The course towards the industrialization of the country was determined by the XIV Congress of the VKP(b), which emphasized the necessity of comprehensive industrial development in the republics, territories, and regions, as well as the encouragement of local initiatives in organizing this work aimed at meeting the diverse needs of the entire population, especially the peasantry.
A significant role in the restoration and reconstruction of existing enterprises and the creation of new ones in the republic was played by direct material and financial assistance from the Soviet state. In 1926-1927, more than three million rubles were invested in the industry of Kyrgyzstan.
During these years, republican newspapers and magazines provided substantial assistance to party, Soviet, and economic organizations, as well as to industrial enterprises, builders, and organizers of new factories and plants in fulfilling the complex tasks of socialist industrialization. Their main focus was on attracting broad layers of workers into industry, constructing new enterprises, preparing a workforce from among the local population, and propagating and explaining Leninist ideas on socialist industrialization among the people. Issues of rationalizing industrial production, increasing labor productivity at enterprises, reducing the cost of products, and enhancing the regime of economy for the purpose of socialist accumulation became the main themes of press publications. Permanent columns such as "Struggle for Industrialization," "Month for the Economy of Industrial Resources," "New Factories and Plants - to be Completed on Schedule!" and others appeared in the pages of republican newspapers. In the newspaper "Kyzyl Kyrgyzstan," under the general heading "Main Tasks of Industrialization in Kyrgyzstan," regular compilations of materials, articles by economists and other industry specialists, leaders, and engineering and technical workers of this sector and enterprises, as well as letters from workers, were published. Such materials were of great importance in conveying the essence and tasks of the republic's industrialization to the broad masses of workers, revealing the role and direction of socialist competition in their implementation, and propagating forms and methods of organizing industrial production and quality construction of new enterprises. Readers welcomed the opening of columns such as "Days of Industrialization," "Week of Engineers and Technicians" in the pages of the newspaper "Soviet Kyrgyzstan." Publications under these columns discussed the progress of public and production reviews of the work of industrial enterprises, competitions, meetings of advanced brigades, and the organization of posts for worker correspondents at factories and construction sites, conducted by the editorial office in collaboration with party and public organizations of industrial collectives.
Republican newspapers systematically published materials on the development of industrial science and technology. They particularly drew attention to issues of equipping old enterprises, mines, and construction sites with new technology, creating industrial collectives armed with the best means of production, and preparing and attracting qualified engineering, technical, and labor personnel.
During the years of industrialization, various vocational and technical courses and several factory and plant schools were opened in the republic. Newspapers widely reported on their organization and operation, thereby assisting them in recruiting capable and hardworking young men and women - the future young workforce of industrial enterprises, and in organizing and improving the educational process within them. The propaganda, agitation, and organizational activities of the editorial office of the newspaper "Leninchil Zhas" were particularly fruitful in this direction. It systematically published materials on the conditions for admission and study in such schools, calling on urban and rural youth to acquire working professions. At the call of the youth newspaper, many Kyrgyz girls enrolled in vocational schools and became the first workers in sewing, cotton-spinning, jute, and other factories and industrial enterprises.
It should be noted that starting in 1930, new printed publications began to emerge in the republic: the literary-artistic magazine "Chabuul" ("Ataka") - now "Ala-Too," the newspaper "Kyrgyzstan Pioneri" ("Pioneer of Kyrgyzstan") - now "Zhetkinchek" ("Teenager"), the Dungan newspaper "Dunhuoshir" ("Spark of the East"), the newspaper "Sotsialisttik Mal Charba" ("Socialist Animal Husbandry"), district and city newspapers, and newspapers of the political departments of MTS (machine and tractor stations), which later merged with district newspapers or became independent district newspapers. It was during this time that the first factory and plant mass newspapers also emerged.
It was in these years that newspapers such as "Kolhoz Pravdasy" ("Kolhoz Truth") of the Kant district, "Sotsialisttik Mal Charbasy Uchun" ("For Socialist Animal Husbandry") of the At-Bashinsky district, "Dostuk" ("Friendship") of the Jany-Jol district, "Za Ugol" of the city of Kyzyl-Kiya, "Udarник" - a mass publication of the Frunze Tobacco Factory, and "Rabochiy Pamirstroya" - a mass publication of the Pamir Construction Organization were created. If in 1930 there were only 4 district newspapers published in the republic, by 1935 their number had reached 35.
The emergence of new groups of newspaper and magazine publications in Kyrgyzstan undoubtedly gave a serious impetus to the development of Kyrgyz journalism and increased the role of the press in addressing the complex tasks of socialist industrialization in the republic.
In May 1929, the Central Committee of the VKP(b) adopted a resolution "On Socialist Competition of Factories and Plants," where the party and Soviet press was obliged to carry out even broader and more comprehensive agitation and organizational work to mobilize the masses based on the experience of advanced enterprises, to bring lagging ones up to their level, and to more vividly illuminate the competition of factories and plants.
