
self-published press served as a means of the
Ukrainian people self-affirmation, and so the
self-published editions’ spreading reflected the
continuing struggle of Ukrainians for their
national self-determination during those violent
decades (Shanovska, 2017).
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Purpose and importance of the article
The purpose of the study is to carry out, on the
basis of materials of periodicals as well as
archival and published documents, a
comprehensive historical analysis of the process
of formation of the Ukrainian oppositional self-
published press during the late 1980s – the early
1990s; to estimate the level of mutual influence
between printed editions of the above mentioned
topics and social-political processes taking place
in the Ukrainian SSR.
The researchers set themselves the following
tasks: to assess the state of the scientific study; to
reveal the influence of socio-economic and
political factors on the process of formation of
the Ukrainian oppositional self-published press
during the late 1980s – the early 1990s; to
analyze the interrelation between the republican
authorities and the opposition press during the
last years of the USSR existence; to summarize
their research’s results and outline the scope of
their further searches.
Methodology
The theoretical and methodological basis of the
article consists of the historical, interdisciplinary
and systematic approaches, as well as principles
of historicism, ideological pluralism, etc. – which
made it possible to reveal, with a sufficient
completeness, the specifics of the formation and
functioning of the Ukrainian oppositional self-
publishing press during the late 1980s – the early
1990s.
One of the basic principles the researchers were
guided with while making their study was the
principle of historicism. This principle implies
taking into account of the specific historical
conditions under which the examined processes
take place, in order to avoid anachronisms and
false generalizations. Implementation of the
principle of historicism in conformity with the
desired goal makes it possible to identify the
main tendencies of appearing and functioning of
the periodicals of the above mentioned topics
based on a number of facts obtained from the
research work’s source base.
Compliance with this principle determines the
sequence and continuity of the process of
formation of the system of the Ukrainian
oppositional self-published periodicals, formed
on the ideological soil of the dissident self-
publishing, was embodied in numerous
publications of the informal movement and
developed in the form of a wide network of
independent publishing houses of national
democratic orientation. The substantiation of the
main ideological principles of most
representatives of national-democratic political
orientation (this applies also to the thematic
content of their relevant editions) within the
framework of the principle of historicism makes
it possible to realize the origins of their
programmatic provisions (thematic headings,
main slogans) as a logical embodiment and
response to the Ukrainian population’s socio-
cultural and daily living needs of that time
period. The forms of existence and development
of the off-censorial (informal) press, that is, the
self-published press – the opposition press as
such, during the 1980s – 1990s, are an adequate
consequence of quite specific historical
conditions and circumstances.
The study’ systematic approach promotes
adequate defining of the scientific problem,
outlines an effective strategy of its research. The
implementation of the systematic approach
involves the research of the system’s genesis (in
this case, it is a network of national democratic
printed editions) and examining of the level of its
relationship with other systems (for example,
with the all-Ukrainian mass media network), the
regularities of the elements’ combining into a
single system, etc.
In the study, the national and democratic
movement is also regarded as an especial system
(for example, the system of ideological
principles) in a broad sense, within which the
activity of its separate units – press organs of the
organizations, which make this activity – is
taking place. Thus, examination of the issue of
structural forming and development of the
Ukrainian oppositional self-published
periodicals can’t be considered complete without
analysis of similarities, essential manifestations
of liberation movement in particular, and social-
political, as well as economic situation in the
state upon whole.
While studying the history of the press of the
People’s Movement of Ukraine, the Ukrainian
Helsinki Group, the Ukrainian Republican Party
and others at the turn of the 80-90s of the 20th
century, the researchers adhered to an
interdisciplinary approach. Thus, the scientific
research made by the specialists in political
science, philology and sociology makes it
possible to significantly enrich the
methodological basis and conceptual apparatus
of the study.
