AN ESSAY ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE PRESS AND IDEOLOGY: THE JOURNAL of EDEBIYAT VE KULTURA

On the way to adopting socialist ideology, in other words, to its establishment in practical life, the October Revolution was an unprecedented historical turning point for Russia’s people who had not experienced such a regime before. While Tsarist Russia which had been surviving since the sixteenth century was collapsing, the newly established socialist regime that would spread to all parts of life involved not only the Russian people, but also the Turkic world. This regime influenced the social and cultural lives of Russian Turks as well as their political life. The press activities are one of the means that clearly reflects this effect in terms of showing the dynamics of Soviet ideology. It functioned as a propulsive force both in the preparation period of the revolution and after it was realized. Crimea was an important site of contention during the civil war while Bolshevists were gaining absolute control. The state of national autonomy was establishedfollowing the foundation of the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (1921-1941). This study discusses the essays in the journal of Edebiyat and Kultura (Literature and Culture) which was actively published in the 1930s, when Stalin was in power, in Crimea. The journal,the literary contents of which mainly included socialist values and tangible conditions of life, was first published in 1936. Both the essays and the literary contents of its seven issues, which are available now, reflect the agenda of the period and the understanding behind the creation of Soviet society from the perspective of the national press of Crimean Turks. Thus, our evaluations of the journal in this study reflect the relationship between the press and ideology.

Keywords

Crimean Turks, Literature and Culture, the press, ideology, USSR.