The Xinhai Revolution in China on the Pages of the Samara Periodic Press

Introduction. This article describes the Xinhai Revolution in China. The authors, with the help of the Samara periodicals, highlighted the beginning, course and completion of the revolution, the activities of Sun Yatsen and Yuan Shikai, as well as the social aspects of this period. October 10, 2021, the legitimate successors of the Xinhai Revolution of the PRC and the Republic of China in Taiwan celebrate 110 years. The significance of the presented material is undoubted, since it is based on real historical sources – periodicals of 1911–1912. The purpose of the article is to determine the historical place of the Xinhai Revolution and its importance for the further history of China on the basis of newspaper materials. Materials and Methods. The most important in the study, based on the provisions formulated by the above authors, is the historical method, or, as it is also formulated, the principle of historicism. In carrying out this scientific research, the author relied primarily on special historical or general historical methods. Research Results. The study showed that starting with the Wuchansk uprising on October 10, 1911, metropolitan and provincial newspapers actively followed and published materials about the revolution. The outbreak of riots and uprisings in the provinces were reflected in detail by journalists and editors of Samara newspapers. The left-wing liberal party press, in contrast to the semi-official press, perceived the revolutionary movement of the popular masses in China positively. Discussion and Conclusion. Any revolution is always a large and controversial topic for scientific discussion. The Xinhai Revolution did not lead to the expected results, both among the people and among the bourgeoisie, the intelligentsia and the upper class. It was followed by further turmoil, which led first to the government of the Kuomintang, and then the Communists. It can be concluded that the theme of the Chinese Revolution of 1911–1912 is still relevant. The proposed provisions and conclusions create the prerequisites for further study of this problem.

The Problem of Legal Equality in the Georgian Press of 1918-1921

The subject of research in 1918-1921 is the parameters of the functioning of the media during the period of the Independent republic of Georgia and processes that contributed to the creation of a pluralistic media climate in the country and the establishment of liberal-democratic values. One of the manisfestations of this is the issue of human rights and social equality, which we will discuss in a specific direction – in terms of gender.Based on the plurastic media envionment, based on the contextual analysis of relevant sources, archival and newspaper publications, we gave selected and studied the main print media of the leqding, ideologically different political parties of 1918-1921: Socia;-Democratic Worker’s Party newapaper “Unity” (1917-1921). The Federalist Party “People’s Affairs” (1917-1921) and the National Democrats – “Georgia” (1915-1921). We analyzed how adequately, with what visions and journalistic means these media outlets covered the feminist narrative.We focused on publications on the problems of women’s emancipation, as well as women authors, the number of which, althouigh small, they are quite professionally able to properly focus on gender issues and in-depth understanding of women’s social or political issues (N.Nakashidze, M.Toroshelidze, F.Josh and others).The resuklts of the research showed that the party press of 1918-1921, on the one hand, clearly reflected the positive steps taken by the government of the Independent Republic of Georgia at the legislative level to protect human rights and, in particular, the feminist direction. On the other hand, the government’s lack of interest in the problems of woman’s social or legal equality appeared in a negative light.

Main channels of party communication in Ukraine

The dynamics of the creation of the party press in Ukraine at the end of the 20th – beginning of the 21st century becomes obvious in the context of the emergence of new parties and the establishment of their journals. The main purpose of political communication is to inform, persuade, and mobilise the electorate. The quantitative indicators of the party press have changed because the number of parties has increased, as a result of which new publications have appeared more intensively. The party press is one of the most important sources of information about the party and its leader(s), the social orientation of the programme foundations; it is one of the main channels of communication with party members, supporters, and opponents. As a result of the development of information technologies, political parties started using internet resources to establish effective communication with more voters. The use of digital technologies, multimedia tools, bringing the information and propaganda activities of parties closer to the needs and opportunities of the readership in a certain way expands the social and communication horizons of party influence.

Program Documents as a Source on the History of the Anarchist Movement in Ukraine in the Early 20th Century

The article considers programs and program documents as a historical source on the history of the anarchist movement in Ukraine in the early 20th century. Without a doubt, the historical conditions prevailing in Ukraine and Russia in 1903–1914 influenced the formation and nature of sources. In particular, the absence of a central body and the denial of the movement as a whole affected the core of the source base, marked by a relatively small number of party-organizational documents with particular characteristics. The all-Russian character of anarchist activity also had an impact on the nature of sources. They were distributed in Ukraine, but their contents did not contain any references to specific activities in its territory.The article provides a classification of sources, which are divided into such groups: programs and statutes, congress resolutions, party press, activists’ memoirs and observations, private correspondence. The article describes the programs and program statements of anarchists. The specifics of the program-organizational sources of anarchists are also determined. They are characterized according to the views of anarchists on the organization itself and the party leadership. Not recognizing any organization, considering any leadership a sort of violence against an individual, anarchists advocated full autonomy and independence of groups, interaction on a federal basis.The article characterizes the programs and program statements of anarchists as a historical source. The historical value of documents is determined; their specificity is defined. The research of documents establishes ideological principles, tactics of struggle, ideas about the role of some social groups in the revolution. The studied documents allow establishing the territory of anarchist activity in Ukraine at the beginning of the 20th century.