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Results and Discussion
Before starting examining the scientific
intelligence, we will consider the definition of
the notion of “self-publishing” as it is interpreted
by historians. A well-known researcher of the
Ukrainian dissident movement of the late 1960-
1980s Oleg Bazhan admits that “self-publishing”
is an uncontrolled by the state means of
distributing of the off-censorial literature:
prohibited fictional, philosophical and socio-
political works of Ukrainian and foreign authors,
reprints of religious (liturgical) books as well as
Ukrainian pre-revolutionary and emigration
publications; declarations, petitions, pleas and
letters of the participants of the Ukrainian
national liberation movement of the 1960-1980s
(Bazhan, 1998). Thus, creation (rewriting by
hand and set on carbon paper, photocopying,
reproduction on printing machines, rotaprints,
hectographs, etc.) and distribution (transmission
from hand to hand through friends or like-minded
people, by mail, by putting stealthily to others’
doors) of different from the official ideological
narratives original journalistic, prosaic and
poetic works, in which the deformations of the
Soviet society were analyzed, were considered
by the Ukrainian intelligentsia as a peculiar form
of the implementation of the speech freedom
guaranteed by the Soviet constitution, as an
“intellectual” resistance to the Communist
regime in the Ukrainian SSR and the USSR
(Bazhan, 2013).
There are 3 stages in the history of the Ukrainian
self-publishing. The first stage is a literary one; it
implies literary-critical articles which, for
various reasons, could not be published in
Ukraine (the early 1960s). The second stage is
the emergence of political articles and spreading
of anonymous “denunciatory” journalism (1963-
1968). The third stage includes the spreading of
self-published policy documents as well as
socially significant texts with authors’ signatures
(2nd half of the 1960s-1980s). (Bazhan, 1998).
The main topics of the Ukrainian 1960-1980s’
self-publishing were the USSR national policy,
the problem of the Ukrainian language
functioning, manifestations of anti-Soviet
resistance and the state of civil freedoms in the
Ukrainian SSR. Among the main documents of
the political self-publishing, distributed in an
underground way in Ukraine, was an article by
Ye. Proniuk (1964) “The state and tasks of the
Ukrainian liberation movement” and the work by
I. Dziuba (1970) “Internationalism or
Russification?”. Thanks to the self-publishing, in
Ukraine during 1960-1970 circulated the works
“The Mischief of Being Clever” and “Justice or
Recurrence of Terror?” by V. Chornovil, etc
(Bazhan, 2013).
Since 1970, “Ukrayinskiy Visnyk” (chief editor
– V. Chornovil), an off-censorial literary
publicistic magazine focused on human rights’
defense topics, started being published; the
magazine touched upon the social-political
problems of the Ukrainian society and provided
specific examples of persecution of differently-
minded ones by the authorities. At the end of
1976, over 3 thousand documents (by both
Ukrainian and Russian dissidents) of self-
published literature were issued in Ukraine
(Chornovil, 2009).
The main self-publishing centers were Kyiv,
Lviv, Ternopil, Kharkiv and Cherkasy. There
was also a church self-publishing, whose editions
faced the highest dissemination among the
believers of the denominations that were
unregistered and prohibited by the authorities,
that is, the Evangelical Christians-Baptists,
Pentecostals, Seventh Day Adventists, Jehovah's
Witnesses and Greek Catholics (Derevinskiy,
2010).
The widespread dissemination of the self-
published editions stimulated the political
leadership of the USSR and the Ukrainian SSR
to start developing the measures “On
Counteraction the Illegal Distribution of Anti-
Soviet and Other Harmful Materials”, approved
by the decisions of the Central Committee of the
CPSU and the Central Committee of the CPU in
June-July 1971. Despite the strong counteraction
of the ruling authorities, during the1960-1980 the
self-publishing remained a political factor that
influenced the social-political situation in the
Ukrainian SSR, contributed to the consolidation
of national-patriotic forces and served as a means
of disseminating of objective information about
Ukraine (Zinkevich & Obertas, 2010).
In the days of “the Gorbachiov's restructuring”,
the Ukrainian SSR faced a widespread
dissemination of the self-published periodicals:
newspapers, magazines, bulletins and almanacs.
Among the most famous Ukrainian opposition
editions of 1989-1990 there were “Vilne Slovo”,
“Golos Vidrodzhennia”, “Evshan-Zillia”,
“Kafedra”, “Postup”, etc.
And now let us examine in more detail the
process of forming of the oppositional self-
published press in the Ukrainian SSR during the
late 1980s – the early 1990s. The development of
the national-democratic movement at that time
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took place under extremely unfavorable
conditions of the informational vacuum caused
by the Soviet Communist Party’s monopoly on
the mass media system. Thus, to a large extent,
the efficiency and effectiveness of most non-
governmental organizations depended on their
ability to create alternative communication
channels with public. Under such circumstances,
the oppositional press not only performed the
functions of a propagandist of a particular
association’s ideas, but also turned into a single
possible form of participation in the political life
of the country. A showpiece of examining the
problem of information and publishing activities
of the opposition movements of the second half
of the 1980s – the early 1990s can serve the
Ukrainian Helsinki Union (since April 1990 –
Ukrainian Republican Party). Given the
significant contribution of the Union leaders to
the struggle for the Ukrainian society
democratization, establishment of civil rights,
formation of a multiparty system and
development of an independent state, the issue of
the information and publishing work of the
Ukrainian Helsinki Union and the Ukrainian
Republican Party is quite significant.
