Propaganda in Revolutionary Ukraine: Leaflets, Pamphlets, and Cartoons, 1917-1922

by Stephen Velychenko

Overview

Propaganda in Revolutionary Ukraine is a survey of domestic government and party printed propaganda in revolutionary Ukraine. It is the first account in English to study these materials using an illustrative sample of printed texts and to assess their impact based on secret police and agitator situation reports.

The book surveys texts published by the Central Rada, the Ukrainian State, the Ukrainian National Republic, the Ukrainian Socialist Revolutionary Party, the Ukrainian Social Democratic and Labour Party, the Independentists, Ukrainian Communist Party (UCP), Ukraine’s Bolshevik Party (CPU), and anti-Bolshevik warlords. It includes 46 reproductions and describes the infrastructure that underlay the production and dissemination of printed text propaganda. The author argues that in the war of words neither Ukrainian failures nor Bolshevik success should be exaggerated. Each side managed to sway opinion in its favour in specific places at specific times.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781487530709
Publisher:	University of Toronto Press
Publication date:	11/04/2019
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	304
File size:	12 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Stephen Velychenko is a historian and research fellow at the Chair for Ukrainian Studies of the University of Toronto.

Table of Contents

List of Online Documents and Illustrations

Introduction

1. Message and Medium

2. The Central Rada and the Ukrainian State

3. The UNR, Radical Socialists, and Warlords  

4. The Bolsheviks

Conclusion

Appendix: Estimated Press Runs and Per Capita Distribution of Bolshevik Publications

Notes
List of Pamphlets
Index

What People are Saying About This

Johannes Remy

"Propaganda in Revolutionary Ukraine contains descriptions and analysis of propaganda released by various Ukrainian governments, including the Soviet ones. Presenting and analyzing what the belligerents wanted to tell to a wider audience adds substantially to our understanding of the revolutionary period. It is also an important source publication."

Christopher Gilley

"One of the very few works on Ukraine in this period, Propaganda in Revolutionary Ukraine will be of interest to those specializing in the history of Ukraine in the period 1917—1921, but will find a broader audience among historians of the revolutions and wars in the former Russian Empire."

Editorial Reviews

"Velychenko’s book is a valuable contribution to the multi-faceted research on the Ukrainian revolutions. It could be productively used for comparisons of the Ukrainian situation with the other ‘national peripheries’ of the former Russian Empire, for transnational study of propaganda in inter-war Europe, or for in-depth local studies of particular Ukrainian cities, towns, and villages during the revolutionary turmoil."

—Andrii Portnov, European University Viadrina, Slavic Review

"This book presents the fullest account to date of the propaganda efforts on Ukraine’s territory during the civil war period."

—Olena Palko, Birbeck, University of London, European History Quarterly

"Velychenko’s publication is a timely and informative contribution to the study of propaganda produced in Ukraine during the revolutionary and civil war years. Providing invaluable data for the historiography of the Ukrainian nation- and statehood construction, it calls for further sociohistorical and cultural contextualization of the competing propaganda efforts."

—Katia Denysova, Courtauld Institute of Art, H-SHERA

"Ladygina presents a meticulously researched and engaging reading of Kobylians'ka’s prose, addressing how ideas on the broad topics of comparative feminism, Nietzscheanism, modernism, and even fascism found expression in Kobylians'ka’s short stories and novels at different stages in her life."

—Svitlana (Lana) Krys, MacEwan University, East/West: Journal of Ukrainian Studies

"This is a work of considerable value to scholars with an interest in revolutionary politics and mass media, and these minor criticisms should not detract from its merits. It richly illustrates the extraordinary challenges of spreading information and winning political support in revolutionary Ukraine, and how these challenges were met by the succession of governments and parties that vied for power in the former imperial borderlands."

—Mollie Arbuthnot, Ab Imperio

" Propaganda in Revolutionary Ukraine contains descriptions and analysis of propaganda released by various Ukrainian governments, including the Soviet ones. Presenting and analyzing what the belligerents wanted to tell to a wider audience adds substantially to our understanding of the revolutionary period. It is also an important source publication."

—Johannes Remy, Department of History, University of Helsinki

"One of the very few works on Ukraine in this period, Propaganda in Revolutionary Ukraine will be of interest to those specializing in the history of Ukraine in the period 1917–1921, but will find a broader audience among historians of the revolutions and wars in the former Russian Empire."

—Christopher Gilley, Library Archives and Special Collections, Durham University

From the Publisher

"This is a work of considerable value to scholars with an interest in revolutionary politics and mass media, and these minor criticisms should not detract from its merits. It richly illustrates the extraordinary challenges of spreading information and winning political support in revolutionary Ukraine, and how these challenges were met by the succession of governments and parties that vied for power in the former imperial borderlands."

Ab Imperio - Mollie Arbuthnot

"Velychenko's publication is a timely and informative contribution to the study of propaganda produced in Ukraine during the revolutionary and civil war years. Providing invaluable data for the historiography of the Ukrainian nation- and statehood construction, it calls for further sociohistorical and cultural contextualization of the competing propaganda efforts."

H-SHERA - Katia Denysova

"Ladygina presents a meticulously researched and engaging reading of Kobylians'ka's prose, addressing how ideas on the broad topics of comparative feminism, Nietzscheanism, modernism, and even fascism found expression in Kobylians'ka's short stories and novels at different stages in her life."

East/West: Journal of Ukrainian Studies - Svitlana (Lana) Krys

"Velychenko's book is a valuable contribution to the multi-faceted research on the Ukrainian revolutions. It could be productively used for comparisons of the Ukrainian situation with the other 'national peripheries' of the former Russian Empire, for transnational study of propaganda in inter-war Europe, or for in-depth local studies of particular Ukrainian cities, towns, and villages during the revolutionary turmoil."

Slavic Review - Andrii Portnov

"This book presents the fullest account to date of the propaganda efforts on Ukraine's territory during the civil war period."

European History Quarterly - Olena Palko