After this, republican, district, and city newspapers, as well as mass publications, further intensified their work on covering issues of industrial development in Kyrgyzstan. In this regard, the experience of the editorial office of the newspaper "Kyzyl Kyrgyzstan" in propagating and organizing socialist competition among factories and plants, their workers and employees deserves special consideration.
In March 1929, first at a joint meeting of the Councils of People's Commissars and Labor and Defense, and then at the XVI All-Union Party Conference, the first five-year plan for the development of the national economy of the USSR was discussed and approved, and in May of the same year, it was confirmed by the V Congress of the All-Union Council of the country. Subsequently, socialist competition among workers, primarily among collectives of industrial enterprises for the early fulfillment of the five-year plan, the tasks of industrialization of the country and the republic became the main theme of publications in all Soviet press, including the Kyrgyz republican newspaper "Kyzyl Kyrgyzstan."
During the discussion of the tasks of the five-year plan, a striking slogan emerged and quickly spread among labor collectives: "Complete the Five-Year Plan in Four Years!" This patriotic idea was first picked up by the central newspaper "Pravda," and then by other printed publications. On March 20, 1930, the newspaper "Kyzyl Kyrgyzstan" introduced the column "Complete the Five-Year Plan in Four Years," which remained actively functioning in subsequent periods of the first and other five-year plans. The newspaper began its coverage of the theme of socialist competition by publishing the famous article by V.I. Lenin "How to Organize Competition?" in the Kyrgyz language. This article was printed in the newspaper "Pravda" on January 20, 1929, in which a program of actions for organizing and developing this patriotic initiative of workers, initiated by the industrial collectives of Moscow and Leningrad, was outlined.
Soon, columns such as "You Made a Promise - Keep It!" and "You Took an Obligation - Fulfill It!" were opened in the newspaper "Kyzyl Kyrgyzstan." Under the column "I Challenge to Competition," a letter from miners in the city of Kyzyl-Kiya to their colleagues in the mining areas of Suluktu and Kok-Dzhanga was published, calling for labor competition to achieve the highest productive results. Subsequently, other similar invitations to labor competitions from entire industrial collectives and individual workers and employees were published under this column. Interesting were also the columns in this newspaper: "Telegram from Moscow," "In National Republics and Autonomous Regions." Numerous materials under them discussed positive experiences in organizing socialist competition and addressing industrialization tasks in other fraternal republics and regions of the country.
In the newspaper "Kyzyl Kyrgyzstan," one of the forms of covering issues of socialist competition and summarizing its results was the organization of reports from factories, plants, mines, and other enterprises, construction organizations on the early fulfillment of production plans, improvement of quality, reduction of production costs, increase in labor productivity, savings of material and financial resources, etc.
The editorial office of the newspaper "Soviet Kyrgyzstan" also conducted significant work in covering the problems of industrialization. In 1928, the column "Conference of Readers" was opened in the pages of this newspaper, where reports from the editorial office to readers about the work done, opinions and wishes of subscribers and distributors of the newspaper regarding its content were widely published. In these materials, the main focus was on the activities of "Soviet Kyrgyzstan" in propagating and implementing the tasks of developing the national economy of the republic, including the implementation of industrialization. One of the main themes of the newspaper's materials at that time was to show the importance of obtaining engineering and technical education and its wide application in production, the introduction of new productive techniques at industrial enterprises and construction sites, and the enhancement of technical knowledge and skills among workers and builders. For these purposes, the editorial office of "Soviet Kyrgyzstan" held "Weeks of Engineers and Technicians" on its pages, opened the column "Engineers and Technicians Solve Everything" (which was later replaced with "Personnel Solve Everything"), and introduced the slogan: "Let every engineer and technician eliminate the technical illiteracy of ten workers in a year!" It established a "Red Board of Socialist Competition," where materials about exemplary work of enterprises, their leaders, engineers and technicians, and labor collectives in fulfilling their production plans and high socialist obligations, which were determined during "Days of the Stakhanovite," held in the republic with the help of the press and radio, were placed.
The newspaper also did much in propagating advanced experience in industrial production. For several years, the column "Tribune of Advanced Experience" remained active, under which correspondences, articles, essays, and other materials about factories, plants, mines, construction organizations, and their advanced individuals who achieved remarkable labor successes were systematically published.
This period also marks the birth of radio broadcasting in Kyrgyzstan. In February 1928, the Council of People's Commissars of the Kyrgyz ASSR made a decision to build a radio station in the city of Frunze capable of serving the broad masses with radio broadcasting. This construction was half completed by November 1930, and the first organized radio broadcasts began. The construction of the radio station was fully completed in January 1931. By that time, radio lines had been extended for 25 kilometers in the capital of the republic, and more than 300 radio points were connected to the subscriber network. According to a special project, radio reception nodes began to be built in densely populated areas. Throughout 1931, the construction of such radio reception-transmission nodes was completed in Rosh, Karakol, Tokmok, and Kyzyl-Kiya.
On December 19, 1931, the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the Kyrgyz ASSR created a radio broadcasting committee under the Management of Communications of Kyrgyzstan. This date is considered the official date of the birth of Kyrgyz radio. In this same resolution, the task was set to build radio nodes in 1932 in At-Bashi, Jalal-Abad, Kochkor, Suluktu, Bazar-Korgon, Naryn, Korgon-Tube, Gulcha, Uzgen, and other remote places.
