The period 1986-1991 was the most important stage of the national liberation movement for independence. The force field of society in this period is the idea of sovereignty and independence of Ukraine. Informal, non-censored newspapers and magazines published by socio-political movements and associations played a major role in its spread in the Dnieper region.
From among a number of informal publications stored in the funds of the Dnipropetrovsk National Historical Museum named after D. Yavornytskyi’s handwritten newspaper “Slovo” and social – political and literary – artistic almanac “Thresholds” deserve special attention.
The newspaper “Slovo” was published by the Society of Fans of the Ukrainian Language named after D. Yavornytskyi. There are no analogues of the newspaper in Ukraine. With a circulation of one copy, it did more for the cause of national revival than some official printed editions with thousands of circulations. The newspaper was hung in the large window of the House of Press in the center of the city. Residents came from the most remote corners to read the “Word”, which set the mature and acute writings of social life. And today, 30 years later, the topics raised by “The Word” seem relevant: the need for renewal in the upper echelon of power, the consequences of Chernobyl, the election of true representatives of the people to the Soviets at all levels, the need for political reform.
The editor of the newspaper was the writer Volodymyr Zaremba. The newspaper’s editorial board included writers Vitaly Starchenko, Anatoliy Shklyar, Hryhoriy Garchenko.
The literary-artistic, public-political almanac “Thresholds” was published in the city during the activities of the Association of Independent Creative Intelligentsia of Ukraine. Its founder and editor-in-chief was the poet, human rights defender Ivan Sokulskyi. Members of the editorial board are writers Raisa Lysha, Yuriy Vivtash, artist Serhii Aliyev-Kovyka.
The almanac was and remains one of the most vivid and unique cultural and artistic phenomena of the late 1980s and early 1990s in Ukraine due to the saturation of content, freedom of view, tension of spiritual and cultural expectations, determination, clarity and scale of the cardinal questions of national life. .
In the structure and content of the magazine, cultural, artistic and public life, “chronicle of modern events” and the history of Ukraine were combined in a particularly harmonious and balanced manner. The content of the magazine was marked by the breadth and diversity of the material, which was grouped into sections: “Native Word”, “Dnipropol”, “Colors of the Steppe”, “Graffiti”, “Home for the Soul”, “Flow”. Obviously, the national democratic paradigm and perspective of the magazine, which resisted the crisis and disorder of totalitarian consciousness, was read.
Today, the editions mentioned above are a biobibliographic rarity. Of the nine issues of the Almanac “Thresholds”, four have survived. Only fifteen of the twenty-two issues of Slovo newspaper survived. Today, the newspaper “Slovo” and the almanac “Thresholds” are kept in the funds of the Dnipropetrovsk National Historical Museum named after D. Yavornytskyi and in the scientific library of the “Literary Prydniprovya” museum. They will become the key exhibits of the exhibition “Their Word Will Be Spoken”.
It is difficult to overestimate the importance of the newspaper “Slovo” and the almanac “Porogy” for the history and culture of the region. At the time of their creation, Dnipropetrovsk was a city that, despite the restructuring processes in the country, was not touched by any new trends. The difference was so impressive that the city began to be called “the reserve of stagnation.” The entire information structure here was under the strictest control, the face of the regional and local press did not change at all. It was these publications in the Dnieper region that made a real breakthrough to the emancipation of consciousness, to real freedom of speech and made their contribution to the creation of Ukraine.
The title of the exhibition includes words from a poem by Anatoly Shklyar, dedicated to writers who fought for Independence for decades.
The author of the project: Svitlana Martynova is a senior researcher of the “Literary Prydniprovya” museum.
Mandatory pre-registration by phone 067 211 05 43 or in private messages on the page of the museum “Literary Prydniprovya”.
