Borotba

Borotba [Боротьба] (Struggle). A group of writers who were members or followers of the Borotbists. Created in 1918, the group included many contributors to the newspaper Borot'ba, among them Vasyl Blakytny, Andrii Zalyvchy, Hnat Mykhailychenko, and Vasyl Chumak. These writers were the first to advocate the idea of ‘proletarian literature.’ In 1919 they published the almanacs Zshytky borot'by (Notebooks of Struggle) and Chervonyi vinok (The Red Garland). After Zalyvchy's and Chumak's deaths in 1919 the remaining members of the group were instrumental in publishing the journal Mystetstvo (1919–20).

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 1 (1984).]