Journalist and writer Mamasaly Abdukarimov (1910-1996) was born in the village of Yapalak, near the city of Osh in southern Kyrgyzstan. From 1925 to 1930, he studied first at the Tashkent Kylakh-Kyrgyz Institute of Education and then at the Kyrgyz Pedagogical College. In 1928, his first stories, "The Life of Kurumshi" and "Sister Guliya," were published in the republican newspaper "Kyzyl Kyrgyzstan." In the following years, M. Abdukarimov's stories, essays, and feuilletons on a wide variety of life topics systematically appeared in the pages of Kyrgyz newspapers and magazines.
From the very beginning of his working life, M. Abdukarimov dedicated himself primarily to journalism: from 1930 to 1933, he worked as the responsible secretary of the editorial board of the mining newspaper "Za Ugol" in the city of Kyzyl-Kiya, and from 1933 to 1938, he served as the responsible secretary of the editorial board of the newspaper "Kyzyl Kyrgyzstan." In 1938, M. Abdukarimov was appointed deputy editor of the newspaper "Kyzyl Kyrgyzstan." In 1950, he moved to Kyrgosizdat to head the department of fiction. A few years later, he returned to the editorial office of the newspaper "Sovettik Kyrgyzstan," where he worked until retirement in various journalistic positions, mainly as deputy editor and translator.
M. Abdukarimov's journalistic legacy is vast. The publication of his journalistic works would fill several substantial volumes. It is also important that he worked extensively on the transcription and publication of many texts of newspaper and magazine materials in the Kyrgyz language, which were published in the Arabic alphabet in the early years of their publication, into the modern Kyrgyz alphabet, making it easier for those who do not know the Arabic alphabet to study and use them.
In the biography of the famous journalist and writer M. Abdukarimov, there is an unforgettable historical episode when, as a 14-year-old teenager in Tashkent, he distributed the first issue of the newspaper "Erkin-Tuu" for free to every passing Kyrgyz. At that time, he was studying at the Kazakh-Kyrgyz Institute of Education.
Later, M. Abdukarimov published several collections of journalistic articles and essays ("Krasny Trud," "Life and Struggle," "In the Land of Bulgaria"), novellas "The Beginning of the Path" and "The First Joy," and the novel "I Want to Live" in two volumes, as well as translations of works by L. Seifullin, M. Gorky, M. Bubennov, M. Shandor, V. Korolenko, I. Turgenev, M. Sholokhov, and many others into Kyrgyz.
During the industrialization and subsequent years, among Kyrgyz journalists and writers, the most well-known author of works on industrial themes was Satykn Sasykbajev (1907-1995). He was born in the village of Karagayluu-Bulak in the Kemin district of the Chui region. After graduating from the pedagogical college in Frunze in 1929, he began working as a literary employee in the editorial office of the newspaper "Kyzyl Kyrgyzstan," later becoming the responsible secretary and editor at Kyrgosizdat. After returning to the editorial office of the republican newspaper, S. Sasykbajev linked his creative life with it until his retirement. During these years, as a journalist and writer, he primarily studied and highlighted the work and life of workers in the industrial sector of Kyrgyzstan: factory and plant workers, miners, builders of hydroelectric stations on the Naryn energy cascade, highways, railroads, and many other industrial enterprises.
His first essay, "Czechoslovakia in Kyrgyzstan," was published by S. Sasykbajev in the newspaper "Erkin-Tuu" as early as the beginning of 1927. He dedicated it to the work and life of Czechoslovak internationalist workers who came to Kyrgyzstan and founded the industrial commune "Intergelpo" ("Mutual Aid"). From that time on, the figure of the industrial worker became the main character in his journalistic and literary works.
Before the Great Patriotic War, S. Sasykbajev, as a special correspondent for the republican newspaper, visited the construction of the Big Chui Canal, the Kant-Rybachye railway, and the Karabalta-Suusamyr highway many times, publishing extensive cycles of reports and essays about them in the republic's periodicals. During the war and in the post-war period, he continued to systematically cover the heroic work of industrial and construction workers. A characteristic feature of his creativity was that he further supplemented, processed, deepened, and expanded the sketches, reports, essays, and journalistic articles published in the periodicals into documentary novellas and novels. Thus, his novella "Daughter of the Factory," the collection of essays and stories "Morning Whistle," and the large novel "Light Underground," dedicated to the miners of Kyrgyzstan, emerged.
In republican newspapers, starting in October 1929, "collective farm Saturdays" were held. For a long time, the newspaper "Leninchil Zhas" featured the section "Today is the Day of Collectivization." The headlines of some materials published under it indicate that these publications were dedicated to various successes in the collectivization of agriculture: "A Tractor Has Arrived in the Village," "Red Convoy," "Girl Tractor Driver," "Socialist Animal Husbandry in Development," and others.
