May 5 is National Press Day
in the Soviet Union. On that day
this year the great Communist
daily newspaper Pravda cele-
brates its 60th anniversary.
With the publication of this
article by Yuri Zhukov, Pravda
political analyst and Deputy of
the USSR Supreme Soviet, the
Canadian Tribune salutes and
congratulates our brother paper,
the revolutionary daily founded
by Lenin.

* * *

By YURI ZHUKOV

24 Pravda Street, who in the
Soviet Union doesn’t know this
address? Every morning people
are reminded of it by tens of
millions of newspaper and mag-
azine copies. It is here, in Prav-
da Street, that the world’s larg-
est printing plant is situated.
Some 10,000 journalists, artists,
engineers and printers work
there every day and every night
to prepare and produce millions
of copies of each fresh issue of
Pravda (which means truth in
Russian), the country’s most
important newspaper, through

. which the Communist Party of
the Soviet Union talks with the
Soviet people, all peoples of the
world. They also prepare daily
issues of Komsomolskaya Prav-
da, Sovietskaya Rossia, Sotsial-
isticheskaya Industria and other
papers. All these newspapers
have one address: 24 Pravda
Street, which houses their edi-
torial offices and their common
huge printing works . . . The
daily circulation of the news-
papers put out by the Pravda
Publishing House runs into 29
million copies and its magazines
total over 54 million copies.

All began on that memorable
day of May 5, 1912 when en-
gineer Berezin’s small printery
in Petersburg put out, with the
meagre money collected by
workers, a small number of
copies of the first issue of the
daily legal newspaper of the
Bolsheviks. Soon after that V. I.
Lenin, founder of the newspa-
per, joyously wrote to A. M.
Gorky that the upgrade in Rus-
sia was. revolutionary and
nothing else, and that we had
managed, despite everything, to
organize a daily Pravda.

Sixty years separate us from
that event. Today the whole
world listens to the voice of
Pravda. “Why is Pravda so in-
fluential and popular?,” wrote
the late Pierre Courtade, one of
the best publicists of the French
Communist Party. “It is because
the name of the newspaper is
inseparable from the name of
Lenin . . . for us Pravda is, first
of all, the newspaper of Lenin.”

He was right, of course. The
popularity and prestige of this
organ of the Soviet Communist
Party’s Central Committee are
explained by the fact that this
is the newspaper of Lenin, that
it has always stood, stands and
will stand under the banner of
Lenin, under the banner of mili-
tant revolutionary thinking and
the cause of the revolution.

Lenin had always attached
tremendous importance to the
party press, regarding it as a
most effective weapon of poli-
tical struggle and a powerful
means of organization. It was
not accidental that Lenin coined

the term ‘“Pravdism,” which is
just another word for devotion
to the revolution and _ ideolo-
gical staunchness.

While writing this, I think
involuntarily of the tremendous,
decisive influence exerted by
Pravda on the moulding of each
of us—appearing every day,
even on Mondays when other
newspapers are closed. Even on
red letter days, Pravda is a con-
stant companion of the Soviet
man throughout his life .

People of my age became
acquainted with Pravda in the
roaring 1920’s. Newsprint was
in short supply and Pravda was,
most frequently, displayed on
the walls of buildings. We
stood long reading its greyish
pages, with illegible letters
printed with bad printing ink,
fixed with home-made wooden
nails or thin starch paste to dis-
play boards. Like the hot lava
of a volcano, Pravda’s lines
were full of tremendous flam-
ing force and great will to win.

