ORGANIZING WORK WITH WORKER–PEASANT CORRESPONDENTS IN THE CRIMEAN PRESS IN THE 1920–1930s

The article deals with the origin and development of the worker –peasant correspondents’ movement in the printed publications of the Crimean ASSR in the 1920s and 1930s. The objects of the study were the Crimean newspapers “Krasny Krym”, “Mayak Kommuny”, “Yeni Dunia” and other publications, as well as official documents that examined the issues of training worker–peasant correspondents. As a result of the study, the author comes to the conclusion that in the early 1920s the Crimean press actively joined the worker –peasant correspondents’ movement. Corresponding cells were created at the editorial offices of the newspapers, where classes were held to improve journalistic skills, duty shifts, meetings and conferences, the necessary literature was offered, and a system was created to involve public figures and leading workers in correspondent work. A number of special sections intended for worker–peasant correspondents appeared in the Crimean publications, the number of incoming correspondence and published notes by worker–peasant correspondents grew. At the same time, by the mid-1920s, the movement had already encountered problems with ensuring the protection of worker correspondents in the performance of their professional activities and the low level of their training. The late 1920s and 1930s became the time of development of the mass grassroots press, which was supposed to become a «collective correspondent». However, during this period, signs of a crisis appeared: the effectiveness of the workers’ and village correspondents’ reports decreased and their influx decreased. Despite this, the work of the workers’ and village correspondents did not completely lose its socio-political significance and continued to be stimulated by party and Soviet bodies as an instrument of agitation and propaganda, as well as the formation of loyalty in broad sections of the population.