June 6: The first issue of Krestyanka magazine, the main Soviet publication for women, was published.
On June 6, 1922, the first issue of Krestyanka magazine, the first Soviet women's publication, was published. With a circulation of five thousand copies, under the supervision of the Women's Department of the Communist Party Central Committee, the magazine began a journey that would span nearly a century—from propaganda against the "old way of life" to a glossy magazine about the daily life of the modern woman.
An aspen stake in the grave of the old way of life
The publication was overseen by the Women's Department of the Communist Party Central Committee. The first issue was printed in a print run of five thousand copies. It contained an address from the Chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee to the peasant women of Soviet Russia and a summary of the decree on the eradication of illiteracy.
So that the new way of life may take root deeper, So that the old may be destroyed, Let an aspen stake be driven into the grave of the old way of life. (subscription advertisement, 1930)
Four years later, the Central Committee liquidated its "competitors": the pre-revolutionary privately owned "Magazine for Housewives" and "Magazine for Women." In 1930, Ogonyok's "Women's Magazine," which published not only political articles but also sewing patterns, was also closed.
The first issues of "Krestyanka" didn't have a home economics section. The first sewing pattern appeared in 1925, on the last page.
"Women's Gospel" for the worldwide subscription collection
Subscriptions were paid: in villages, people often pooled their money for a single issue of the magazine. Even men read the "Women's Gospel" and the "Women's Bible," though they were often mentioned in "Krestyanka" in a negative context: wives were advised to threaten their husbands with the village council, a rolling pin, and divorce.
When I receive a magazine, I rejoice as if I were receiving a letter from my own mother (from letters from readers)
Photographs were rare, and crude caricatures of peasant women offended readers.
The kids read me the magazine "Krestyanka" (Peasant Woman), showed me the picture, and they were all laughing and gleeful, but we didn't like it. It was Arina the delegate, and she was depicted as such a freak—it was a real eye-opener. Her legs were crooked, and her bast shoes were like wickerwork. You shouldn't embarrass us peasant women. If you're going to show a peasant woman, show her as she really is, don't make her clubfoot and disfigure our sister. (From a letter by peasant woman Maria Knyazeva)
Advertising as a "necessary evil"
The number of pages in Krestyanka varied over the years, from 14 to 58. During the NEP years, readers were outraged by the overwhelming amount of advertising, which the editors called a "necessary evil" for increasing circulation.
Later, the magazine began to address complex medical and sensitive issues.
I read the articles "How the Female Genitals Work" and "The Formation of the Human Embryo." I advise all peasant women to read these articles, especially the village grandmothers and midwives, so that they understand once and for all that a woman in labor is not a sack, and that shaking, rolling the mother on the floor, and other methods should not be used (from a peasant woman's letter).
For “recruiting subscribers,” the editors awarded prizes (from underwear and a winter coat to a pocket watch and a cow and a horse).
From 5 thousand to 20 million
By the mid-1960s, the circulation of Krestyanka had grown to 5,5 million. During perestroika, it reached 20 million. Among the readers, "selkoroks" were also "recruited," of which there were already 1,5 in the first years (paid with royalties or free subscriptions).
For example, Darya Smirnova, a village worker from the Tatar Autonomous Region, reported to the magazine about "outrageous atrocities, crimes, and kulak domination." She was expelled from the collective farm, but "Krestyanka" stood up for her and achieved personnel "purges."
Without party instructions
Until 1991, Pravda remained the magazine's formal publisher. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the editorial board continued publishing the magazine, but without the Party's Central Committee directive. Supplements such as "Housewife" (cooking and handicrafts), "Our Estate" (gardening), "Fifteen" (for children), and "Only You" (relationships and psychology) were also published. The "Museums of the World" section featured reproductions of masterpieces.
In 2005, the magazine became part of Sergei Rodionov's media holding, which published Domovaya, Karera, TV7, and Der Spiegel Profil—the first pro-Russian media outlet in Ukraine. It later positioned itself as a publication about the daily life of the modern woman.
It's rather strange to create a magazine for those who don't exist. This magazine isn't for farmers, cheesemakers, or gardeners, but simply for normal women (Natalia Shcherbanenko, editor-in-chief in the 2010s)
At the end of 2015, the last print issue of Krestyanka was published: the publisher ceased publication due to financial difficulties. The online version is now published by Mosklaster, owned by designer and model Vladislav Ananishnev.