Antisemitism in the Weimar Republic

Antisemitism was an integral part of the Weimar Republic’s political culture and was widespread in society. During the 1920s, hostility towards Jews was often radical and militant, complemented by their increasing exclusion in everyday life. Right-wing anti-democrats weaponized antisemitic conspiracy myths against the Weimar Republic, defamed as the ‘Jew Republic’. In Reich and state parliaments and in the party press, antisemites attempted to charge public discourses with antisemitism and, in doing so, change the unwritten rules of what could and could not be said. Dwindling republican forces largely underestimated the looming danger. The defence organizations of the German Jews, from the early 1930s, had hardly any chance against the superior numbers of the right-wing extremist movement under the leadership of the Nazi party.

Valiko Jugeli and the Сult of the People’s Guard in Georgia

This article looks at the semiofficial cult of the Red (People’s) Guard in Georgia from 1917 to 1921. The guard originated in the chaos and uncertainty of late 1917 and played a key role in securing the power of Noy Zhordania and the social democrats in Georgia against Bolshevik and other challenges. It also served as the power base for its undisputed leader, Valiko Jugeli. The official and party press fostered a heroic cult around the Guard, its exploits, and its leadership, reflected in Jugeli’s diary-style memoir, A Heavy Cross (1920). The guard’s cultivated image was selfless, politically conscious, internationalist, and devoted to the revolution. Its many critics saw it as thuggish, undisciplined, chauvinistic, corrupt, and militarily ineffective. The mutual dependency between Zhordania and Jugeli ensured that the guard was politically untouchable in Georgia. The need to maintain the loyalty of the guard, and gain the support of Jugeli, was at times a crucial factor in the politics of the country. Ultimately, the power and influence of the guard eroded the effectiveness of Georgia’s armed forces, and its treatment of national minorities, particularly Armenians and Ossetians, helped Bolsheviks inside and outside Georgia undermine and then overthrow the Democratic Republic. After the Sovietisation of Georgia in 1921, the record of the guard was used to discredit the social democrats’ democratic credentials domestically and internationally. Since around 1990, the guards’ South Ossetia campaigns of 1918–1920 have been used to underpin the area’s claims for independence from rule by Tbilisi.

‘Judge a man by his character and his party by its record’, 1918–1939

Manifestos became increasingly central to the electoral campaign and the parties’ efforts to develop a ‘national’ rather than purely sectional appeal after 1918. The party leader’s address-as-manifesto did persist, but it became a rarity. Labour was at the forefront of the development of programmatic politics, producing more substantive and heavyweight manifestos than their more slogan-based pre-1914 equivalents. While the other parties eventually followed Labour’s lead in providing more detailed manifestos outlining proposed legislation, distrust of programmatic politics still lingered. Some politicians, most notably Stanley Baldwin, criticized the apparent escalation of election promises. Although election addresses remained vital to the local campaign, in part as a result of the introduction of the free postal communication in 1918, their relative importance declined in relation to manifestos. Addresses became increasingly uniform documents, designed to complement manifestos, as a result of increasing use of material from party press services.

THE WORKER AND VILLAGE CORRESPONDENTS (ROBSILKOR) MOVEMENT IN THE SYSTEM OF MASS-CIRCULATION PRESS OF UKRAINE (the 1920s – early 1930s)

The purpose of the article is to characterize the Robsilkor movement as a specific phenomenon of the Soviet era, a kind of social and political movement existing within the Soviet Party press; to determine the place and significance of the movement in the system of mass-circulation press of Ukraine during its formation and development. The methodology is based on the principle of historicism and offers a set of methods to be applied herein, in particular: historical and chronological, analysis of historical sources and synthesis of information. The scientific novelty lies in consideration of the Robsilkor movement as a phenomenon of the Soviet era in the context of the functioning of the grassroots press, in particular, wall and mass-circulation newspapers issued by the industrial enterprises, collective farms, schools, and institutions of Ukraine in the 1920s - early 1930s. Conclusions. The Robsilkor movement was a specific phenomenon of the Soviet era that became widespread and gained public importance thanks to the support of the Soviet Party leadership that trusted workers and village correspondents to shape public opinion. The main feature of the movement was its massiveness as the active majority worked as correspondents «building Soviet socialism» and manifesting Soviet democracy. Despite the fact that the basic principles of the Robsilkor movement were ideologically charged, it had a positive influence on society at that time. Thanks to the opportunity to become a newspaper correspondent, ordinary workers and peasants learned the basics of journalism, increasing their level of education and culture; the most capable of the worker and village correspondents became editors, literary workers. In the context of acute shortage of professional staff, worker and village correspondents became the main contributors to the grassroots press – district, mass-circulation, and wall newspapers. That job required deep awareness of the affairs of a particular production team as well as participation in public life. Awareness of the contribution to the history of media education can also serve as a positive factor that characterizes the Robsilkor movement. Key words: worker and village correspondents; Robsilkor movement; Soviet party press; masscirculation and wall newspapers