Shershen’

Shershen’ («Шершень»; Hornet). An illustrated socialist weekly eight-page magazine of humor and satire, edited and published by Volodymyr Lozynsky in Kyiv from mid-January to late July 1906 (a total of 26 issues). It was the only Ukrainian-language periodical of its kind in Russian-ruled Ukraine in its day. Contributors included many of the most prominent writers and cultural figures of the time. Its cartoons and political caricatures were drawn by Fotii Krasytsky, Ivan Buriachok, V. Maslianykov, P. Naumov, Volodymyr Riznychenko, Serhii Svitoslavsky, and Opanas Slastion. Shershen’ primarily satirized Russian conservatism and chauvinism, but also criticized Ukrainian political parties and newspapers. The publisher was constantly harassed by the tsarist authorities, and two issues of the journal were confiscated.

A biweekly with the same name and masthead appeared in New York (March–November 1908) and then Scranton, Pennsylvania (to June 1911). From October 1910 it was published by the Ukrainian Workingmen's Association. The editors were A. Kichak, M. Mykytyshyn (1909), and V. Hryshko.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 4 (1993).]