Books published in Ukrainian during 1923–1945
Khvylia A. Ukrainian Soviet poetry / A. Khvylia. - [Kharkiv]: Rad. lit., 1934. - 35 p.
This book is the text of a speech at the All-Ukrainian Poetry Meeting (May 11, 1934) by A. Khvylia, head of the Central Committee of The Communist Party of Ukraine. The main theses of the speech: Ukrainian Soviet poetry, in particular proletarian poetry, which is an integral part of Soviet literature, has undeniable achievements. Works of a number of Ukrainian poets (P. Tychyna, L. Pervomayskiy, I. Kulyk, S. Golovanivsky), as well as masters of literature of national minorities of Ukraine (I. Fefer, I. Gildin and others) indicate the improvement of the quality of works. However, poetry is still behind the problems posed by the socialist construction. Nationalists attempted to capture Ukrainian soviet poetry; they attempted to direct its development towards the path of formalism. At a certain historical stage, there was a struggle with the neoclassicists and their accomplices, with the Vapilites, petty-bourgeois futuristic currents, with different "schools" of formalism. According to A.Khvylia, poets such as P. Usenko, M. Semenko, A. Paniv, I. Kalianyk, O. Vlyzko, M. Bazhan, and Y. Yanovsky often neglect the Ukrainian word in their works by replacing it with their own inventions in words. Some poets stand in the "olympic" and believe that under the slogan of approaching poetry to the masses there must be a process of simplification of our poetry. It is necessary to conduct a merciless struggle with this, as with old rags, brought in our literature.