#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. The memories of the newspaper first employees, in particular Nina Baluyeva, one of the first journalists, have been preserved.
“The rumor about Norilsk publishing its own city newspaper appeared right after the former polar village acquired the city status. It must be said that by that time Norilsk already had experience in publishing newspapers locally. Those were the newspapers Norilstroevets, For Metal; the publication of the labor camp and the combine’s political department (later it was renamed Stalinets); Metal to the Front (after the war – first Metal to the Motherland, then “For Shock Labor”), a sports newsletter founded and edited by journalist Evgeniy Ryabchikov in the forties. Each of these newspapers had a very limited circulation and small volume, each had its own circle of readers. And now a citywide (!), real four-page newspaper was supposed to appear.
Its first issue was born on December 22, 1953… The circulation of the new newspaper was five thousand copies, it was published three times a week. Each issue was signed: editor S.P. Baranov. Serafim Petrovich Baranov came to Norilsk, it seems, from Krasnovodsk, and he had considerable experience in newspaper work. In his creative biography, the words “first editor” were repeated several times. He was a good organizer and a dedicated person. The staff of the future Zapolyarka was selected by the ideological department of the regional party committee, so Baranov did not know any of the employees in advance; the editor was introduced to the team that had already been formed, mainly based on personal data, and was mainly female. Some time passed until Seraphim Petrovich got to know his subordinates and what kind of duty he could entrust to them.
I will not forget one case until the end of my days. On July 1, 1954, Serafim Petrovich went on vacation. As usual, he transferred responsibility for publishing the newspaper to his deputy, E. Dudareva… Often visiting various enterprises, calling public organizations, I noticed that people were not at their workplaces, visiting various meetings. I picked up the facts, found Mayakovsky’s poems about those who didn’t work but wasted their time at meetings, a very expressive caricature (it depicted a man torn into three meetings at once, and he shouted in despair: “Friends! When are we going to work?!”). They were especially keen on the meetings in the regional committee of the trade union, which at that time was temporarily headed by G.F. Rudenko. Having told the deputy editor that I have such a topic, and having received blessings I began to prepare the material, which I called Less Bench Fuss, More Live Action! (such bright headlines were common at that time). Before that, there had never been a case where a city newspaper criticized the trade union. The article attracted the readers’ attention. The editors sent a clipping from the newspaper to Rudenko. About a week passed without any answer.
And then one morning a messenger came from the regional committee of the trade union and said: “In ten minutes, an extended meeting of the presidium of the regional committee begins to discuss your article. Send your representative”. Elizaveta Efimovna did not know that she could refuse the invitation and demand for an official response. “You have to go, Nina Ivanovna”, Dudareva told me.
Under the disapproving glances of trade union workers, I walked into the hall filled to capacity. Rudenko, with hostility towards the newspaper and the article author – me (it turned out, he knew who wrote it, although the article was without a signature), spoke about black slander against the district committee, about the fact that Zapolyarnaya Pravda did not enjoy authority among readers, and often distorted facts and so on. The accusations rained down on my poor head from all sides; they recalled typos and other mistakes of the newspaper. They gave me the “last word.” I said that I didn’t know about old mistakes, but as for the article about endless meetings, it was dictated by the times and I considered it correct. They read out a resolution in which they asked the city party committee to “put the newspaper in its place” and punish the author of the article.
Worried and alarmed to the limit, I returned to the editorial office. Dudareva was also depressed. Soon she was called to the city committee. Elizaveta Efimovna did her best to defend the newspaper’s position, did not argue about the actual mistakes, and then could not restrain herself. All grievances erupted at both the city committee and the city executive committee, which did not provide the editorial staff with everything necessary for normal work, did not care about it, did not protect it, did not support its authority. The newspaper not only didn’t not have a car, but even a motorcycle, employees had difficulty getting to enterprises scattered over a large area, often outside the city, spent hours freezing at bus stops, used public transport to send mock-ups of issues to the printing house, and got there late at night, often on foot. None of the employees had a home phone. Having expressed all that, Elizaveta Efimovna burst into tears and ran out of the office.
A day or two later Baranov returned to Norilsk. Of course, he immediately knew everything, and, although his vacation was not over yet, he went to work. “Never mind”, he reassured us, “everything is correct. They mocked at us, and now we’ll make them weep”. At the end of October, the bureau of the city committee examined the newspaper’s speech and the reaction of the district trade union committee to it. The working day was long over, all the editorial staff had gone home, only Dudareva and I were sitting, waiting for Baranov, awaiting our fate. There was so much excitement and speculation.
“Well”, said Seraphim Petrovich, opening the door and being surprised at our presence. We’ve won”.
On November 4, a note About One Refutation appeared. It spoke about the decision of the city committee bureau, which recognized the article Less Bench Fuss… as correct and condemned the desire to discredit the newspaper’s speech and suppress criticism. Rudenko’s behavior at the meeting was classified as contradictory to the Communist party rules. It should be said that this episode was important not only for the editorial office, but also for Norilsk as a whole. It showed for the first time that a city newspaper was capable of criticizing even high-ranking leaders…”
In the History Spot’s previous publication, we told where the first New Year trees in Norilsk stood.
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Text: Svetlana Ferapontova, Photo: Nornickel Polar Branch archive