You should have seen with
what great attention people
read Pravda articles signed by

Lenin! These were eloquent,
invariably dynamic, deeply con-
vincing and inspired articles!
Pravda published 1083 articles,
documents, statements, party
and government documents
signed by V. I. Lenin. Every line
written by Lenin was inestim-
able for our ideological deve-
lopment. From Pravda we learnt
the science of defeating our
enemies. Pravda imparted to us
hatred of our class enemies and
love for our class_ brothers
throughout the world. —

It is to be recalled that as
soon as the publication of Prav-
da was resumed after the vic-
tory of the October Revolution,
the issue dated November 18
carried a leader entitled “‘Revo-
lution of oppressed classes and
oppressed nations,” in which it
forcefully emphasized the inter-
national character of our strug-
gle and firmly declared: “The
Russian workers’ and peasants’
revolution becomes the van-
guard of the _ revolutionary
movement.” And, in its New
Year issue for 1918 Pravda, ela-
borating on the idea, said edi-
torially: “The past year 1917, as
it appears, was a turning point

in the course of world history
. .. The Great Russian Revolu-
tion is a point of departure for
the socialist reorganization of
the world. Russia, which was
only recently the most back-
ward country in Europe, is now
showing their future to other
countries of the world, and the
proletarians of all countries are
learning from a social revolu-
tion.”

More than half a century has
passed since the time these pro-
phetic words were written, and
all the world is now witnessing
them coming true.

One could narrate many in-
teresting things about how Prav-
da mobilized the masses of peo-
ple for the fulfilment of the ear-
ly Five-Year Plans, for perform-

_ ing exploits in the years of the

Great Patriotic War, how im-
portant was the role it played
in the period of the postwar re-
habilitation of our industry and
agriculture, how it is now as-
sisting the Party in mobilizing
the popular masses for the solu-
tion of great tasks connected
with the building of Commu-
nism, and how great is the part

Flpoasrapnn ecex crpox, coegnuaitrecel

KommyHuctuyeckaa naptus Cosercxoro Conwsa

Taseta ocHosBaHa
5 mas 1912 roga

PABAG

Opran Llentpanbuoro Komutera KMCC

B. VW. JEHWUHbIM _ Ne 1146 (19624) ©
‘i

Bropnux, 25 anpena 1972 r. 8

Uena 3 kon.

IHAYCTPHW-/ERB KPAIO Hi

IH TEN

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, MAY 5, 1972—PAGE 6

‘mittee, which include se ;

it played and is playing ™
the international arena +"
Pravda’s circulation,
have said already, rump
many million copies, 544.
at 9,770,000 copies as %
For the sake of comparisi |
paper’s present circulati#)
more than 200 times its ®
print-order. The numbéel of
readers is four times ® it
as the total readershiP §
newspapers in pre-revoll!
Russia combined.

Pravda is printed from,
rices in 42 cities of the

distant phototelegraph 01
ications for the trans
newspaper pages.
these techniques, the NEN iy
is received on the daY if
publication by readers
motest towns and villag® sb
USSR. And I still rem
how in 1936, on a COM
to Komsomolsk - on- Al @
could get a copy of Prav
12 days after its public

As never before, the Pg
network of Pravda’s CO!
ents is wide and stronby
105: permanent repres® io
transmitting local info",
to its editorial office Yea
and by wire. There af@ (ie
respondent points funcl™ (F
the Soviet Union. Theré
Pravda correspondent at
abroad, with 42 Prav th
workers. There is nol,
pears, a single spot of eel!
which has not been Vis” |
Pravda correspondent.

The Pravda _ editot'
attaches great imp0l
working people’s let@
this is what Pravda i
learnt from V. I. Magy
showed constant interere 4
mail of the editorial Og
insisted on giving
coverage to workers
present Pravda fre erie
average of 1270 readel ig
a day, of which the qi
portant are publishé jot
newspaper. Last yeat ¢ th?
paper carried 3,000 % wf

In charge of the news
an editorial collegiv™ |
ed by the CPSU Cen 15

experienced Pravda
is headed by Bditt
Mikhail Zimyanin, ™
the Central Commitlé
Party. i

8

Such, briefly speakitt st
Pravda of today, WHE
become what vias
Lenin wanted it to P A)
paper of all the Party
people. Today it is 7 i
of the millions and !
lions! :

Pravda is preparing
brate its 60th anniv
good combat trim. T° ii)
an all-out struggle 2 oe
plementation of pst
decisions of the 24th out 4
gress, which mapped fot
and precise progra
ing Communism at
stage, and working
and_ international
The popularization
gress’ decisions 4” é
tion of the masses fo
plementation — thes? 4
main lines along
is functioning today

itor
of

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off