Robitnycha hazeta (Kyiv)

Robitnycha hazeta (Kyiv) (Workers' Gazette). A newspaper published six times a week in Kyiv since January 1957. Until 1962 it was the organ of the Ukrainian Republican Council of Trade Unions; since then there has been no republican Ukrainian trade union organ. In 1962–91 it was an organ of the CC CPU. In the 1960s it was a vocal proponent of Ukrainian economic and cultural autonomy and supported the more liberal policies of CPU First Secretary Petro Shelest; it also published articles and letters criticizing policies restricting the development of the Ukrainian-language press and the use of the Ukrainian language in general. After Shelest's removal from power a purge was conducted at the paper, and several journalists and editors were removed from their positions. A Russian-language edition of the paper has been published as Rabochaia gazeta. Because of the official policy of Russification, in 1960 the Ukrainian edition had a pressrun of only 40,000 copies, while the Russian edition's was 85,000; by 1980 the gap had widened, with the two editions having pressruns of 95,000 and 385,000 respectively. In 1992 it began to appear only three times a week and had a pressrun of 300,000 in each language edition.

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