Opposition Poetry in the Self-published Journal «Ukrainian Herald» (1970–1972)

Abstract

«Ukrainian Herald» is a self-published magazine that was actively published and distributed among the resistance movement against Soviet regime in Ukraine in 1970–1972. Its pages, in addition to journalistic articles of a political and cultural nature, quite often featured artistic works, in particular, opposition poetry.
The purpose of the article is a comprehensive analysis of the poetry published in the pages of the magazine «Ukrainian Herald» (1970–1972), which was oppositional to the ruling regime. In modern Ukrainian historiography, this problem has not yet received a comprehensive study. Some of its aspects in the context of the study of the general history of the Ukrainian dissident movement are highlighted in the works of Anatolii Rusnachenko, Borys Zakharov, Ivan Stasiuk, Volodymyr Baran, Oles Obertas, and Bohdan Paska. The methodological basis of the article was the principles of objectivity, historicism, comprehensiveness, continuity, as well as a complex of general scientific and special-historical methods.
The authors conclude that in the early 1970s, 45 poems authored by various members of the Ukrainian dissident movement were published on the pages of the magazine «Ukrainian Herald». The published poems reflect the significant events of the confrontation between the Sixtiers and the Soviet regime – the tragic deaths of the poet Vasyl Symonenko and the artist Alla Horska, the trial of the historian Valentyn Moroz. Opposition poetry exposed numerous negative aspects of Soviet everyday life, shortcomings of the ruling party’s policy in the economic and national spheres. In some poems, you can find direct calls to fight against chauvinism, allusions to Ukrainian national symbols, and a description of the true historical past of Ukrainians. The poets of the sixties called on the society for public activism against the destruction of national culture by the totalitarian regime. Opposition poetry was imbued with courage, courage and radicalism, and was a challenge to Soviet regime and its policy towards the Ukrainian people. At one time, the magazine «Ukrainian Herald» played the role of an important literary platform, where poets Sixtiers had the opportunity to publish their poems under conditions of increased Soviet censorship. Ultimately, the regime’s reaction was to intensify the repressive pressure on dissidents in the early 1970s and to carry out a «general pogrom» of the Ukrainian national movement in 1972.