Obviously, the outlines of the future information
and press service of the Ukrainian Helsinki
Union were formed almost simultaneously with
the founding of the Union itself on July 7, 1988.
The formation of personnel policies, as well as
the material and technical base of the Union’s
information structures is closely connected with
the activity of V. Chornovil and “Ukrayinskiy
Visnyk” which he headed.
In meanwhile, the operative materials of the
KGB management in Lviv region indicated that
already in the 1988 summer, the Union’s
members actively sought an apartment or house
to be rent for the editorial office of the
“Ukrayinskiy Visnyk”. At that time, V.
Chornovil “persistently sought the possibility of
increasing of the “Ukrayinskiy Visnyk”
circulation and new methods for its distribution
... he expected to receive an automated printing
device with a mini-computer from abroad”. Since
“Ukrayinskiy Visnyk” enjoyed a high demand
among the population and became a subject of
speculation (price for one copy in the black
market reached about 120-150 rubles), the
KGB’s information and analytical department
suggested the financial control bodies and the
Department Against Misappropriation of
Socialist Property should have been switched to
the investigation of the activity of the magazine’s
editorial staff (Kozhanov, 2014).
The Ukrainian Helsinki Union’s press service
started working in July 1988 with the following
membership: V. Chornovil (the head of the press
service, the editor of the “Ukrayinskiy Visnyk”
magazine), V. Barladianu (a member of the
“Ukrayinskiy Visnyk” editorial board),
M. Goryn (a member of the “Ukrayinskiy
Visnyk” editorial board), S. Kyrychenko
(a member of the “Ukrayinskiy Visnyk” editorial
board), V. Shevchenko (a member of the
“Ukrayinskiy Visnyk” editorial board),
P. Skochok (a member of the press service),
S. Nabok (responsible for the publishing of the
newspaper “Ukrayinskiy Visnyk”),
Ya. Kendzior (responsible for the cinema and
photo network) and T. Chornovil (responsible for
tape recorder editions). For the communication
with the mass media, responsible in Kyiv were
M. Gorbal, L. Lokhvitska, O. Shevchenko; in
Lviv – B. Goryn, in Moscow – A. Dotsenko.
Financing of the press service and the magazine’s
publishing was made at the expense of voluntary
donations of readers (the size of those donations
amounted to 20-250 rubles). In addition, some
funds were transferred to the press service by the
Ukrainian Helsinki Union’s foreign
representation and the human rights organization
“Americans for Human Rights in Ukraine”
(Kozhanov, 2014).
At that time, the search for the most effective
method of informing the Ukrainian society
continued. In particular, it was planned to release
“a thick” version of “Visnyk” quarterly, and
“Ukrayinskiy Visnyk – Express” (a magazine of
a smaller format containing actual materials on
the Ukrainian socio-political events) – twice a
month; besides, between the releases of
“Ukrayinskiy Visnyk – Express” the leaflets of
the Ukrainian Helsinki Union’s press service
were issued. Thus, in particular, during July-
August 1988, 15 informational and journalistic
leaflets that told, in a timely manner (on the
second-third day) about the events hushed up or
distorted by the official press, were published.
The press service leaflets were sent to the
addresses of both official as well as off-censorial
mass media organs of the USSR and abroad.
In January 1989, work on the formation of the
information bureau of the Ukrainian Helsinki
Union’s press service in Kyiv (headed by
S. Nabok) and Moscow had begun. The
Moscow’s correspondent office of the Union was
headed by A. Dotsenko. On the initiative of
M. Muratov (a Union’s member who had earlier
represented the “Ukrayinskiy Visnyk”
correspondent office), the Moscow’s press
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bureau of the Ukrainian Press Agency (UPA)
was founded (Danilenko, 2011).