Thus, in the early 1930s, republican radio broadcasting began to operate in Kyrgyzstan. In May 1932, by the decision of the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the Kyrgyz ASSR, the republican radio broadcasting committee was incorporated into the system of the Central Executive Committee of the ASSR. This elevated the status of radio broadcasting and was of great importance for its further development.
From the first days of its formation, republican radio broadcasting, along with other issues, actively engaged in fulfilling the tasks of industrialization in Kyrgyzstan. In the history of Kyrgyz journalism, a significant phenomenon was the successful organization of the Kyrgyz radio "Worker's Radio Newspaper." As is known, radio, by V.I. Lenin's definition, is a newspaper without paper and distances. Therefore, it has the greatest operational efficiency and the highest coverage among the media. Considering all this, the leadership of the republic supported the initiative of Kyrgyz radio broadcasting to organize broadcasts on topics of accelerated industrial and construction development in the mountainous region.
The first experience in organizing such broadcasts was the creation of the radio newspaper "Frunze Worker" in Kyrgyz and Russian languages in early 1932. N.S. Chekmenyev, later known as a writer, was appointed responsible for this broadcast. In these radio broadcasts, the most important issues of industrialization were raised: the reconstruction of old, low-productive, and the construction of new industrial enterprises, the introduction of new technology at factories and plants, construction sites, the preparation of engineering and technical personnel, workers and employees, especially from the local population, increasing labor productivity and product quality, strict economy of material and financial resources, etc.
Such radio newspapers later appeared in other industrial centers of the republic: "Worker of Karakol" in the city of Przhevalsk, "Shakhtachi" in the city of Kyzyl-Kiya. It should be noted that radio newspapers were also organized in rural areas. For example, in southern Kyrgyzstan, district radio newspapers became quite effective: "Kyzyl Pakhtachi" ("Red Cotton Picker") in Kyrgyz, "Kommunist" in Uzbek, and the Komsomol radio newspaper "For Socialism" in Kyrgyz and Russian.
In 1926, the Kyrgyz State Publishing House was established, marking the beginning of the mass publication of artistic and political literature, textbooks in Kyrgyz and Russian languages. In the same year, 26 titles of textbooks and other literature were published in the Kyrgyz language with a circulation of 65.7 thousand copies, and in 1927 - 52 titles with a circulation of 220.8 thousand copies. Since 1926, work intensified in the republic on the translation and publication of mass-political, including Marxist-Leninist literature in the Kyrgyz language. In 1928, a collection titled "Dictatorship of the Proletariat and the Power of the Soviets" was published in Kyrgyz, and in subsequent years, Lenin's works "Current Tasks of Soviet Power," "How to Organize Competition?," "Theses on Production Propaganda," "Better Less, but Better," "How Can We Reorganize Rabkrin?" and others were published in the Kyrgyz language. These and other mass-political works helped the party and Soviet cadres of Kyrgyzstan propagate knowledge about building socialism, as they outlined the tasks of socialist industrialization of the country and republics, collectivization of agriculture, implementation of a cultural revolution, and addressed other problems that faced the party, Soviet, and public activists, and all workers of the republic during that period.
Thus, the press, radio, and publishing in the mountainous region conducted significant work in explaining the tasks of industrialization and mobilizing the working people of the republic for their implementation. Through the joint efforts of party, Soviet, and economic bodies, and the laboring people of Kyrgyzstan, with the active assistance of the Union government, by 1933, significant successes were achieved in the development of industrial production in the republic. The number of workers increased by 3.7 times, more than 1,400 Kyrgyz worked at 27 enterprises, accounting for over 17.6% of all workers, and in the leather industry, Kyrgyz made up more than 42.2% of the workforce. During this time, more than 40 new enterprises were built in Kyrgyzstan, with industrial production being 27% higher than in 1913.
Of course, there were significant difficulties in carrying out socialist industrialization in the country and republics: with housing, healthcare (especially high child mortality), and addressing other social problems. The leap in the development of heavy industry came at the cost of a lag in light industry and the agricultural sector. Many left rural areas for cities, sharply increasing the number of workers, which led to a reduction in livestock and sown areas. However, both the central and republican press wrote almost nothing about such difficulties and some negative aspects of industrialization. All events and facts occurring in the country and Kyrgyzstan were covered in a positive, often enthusiastic light. This is understandable. For such one-sidedness in showing the nationwide struggle for industrialization, it seems inappropriate to blame journalists and other workers of the press and radio. The necessity to overcome technical and economic backwardness and the threat of a new world war pushed Soviet leaders towards a global mobilization of internal resources for accelerated industrialization. The press served as a means of uniting the masses around the Bolshevik party and the Soviet government. It facilitated the transfer of resources from agriculture to industry, the implementation of the policy of "tightening belts" in the social sphere, and "tightening screws" in politics. It was during these years that the administrative-command system began to take shape. Everything was placed under its control.