The resolution of the Central Committee of the VKP(b) "On the Pace of Collectivization and Measures to Assist Collective Farm Construction by the Government," adopted on January 5, 1930, played an important role in the development of the collective farm movement in the country and the republic. It defined the new party policy in the collectivization of agriculture - the liquidation of the kulak class as an anti-social element. A wide publication of materials exposing the harmful actions of the kulaks unfolded in the country's press, while in the republic, supporters of the bay-manap elite, whose actions were against the ideas of collectivization and the sprouts of new life, were targeted.
Workers of the press and radio provided a reasoned rebuttal to the opponents of the collective farm movement, demonstrating, through convincing examples, the correctness of the agrarian policy of Soviet power and the undeniable positive results of the struggle for the collectivization of agriculture.
In these conditions, a significant impact on the minds and feelings of rural readers, especially the youth, was made by the progressive article in the newspaper "Leninchil Zhas" dated August 27, 1929. In it, the newspaper called on rural readers, Komsomol members, and youth to boldly stand against various fabrications of the kulaks and bay-manap elements, actively join collective farms, and contribute with their patriotic labor to the decisive struggle for socialism. It should be noted that it was the youth of the republic who were the most active supporters and participants in the collective farm movement, playing a significant role in all agricultural transformations.
The newspapers and radio not only propagated the ideas of the collective farm movement and the advanced experience in the collectivization of agriculture. Their employees also actively participated in the practical implementation of this crucial task in rural areas. For example, the editorial staff of the newspapers "Soviet Kyrgyzstan" and "Pravda Vostoka" (Tashkent), with the help of local party organizations and "Kolhozstroy," organized the collective farm "Kyzyl Pakhta" ("Red Cotton") in southern Kyrgyzstan in 1930 and held the first conference of its members with the participation of local laborers and the poor. As "Soviet Kyrgyzstan" reported, its delegates and participants demanded, through joint efforts, to quickly put an end to the bay-manap influence and successfully complete the creation of collective farms everywhere.
In the implementation of Lenin's cooperative plan, the working collectives of Moscow, Yaroslavl, Ivanovo-Voznesensk, and other cities of the Russian Federation provided significant assistance to the workers of Kyrgyzstan. This was the so-called movement of the twenty-five thousand. The republican press and radio widely covered the arrival and assistance of representatives of the working collectives of Russia to Kyrgyz peasants in organizing collective and state farms and in addressing other economic, cultural, and social issues. As "Soviet Kyrgyzstan" reported, 95 thousand workers from Yaroslavl took the obligation to mentor the cotton-growing regions of the Central Asian republics. The newspapers "Kyzyl Kyrgyzstan" and "Soviet Kyrgyzstan" published a joint appeal from the editorial offices of these newspapers to the arriving representatives of the working collectives of Ivanovo-Voznesensk. It stated, in particular: "Implement the party's general line in a worker-like, Bolshevik manner, organize the poor and middle peasants, drive the kulaks out of the ails and villages, share your production experiences and skills with laboring peasants, productively utilize agricultural machines, equipment, and power resources available in the collective farms, and spread culture among the people." As "Kyzyl Kyrgyzstan" wrote, the arrival of 219 workers from Moscow, Ivanovo-Voznesensk, and Leningrad in Frunze turned into a grand celebration of the meeting of like-minded friends.
In subsequent issues of the newspapers "Soviet Kyrgyzstan" and "Kyzyl Kyrgyzstan," regular reports were made about the activities of Russian workers among Kyrgyz peasants. They also actively sought to involve the twenty-five thousand in the work of the editorial office, publishing their letters and reports in the newspapers, which contained specific remarks, recommendations, and support regarding the work being carried out in the field. For example, Moscow workers Ilyin and Ramazov wrote to "Soviet Kyrgyzstan" that in the Kochkor district of the Naryn canton, bay-manap elements had infiltrated the leadership of four livestock artels organized in 1929 and were secretly harming the collective farms. The letter provided specific examples of such sabotage.
In the implementation of the collectivization of agriculture in the republic, a huge role belonged to the organization and operation of machine-tractor stations (MTS). Republican and district newspapers, as well as the newspapers of the political departments of the MTS, systematically reported on the enormous technical assistance provided by machine-tractor stations to rural party and Soviet organizations, poor and middle peasants in creating collective and state farms, and in their further development, especially in improving the culture and fertility of agriculture. "The organization of MTS," wrote the newspaper "Kyzyl Kyrgyzstan," "was the most effective and productive assistance from the working class, the Communist Party, and the Soviet state provided to the laboring peasants of the country."