M. Muratov used to send the information
received from Ukraine to the “Freedom” radio
station and the Ukrainian Central Information
Service (USIS) in Munich; besides, M. Muratov
actively cooperated with T. Kuzio, the Ukrainian
Insurgent Army’s Director in London. From
T. Kuzio, he often received and then brought
over to his Ukrainian press service colleagues the
necessary office equipment: computers, printers,
facsimile devices, etc. Thanks to the Ukrainian
Insurgent Army, the informational materials
about the most important events in the Ukrainian
SSR, collected by the Ukrainian Helsinki
Union’s members, came to the British mass
media and the Australian radio listeners.
At the meeting of the All-Ukrainian
Coordination Council of the Ukrainian Helsinki
Union on January 21, 1989, the head of the press
service of V. Chornovil was also made
responsible for the technical means of the Union,
as well as for the contacts with its Kyiv, Donetsk,
Dnipropetrovsk, Ivano-Frankivsk, Moscow
branches. Simultaneously, V. Chornovil held the
post of a responsible editor of “Ukrayinskiy
Visnyk”. Ye. Proniuk, a famous patriot and
intellectual, became the head of the information
center of the Ukrainian Helsinki Union,
coordinating its activity: he carried out control
over the large-scale subscription campaigns and
communication with a number of regions
(Chornovil, 2009).
In 1989, material and technical capabilities of the
Ukrainian Helsinki Union’s press service were
extremely limited. The Union had six computers
(among them – three “Toshiba-1000”, two –
“Toshiba-1200PB” and one – “Spark”), six
printers (“Epson-RX-850”, “Brother" and
"Diconix") and one xerox (“Develop-100”,
printing speed – 5 pages per minute) (Kozhanov,
2014).
While speaking about the conditions under which
the Union had to carry out its information and
publishing activity, L. Lukyanenko, the head of
the Ukrainian Helsinki Union, recalled: “An
obstacle to increase the efficiency of all three
press centers of the Ukrainian Helsinki Union is
the lack of an all-Ukrainian network of
permanent professional correspondents of the
Union and the delay in informing. Continuation
of an unfair partocratic monopoly on the mass
media does not allow the Ukrainian Helsinki
Union to buy a printing house, have access to
state radio and television (Kipiani, 2011). Thanks
to the help of the representatives of our diaspora,
now almost all branches are provided with
portable dictaphones, there is a dozen of
computers and several camcorders. The lack of
technical culture leads to a frequent output of
computers. The Executive Committee has failed
to establish the training of the necessary
specialists to assure the technically competent
operation of such equipment” (Lukyanenko,
2010).
Among the editions founded by the Ukrainian
Helsinki Union during 1989, it should be
mentioned “Vilna Dumka” (published since
September, Lutsk), “Gomin Bukovyny” (since
October, Chernivtsi), “Sobornist” (since
October, Boryslav), “Shliakh do Voli” (since
December, Rivne) and “Obizhnyk” (Kyiv).
It is to be admitted, at that time, the Union had
actually “monopolized” all the information space
which remained beyond the state control: thus,
the Union published over 90% of all the
circulation of the Ukrainian self-published
periodicals. The activists of the Union’s centers
were members of the majority of editorial offices
of the Ukrainian off-censorial magazines.
However, at the same time, the influence of self-
published press on the Ukrainian society should
not be overestimated. The development of an
independent press was constantly hampered by a
chronic lack of funds, semi-legal status (freedom
of the press was proclaimed only in June 12,
1990, by the Law “On Press and Other Mass
Media”), lack of access to the printing base, and
the use of administrative pressure by the state
authorities in their struggle against
nonconformity. Thus, the self-published editions
could just rarely boast of their one-time
circulation exceeding 1000 copies.
In March 1989, a landmark event took place:
“Golos Vidrodzhennia”, one of the first
oppositional off-censorial newspapers in the
Ukrainian SSR, was published. The newspaper
was made and edited, with his own hand, by S.
Noboka, a well-known Ukrainian journalist, a
member of the Ukrainian Helsinki Union.
Among other informal editions, the newspaper
distinguished not only in in its form (its
circulation, printed in Vilnus, exceeded 10
thousand copies), but also in content. The
thematic filling of the newspaper consisted of the
materials of social-political, cultural and national
historical issues. The newspaper highlighted the
actual Ukrainian and foreign news, published the
Ukrainian Helsinki Union’s policy documents of
the Ukrainian Helsinki Union, the People's
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Movement of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Republican
Party and other democratic associations.
