Instrumentalising Soviet Yiddish Press : A quantitative Survey of Bibliographic Records as an Indicator of Soviet National and Media Policies

Abstract

The article uses a bibliographical database of Soviet Yiddish periodicals from four major libraries in Russia and Ukraine to analyse the development of the Yiddish press from 1920 to 1941, examining regional differences and its connection with Soviet national and media policies. The findings highlight two pivotal moments for the Yiddish press during this period: 1923, when the supportive korenizatsiia national policy was enacted, and 1928, when the state implemented a 'mobilisational journalism' policy to rally the population around industrialisation and collectivisation goals. In the Yiddish press, mobilisational practices peaked in 1932-1933 after the initial grain procurement campaign in Ukraine fell short. The data also suggests that periodicals in other minority languages in the USSR followed a similar pattern.