PUBLICISTIC SPEECHES OF V. ELLAN-BLAKYTNYI ON THE COLUMNS OF THE MAGAZINE "ZNATTIA" ("KNOWLEDGE")

Abstract

The article was written in honor of the 130th anniversary of the birth of the outstanding Ukrainian poet, publicist, statesman and political figure Vasyl Ellan-Blakytnyi (1894–1925). The author of the article briefly reveals the life and creative path of V. Ellan-Blakytnyi, emphasizes the cooperation of the writer and statesman with the magazine «Znattia» («Knowledge»). The first issue of this edition was published in Kharkiv in August 1923. It′s direct successor was the magazine «Science and Society» (published since 1951). In August 2023, the journalistic community of Ukraine celebrated the 100th anniversary of the magazine. In the magazine «Znattia» Vasyl Ellan published two articles, on the analysis of which research attention is concentrated. In particular, the first journalistic performance «To znattia!» notable primarily for the relevance of the socially significant content, the looseness of the presentation. The publicist calls on the readership to organize self-education circles, circles of «friends of znattia», which should acquire and actively spread knowledge among the masses. This is an essay-program and, at the same time, a message, a journalistic letter addressed to those who will live and work in the future. In the article «The Second Task», V. Ellan-Blakytnyi uses vivid examples to illustrate the huge losses of mankind due to wars, due to the wasted work of thousands of scientists who perfect the tools of war, the destruction of civilization, which are needed by the class of seekers to dominate the world. «We can only imagine what the flourishing of science will be, what humanity will become when science becomes accessible to the broad layers of humanity and will serve only it’s interests!» Blakytnyi’s journalism combined national and social motives. It was an organic sphere of expression of political, intellectual and creative energy of the artist. Everything is better from the legacy of V. Ellan-Blakytnyi and today it does not lose its aesthetic value, it acts as an ideological weapon in the struggle for sovereign Ukraine.