The newspaper’s editorial staff paid a particular
attention to the problem for human rights’
violation in the USSR. The editorial board of the
“Voice of Renaissance” included V. Chornovil,
O. Shevchenko, S. Riaboshapka, L. Lokhvytsia
and L. Miliavskiy (Zinkevich & Obertas, 2010).
During 1990, the network of the Ukrainian
Helsinki Union’s editions increased significantly
due to the growth of number of the press organs
of the Union’s regional and district centers. The
1980-90 election campaign stimulated the
emergences of numerous newspapers, ballots and
leaflets that provided the Ukrainian democratic
forces with necessary information support in the
parliamentary elections’ process. It is to be
admitted, within 1990, the Ukrainian Helsinki
Union and the Ukrainian Republican Party
founded 34 printed editions, including
“Tsentralna Rada” (a Kyiv nonstructural edition
of the Ukrainian Helsinki Union, chief editor
O. Avramenko), “Sobornist” (a Boryslav
interregional newsletter of the Ukrainian
Republican Party, chief editor V. Tsvietkov),
“Kayala” (a Donetsk fiction and publicistic
magazine, chief editor Ya. Gomza), “Lvivski
Novyny” (information and publicistic newsletter
of the Ukrainian Helsinki Union (since 1991
owned by the Ukrainian Republican Party,
editorial board: B. Goryn, B. Krutniv,
G. Levytska and others), “Karpatska Ukrayina”
(a Mukachevo independent edition, since 1990
owned by the Ukrainian Helsinki Union),
“Volia” (an edition of the Chernighiv regional
organization of the Ukrainian Republican Party)
and others.
At the beginning of that year, the Ukrainian
Helsinki Union was struck with a crisis – what
made the head of the press service V. Chornovil
create an organization being independent of the
Ukrainian Helsinki Union – the Ukrainian
Independent Publishing and Information Union
(UNVIS). The statement on the UNVIS creation
in January 9, 1990, informed about an intention
to create a structure that, with the very first
opportunity, will be able to move to a large-scale
activity on a cost accounting basis. The tasks of
the Ukrainian Independent Publishing and
Information Union were set as follows:
− regular publication since January 1990 of the
magazines “Ukrayinskiy Visnyk” and
“Ukrayinskiy Vopros” (Moscow), the
newspaper “Golos Ukrayiny” and a weekly
periodical “Informator” as independent
press multi-copy organs;
− creation of The Library of “Ukrayinskiy
Visnyk”, that is, a printing house to publish
original books and brochures mainly of the
social-political series;
− creation of a correspondent network and
transmission on a contractual basis of the
information to the press and radiotelegraphic
agencies, as well as some separate
publishing houses in the USSR and other
countries;
− organization of joint publications or reprints
of products of other publishing groups or
informal organizations, as well as
organization of reprinting their and own
products in other countries.
In March 23, the Constituent Assembly of the
Organization took place in Lviv. The Assembly
members listened to, and, after having discussed,
adopted as a basis a draft statute of the Union,
proposed by V. Barladianu. The Assembly then
elected the Board of UNVIS as well as managers
of services, employees and technical workers,
appointed the editors of the magazines
“Ukrayinskiy Visnyk” and “Ukrayinskiy
Vopros” (Moscow), the newspaper “Golos
Ukrayiny” and the weekly periodical
“Informator”.
Alongside with V. Chornovil, the head of the
newly formed Union, the founders of the UNVIS
were members of the Ukrainian Helsinki Union
– V. Barladianu, A. Dotsenko, S. Naboka,
Ya. Kendzior, S. Matsko, O. Shevchenko and
V. Yavorskiy.
The association of journalists and writers closely
cooperated with all patriotic forces of Ukraine –
the People's Movement of Ukraine, “Memorial”,
Ukrainian Language Society, “Zeleniy Svit”,
Ukrainian Helsinki Union, etc.
The new political reality imposed on the
leadership of the Ukrainian Republican Party the
need to create printed organs of the All-
Ukrainian scale. So, as of early 1991, the editions
“Vyzvolennia” and “Samostiyna Ukrayina” were
founded.
A newspaper “Samostiyna Ukrayina” (chief
editor V. Goloborodko) enjoyed the highest
circulation among all the newspapers founded by
the Ukrainian Republican Party; it had been
started to be published in February. The
publisher's imprint of the newspaper informed
that the edition would be published in Ukrainian
and English, and in the future also in French and
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German. The newspaper contained original
works of Ukrainian historians, philosophers,
writers and political analysts.
