District and multi-circulation press of the western regions of the Ukrainian SSR as an illustration of the "perestroika" economic failures transformation into political reform demands in 1988

Abstract

The Purpose of the Study. It is common knowledge that one of the important components of the source basis of scientific research is the analysis of periodicals of the historical period to which they belonged to. Especially when there is an opportunity to study the local press, which was the closest to the socio-economic, political and other demands of the societies of that time. During the period of the Russian-Soviet occupation of Ukraine, and especially during its final stage known as “Perestroika”, such were district-level and multi-circulation newspapers published in all administrative districts, large enterprises and prominent institutions of the Ukrainian SSR. Since these publications were at the centre of labour collectives of the Western Ukrainian regions, which were the mass bearer of the national democratic movement at the end of the 80s of the 20th century, the author sets himself the objective of lustrating a rapid development of economic failures of “Perestroika” into demands for a political reform, presented against the background interpretation of local press publications. The research methodology is based on the principles of a historical objectivity and impartiality in the interpretation of historical facts. In the course of the study, methods of a critical structural analysis and classification, systematization and verification of the periodical material of the local press of seven regions of western Ukraine have been used. The scientific novelty of the historical research consists in the fact that, on the basis of a large number of periodical materials of the local press of Western Ukrainian regions, the events little known to the general public have been reconstructed, connected with the development of unsuccessful socio-economic reforms of “Perestroika” into calls for a political reform in the USSR and CPSU. As a result, in 1988, at the 19th All-Union Party Conference, the ruling Communist leadership from Moscow was forced to announce the transfer of power to the hands of Soviet institutions and a number of internal party changes, which, combined with the industrial unrest, caused the collapse of the state. The Conclusions. Therefore, the analysis of the articles published in the columns of the Western Ukrainian regional and multi-circulation press shows that the first sprouts of disbelief of the residents of the region in the socio-economic innovations of the “Perestroika” appeared at the stage of its apogee in 1988. Incompatible with the planned economy, implementation of segmental market innovations in the form of self-financing and state self-support gave positive results only in the first half of the specified year. The positive results manifested themselves in the form of a short-term increase in wages, which quickly became inconsistent with last year's planned financial estimates. Then the budgets were exhausted, which led to the reduction in salaries, the curtailment of social programmes, and an increase in the deficit of food and industrial consumer goods. On this basis, the attitude of the Western Ukrainian public towards the initiator of reforms of the CPSU-CPU, in the format of its district committee and party committee units, deteriorated significantly. Gradually there came the understanding that the communist power was not capable of effective implementation of economic innovations, and therefore the political ones should be introduced to limit its influence on the production process. However, after the introduction of a political reform at the 19th All-Union Party Conference towards the transfer of power into the hands of the Soviet institutions, the negative attitude towards the party nomenclature continued to grow. The nature of the publications in the second half of the year indicated that the mistrust in the economic innovations of the party apparatus, caused by the unfolding of the crisis, was also reflected in its political attempts to maintain dominance in the state created for itself.