Oktyabr (magazine)

Oktyabr was launched in 1924 by a group with the same name, "Oktyabr", which was founded by the poet Alexander Bezymensky and the novelist Yury Libedinsky in 1922.[3] It was an official and conservative magazine of the Soviet Union.[4][5] Particularly during the post-World War II period it became one of the most pro-government publications and was instrumental in shaping the image of Soviet poetry.[6]

The editorial board of the magazine in the Soviet era included those figures recognized by the state.[6] The first chief editor was Labory Kalmanson who was also known as G. Lelevich.[3] Fyodor Ivanovich served as chief editor of the monthly for two times (from 1931 to 1954, and then from 1957 to 1961).[6] Vsevolod Kochetov was one of the magazine's chief editors in the 1960s.[7] In the same period, the monthly was a fierce critic of Nikita Khrushchev's reforms, adopting a Stalinist stance.[8] Anatoly Ananiev replaced Kochetov as chief editor of Oktyabr.[8] The current editor-in-chief is Irina Barmetova.[9]

The magazine awards the Oktyabr prize.[10] The 2013 winners were Andrey Bitov for the story "Something with love... ", director Leonid Heifetz for his article "Flashes" and poet Lev Kozlowski for a selection of verses "Sukhoy Bridge".[11]

Oktyabr has serialized various novels, published poems and other articles about movies and societal issues. Due to such a wide coverage, the magazine is compared to the 19th century edition of Edinburgh Review.[2] in the late 1970s, Anatoly Rybakov’s novel, Heavy Sands, was serialized in the monthly.[12] Life and Fate, a novel written by Vasily Grossman, was first published in the magazine in 1988.[1][4] This novel was one of the forbidden literary works in the country and therefore, the magazine became among the publications publishing previously forbidden books in the glasnost period.[8] In 2006, the magazine published Vasili Aksyonov's novel Moskva-kva-kva.[13] The monthly also published poems of significant and state-recognized poets in the Soviet era, forming the image of Soviet poetry, and works on literary criticism.[6]

In addition to literary works, in the 1960s the magazine covered articles on Soviet films, focusing on the merits of these movies.[7] Mikhail Antonov's a seminal essay, "So What Is Happening to Us?", was published in Oktyabr in 1989.[14]

In 1989, the magazine published a posthumous work, Forever Flowing, by Vasily Grossman,[15] arguing "Lenin - all victories of the party and the state are linked with the name of Lenin. But all cruelty committed in the country has become the tragic burden of Vladimir Ilych."[4] The article was written long before, but it was one of the first overt criticisms against Lenin.[4] Thus, it marked a serious challenge process towards the past of the country, especially Lenin's legacy.[15]