However, the organizational and thematic level
of “Samostiyna Ukrayina” didn’t correspond to
the requirements put to the Party’s official
newspaper – mainly because the newspaper was
published irregularly at the start.
A new chief editor, I. Kravchuk, was appointed
in quiet a short time; thanks to his efforts, the
newspaper started being published each week.
Later on, after acquiring a new accommodation,
the Ukrainian Republican Party's leadership
allotted two rooms to the editorial office – yet
even that was not enough for its normal work.
Moreover, with a rise of the communication
services’ price, “Samostiyna Ukrayina” became
on the verge of closing. The situation was saved
by the Ukrainian Republican Party's Secretariat,
which allocated the necessary 100 thousand
rubles in support of the newspaper (Kozhanov,
2014).
In February, “Vyzvolennia”, a newspaper of the
Ukrainian Republican Party's Secretariat, started
being published on the initiative of R. Koval (in
1990, the newspaper was titled “Prapor
Antykomunizmu”). In his summary report at the
Second Congress of the Ukrainian Republican
Party in June 1, 1991, L. Lukyanenko noted in
relation to “Vyzvolennia”: “Because of the
political immaturity of its author, R. Koval, and
because of my having not controlled it
whatsoever, a number of doubtful, or even
directly false articles were published in the
newspaper – the articles which created a
completely wrong perception of our party among
the readers. As it seems, for a new Party’s
leadership, this newspaper may become a place
for the theoretical articles to be printed at, until
the Party becomes able to launch its own
magazine” (Lukyanenko, 2010).
In what concerns the magazine, it should be
noted that the Republicans from the very
beginning tried to create a powerful socio-
political edition such as “Ukrayinskiy Visnyk”,
the edition which would cover the theoretical
principles of the national ideology, the views of
the Party’s leaders and works on patriotic topics.
For this purpose, a number of unsuccessful
attempts had been made to turn a famous self-
published magazine “Poroghy” (chief editor Ivan
Sokulskiy) into a party printed organ. It is to be
admitted, the problems of the theory and political
practice of the Ukrainian Republican Party were
partially represented in “Respublikanets”, the
magazine which started being published since
1991 by the Lviv Department of the Ukrainian
Republican Party.
In addition to the above mass media organs,
during 1991, the Ukrainian Republican Party’s
local centers founded 10 other editions. In July,
“Vyzvolniy Shliakh” (a newspaper of the Brody
district Party’s center) and “Ogliadach”, as well
as “Gomin Voli” (press organs of the
Nadzbrachanska organization of the Ukrainian
Republican Party and the People’s Movement of
Ukraine) were published. The Party’s
information and press service also published
“URP-Inform”, a press bulletin with the content
of three weekly meetings of the Secretariat of the
Ukrainian Republican Party, as well as other
important information. Besides, at that time,
newspapers of the Ukrainian Republican Party’s
regional centers – “Za Nezalezhnist” (Ivano-
Frankivsk), “Nezalezhnist” (Lviv) and
“Ternystiy Shliakh” (Ternopil), which had been
founded still in 1990 – continued being published
(Kozhanov, 2014).
As of June 1, 1991, the information and press
service of the Lviv regional organization of the
Ukrainian Republican Party functioned in Lviv.
In previous years, the service consisted of three
press bureaus in the cities of Kyiv, Lviv and
Moscow. With the emergence of the possibilities
of contacting directly the foreign mass media –
for example, the radio “Freedom” – the Kyiv’s
press center turned into an information agency
“Respublika”. The agency, though being not
subordinated to the Ukrainian Republican Party,
worked closely with it. It is to be admitted, the
Moscow press bureau had already lost its
previous significance, therefore, only a
representation of the information and press
service remained in that region (Derevinskiy,
2011).