Over the years, the activities of Kyrgyz radio developed and improved. The number of radio nodes and radio points in the republic increased. Thus, in 1930, there were already 29 radio nodes and 6200 radio points in cities and rural areas of Kyrgyzstan. In April 1932, by the decision of the Central Executive Committee of the Kyrgyz ASSR, the republican committee for radio broadcasting was reorganized into the republican committee for radio broadcasting under the Council of People's Commissars of the Kyrgyz ASSR. After that, the government of Kyrgyzstan, as the direct supervisor, began to pay attention to the work of the radio committee, providing it with material, personnel, and other assistance to improve its activities.
Thus, journalists and other workers of Kyrgyz radio in the early thirties made a significant contribution to the implementation of the tasks of collectivizing agriculture in the mountainous region. Despite the great difficulties associated with the lack and absence of necessary technical and transport means, they traveled to rural areas and mountain pastures, gathering and recording the opinions, thoughts, and aspirations of local people and peasants about the changes occurring in their lives, about the organization of collective and state farms, about their great hopes, plans, and dreams for the future, and about the positive aspects and shortcomings in the organization and conduct of the mass movement for collectivization. All these materials were transmitted by radio as promptly and substantively as possible and, of course, played an important role in transforming the lives and livelihoods of rural residents, linked to the implementation of plans for the cooperation of small peasant farms in Kyrgyzstan.
As a result of the enormous organizational, propaganda, and agitation activities of party, Soviet, and economic organizations, as well as the mass media of the republic, favorable conditions were created in Kyrgyzstan for the activation of the mass collective farm movement. Following the poorest peasantry, the middle peasantry also became involved, actively joining collective farms. Starting in 1929, the newspapers featured regular sections: "Middle Peasants - Allies of the Poor," "The Middle Peasant - Tomorrow's Collective Farmer," and others. The published materials consistently highlighted the Leninist idea that socialism could only be built in alliance with the middle peasants. Additionally, some workers of Soviet institutions who did not implement this main principle were criticized in a number of publications.
In the implementation of the collectivization of agriculture, the activities of the newspapers of the political departments of the MTS, organized in the early 1930s, were of great importance. The first of these were the newspapers "Kolhozhnaya Pravda" of the Krasnorechenskaya MTS in the Chui Valley and "Talas Kolkhozhchusu" ("Talas Collective Farmer") in the Talas Valley. These and other printed organs of the MTS did much to organize and conduct mass political work among collective farmers and workers of machine-tractor stations. In 1934, the MTS newspapers became district newspapers, and where district newspapers had previously existed, they merged with the printed organs of the MTS.
Overall, in the country and in the republic, since collectivization was carried out purposefully and under the strictest control of the governing bodies, this important national economic campaign was largely completed by the end of 1932. This was stated at the 1st All-Union Congress of Collective Farmers-Workers, which took place in February 1933 in Moscow.
In February 1935, the II All-Union Congress of Collective Farmers-Workers in Moscow adopted the "Sample Charter of Agricultural Artels." Kyrgyz newspapers and radio actively promoted the ideas and provisions of this document, doing much to implement it in practice and strengthen the collective farm system in the republic.
All this indicates that during these years, the press and publishing in the republic developed rapidly. By the end of 1936, there were seven republican and 38 district newspapers, as well as three magazines, with a total circulation of about 160 thousand copies. Over ten years (1926-1936), Kyrgosizdat published 1356 titles of books with a total circulation of more than 7 million copies. Special attention was paid to publishing literature in the Kyrgyz language. For example, of the 270 books published in 1937, 204 were in Kyrgyz.
It should be emphasized that the collectivization of agriculture in the country and in the republic was conducted in a similarly difficult and challenging environment as during the times of industrialization. In Kyrgyzstan, it was exacerbated by the fact that the settlement of peasants had not yet been fully completed, and patriarchal relations were still in effect. Moreover, during the implementation of collectivization in the republic, as well as throughout the country, many mistakes and excesses occurred, and the principle of voluntariness was violated when attracting peasants to collective farms. Under the slogan of liquidating exploitative elements and fighting against the enemies of the people, mass repressions were carried out, during which many prominent party and state figures, writers, and scholars were destroyed.
In the pages of the press and in the radio broadcasts of that time, there is no thoughtful, objective coverage of these and other negative phenomena in the life of the republic. However, it seems that blaming journalists for this would not be entirely fair. In the conditions of the functioning of a command-administrative system with strict party-state control over the activities of the mass media and the absence of democratic principles, this was practically impossible.