Compared to the period of “semi-legal”
existence, the conditions of informational
activity of the Ukrainian Republican Party in
early 1990s didn’t undergone any significant
change. The problem of finding of working
rooms for the editorial offices of the newspapers
“Samostiyna Ukrayina” and “Vyzvolennia”
besides, the information press service did not
have enough necessary equipment (computers,
offset machines, xeroxes), it also lacked
professional staff who could be involved in
collecting information in the regions. The
editorial groups of the Ukrainian Republican
Party’s most local editions were forced to
constantly get adapted to hard economic
conditions. Thus, for example, “Nezalezhnist”, a
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newspaper of the Lviv regional organization of
the Ukrainian Republican Party, during 1990-
1991 changed its place of publication three times:
the issues 1, 2 (1990) and 3 (1991) were printed
in Pustomyty; issues 4-8, 10, 11 – in Nesteriv;
issue 9 – in Striy, Lviv region. The newspaper
“Galytskiy Visnyk” was typed in Borshchiv, but
published in Chortkiv. “Respublikanets
Chernighivshchyny”, an edition of the
Chernighiv regional organization of the
Ukrainian Republican Party, was published as a
supplement to “Za Nezalezhnist” (an Ivano-
Frankivsk newspaper)
The People’s Movement of Ukraine, initially a
public political organization, and later on, a
party, became an ideological foundation of the
Ukrainian oppositional self-published press
(Kulchytskiy, 2010). In different Ukrainian
regions, the Movement established press organs
of its regional organizations. Thus, the first issue
of “Golos Karpat”, the newsletter of the
Carpathian Zonal Department of the People’s
Movement of Ukraine for the Restructuring, was
published in June 1989. The issue contained a
resolution on the formation of the Lviv regional
organization of the People’s Movement of
Ukraine For the Restructuring, whose Presidium
included a poet R. Bratun, a People’s Deputy of
the USSR I. Vakarchuk, as well as O. Blokh,
M. Golubets, M. Goryn and others.
In July 1989, the first issue of the Kyiv’s “Visnyk
Rukhu” was published. The issue contained an
appeal to the readers noting that this newspaper
could not be bought in a street-kiosk, it couldn’t
be told about in a daily review of the press on the
radio, either. Because this newspaper was an
independent one, whose purpose was to bring to
the reader's audience the truth about the
Movement, to attract as many people as possible.
The newspaper was issued by the editorial group
of the Ukrainian People’s Movement, the
Ukrainian Society “Memorial" and
“Spadshchyna”, a Ukrainian Culture and
Lifestyle Club. Besides, in July, “Vilne Slovo”, a
newspaper of a number of groups of the People’s
Movement of Ukraine, was published. It
contained information on the change of the name
“Visnyk Rukhu” into “Vilne Slovo”, and an
article “For the Unity of All Good and Honest
People” by Ivan Drach, which affirmed that “the
Movement lives” and that “its existence is
necessary”. Besides, the newspaper also
contained an appeal to the people of the
Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic on the fact
of dissemination of defamatory rumors about the
Movement, telling: “Don’t believe the deception
stories about the Movement! The Movement is
hope; the Movement is unity of people”. The
document was signed by Ivan Drach, Dmytro
Pavlychko, Volodymyr Yavorivskiy, Vitaliy
Donchyk and Leonid Sanduliak. On its pages, the
newspapers reported that in July 9, 1989, the
Constituent Assembly of the People’s Movement
of Ukraine of the city of Chernighiv and the
Chernighiv region took place (Central State
Archives of Public Organizations of Ukraine
(n/d), p. 11).
At that time, an edition of the Lviv regional
organization “Viche” was published. The second
issue of the newspaper contained an analytical
article by M. Kosiv, dedicated to the problem of
formation of the People's Movement of Ukraine
and its political confrontation with the
authorities’ organizations (Danylenko, 2018).
In August 1989, the first issue of “Dumka”, a
newspaper of the Kirovograd coordinating
council of the People's Movement of Ukraine,
and the third issue of “Na Spolokh”, an edition of
the People’s Movement of Ukraine in Kharkiv,
came out into the world. “Dumka” placed an
appeal “To the Countrymen – Kirovograders”
telling about the beginning of publication of the
region’s newspaper and informing about the
People's Movement of Ukraine. In meanwhile,
“Na Spolokh” contained greetings from
Volodymyr Yavorivskiy to the participants of the
conference of the Kharkiv regional organization;
the conference was held in early September
1989. The newspaper, in its heading “Our
Position”, contained an appeal to the Presidium
of the Supreme Council of the Ukrainian SSR as
for the CPU attempts to preserve its privileges in
the election campaign. The newspaper also
contained an announcement on the All-Ukrainian
Constituent Congress of the People’s Movement
of Ukraine For the Restructuring.
“This event will have an epoch-making value for
our people”, pointed out the newspaper’s
publishers Volodymyr Sagaidachniy, Mykola
Khvylia and Valentyna Ovod in the
announcement. It is to be admitted, the surnames
were possible to be not true, if taking into account
the time of the newspaper’s release (Kaminskyi,
1990).
On the same month, a newspaper “Rada”, the
edition of the Rivne regional organization of the
People’s Movement of Ukraine for the
Restructuring, was firstly published. The
newspaper contained information on the
conference of the Rivne regional organization of
the People's Movement of Ukraine for the
Restructuring dated July 22, and the list of
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speakers, including Mykola Porovskiy,
Mykhailo Goryn, Vasyl Chervoniy, Volodymyr
Soroka and others. The newspaper also contained
a sample of events, the resolution of the
Constituent Conference and an article “What is
the People's Movement of Ukraine for the
Restructuring Needed for” by V. Shkuratiuk
(Kasianov, 1995).
The Ivano-Frankivsk regional organization of the
People's Movement of Ukraine for the
Restructuring also had its own printed organ;
thus, the first issue of “Galychyna” edition
contained a Resolution on the creation of the
Ivano-Frankivsk regional organization of the
People's Movement of Ukraine in August 12,
1989. The chosen regional council of the
Movement included: Yuriy Andrukhovych,
Petro Arsenych, Zinoviy Duma, Mykola
Yakovyna and others, 30 persons in total
(Danilenko, 2011).
The Resolution contained a decision to publicize
the documents approved by the Conference,
including the appeal to the region’s citizens.
In December 1989, “Chornomoryia”, the
newspaper of the Mykolaiv regional organization
of the People's Movement of Ukraine, was
published for the first time (Kozhanov,
Shypotilova, 2017). The issue contained the
greetings upon the occasion of the New Year and
Christmas holidays, the resolution of the
Constituent Congress of the People's Movement
of Ukraine on the national symbols, the article of
Viacheslav Chornovil “The Wait is Over” and
the first comment in the September 1989 Plenum
of the Central Committee of the CPSU. A reply
“The Memory a la Mykolayiv” was the reaction
to renaming of the Plekhanivska Street into the
Potiomkinska Street in October 1989
(Shypotilova, Loginov, 2019).
Alongside with the editions published only by the
People's Movement of Ukraine, there also were
the editions published by various informal
organizations which had been the precursors of
the Movement, and whose ideological
orientation was as that of the Movement in a
broad understanding of the term. Besides, those
editions contained a great factual material on the
Movement’s public activity.
The tendency of consolidation of national
democratic forces is traced on the pages of
“Dzvin”, the publication of the Ternopil regional
society “Memorial”. Thus, in the newspaper’s
August issue it is noted: “In June 21, 1989, the
first meeting of the heads of the People’s
Movement of Ukraine and the regional society
“Memorial” with the Soviet and party leaders of
the city took place in the Philharmonic of the city
of Ternopil. In their speeches, the representatives
of public organizations unanimously expressed
claims to the city’s heads on their repressive
actions against the organizations of the
Movement, “Memorial” and their supporters.
Conclusions
Taking into account the above, it is to be admitted
that a significant number of regional editions of
the People's Movement of Ukraine and the
Ukrainian Republican Party failed to survive the
hard time of the first post-Soviet years. In the
researched period, only the central mass media,
which received a financial support from the
Party's governing bodies, continued to be
published relatively stable.
Thus, the Ukrainian Helsinki Union, the
Ukrainian Republican Party and the People’s
Movement of Ukraine played a key role in the
formation of the Ukrainian independent
periodicals in the late 1980s. Being outside the
control of censorship bodies, the Union’s press
focused the attention of society on the most
urgent problems of the Soviet reality, thus having
deserved trust and significant commitment of the
citizens. Having had united under the leadership
of the Ukrainian Helsinki Union - the Ukrainian
Republican Party and the People’s Movement of
Ukraine, the nonconformists managed to create a
wide network of off-censorial mass media, which
covered all regions of the Ukrainian SSR and
made it possible to promptly inform the public
about the activity of the organization and actual
social-economic issues. The off-censorial
editions learned the whole experience of political
struggle and the organizational potential of the
former political prisoners and dissidents, created
a single possible tribune for the speech of the
Ukrainian intelligentsia. It is from this tribune
that the goals and objectives of the opposition
movement were proclaimed.
After the reorganization of the Union into a
political party, its former informal editions
became the printed organs of the Ukrainian
Republican Party, continuing to serve to the
cause of the Ukrainian state’s development and
to promulgate the ideological principles of all the
national-democratic forces of the country.
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