Soviet newspaper "Znamya", May 9, 1945

The original newspaper is in a good collector's condition, the edges are taped with tape, tears along the bends. Size 335*528 mm, 4 sheets. The circulation is 21,000 copies . Guarantee of authenticity. We recommend it! 

It was founded by the Social Democrats of Kaluga at the first provincial conference in July 1917 under the name "Dawn". The editorial board included N. V. Borisov, P. Ya. Vitolin and P. F. Shelkovsky. The famous revolutionary Pyotr Vitolin was elected editor-in-chief.

The first issue of the newspaper was published on August 6 (19), 1917. Initially, the Kaluga Provincial Committee of the RSDLP(b) also published the newspapers "Kaluzhskaya Pravda" and "Revolution and Commune", but in September their publication was discontinued, and the only printing organ of the Kaluga Bolsheviks was "Dawn".

Before the October Revolution of 1917, it was printed in the form of a small-format bulletin on 6-8 pages. Originally published in the printing house "Trust", located on Nikitsky Lane (currently - Karpova Street, 25).

The following year (May 22), by the decision of the bureau of the provincial committee of the RCP (b), it was renamed the newspaper "Commune".

Being the official organ of the provincial bureau and the Kaluga Committee of the RSDLP(b), the newspaper performed the functions of print propaganda of the policy. So, after Demyan Bedny visited Kaluga on November 11 and 12, 1921, his feuilletons "Free Trade" and "In Kaluga", directed against speculation and private trade, were published on the pages of the Commune.

The publication helped to solve the most significant problems of the Kaluga province, in particular, the elimination of illiteracy: due to the lack of alphabets, the Commune published a special weekly supplement, which was used as a textbook in literacy schools.

The 1930s became one of the most tragic years in the history of the newspaper: many editors, journalists and employees were repressed. At the same time, the "Commune" itself followed the "party line", publishing materials with "exposures of enemies of the people." The level of her articles has noticeably decreased.

The only break in the publication of the newspaper occurred during the occupation of Kaluga by Nazi troops during the Great Patriotic War. The last issue before the invasion of the Fascist troops in the city was released on October 4, 1941. However, already on January 3, 1942, that is, only three days after the liberation of Kaluga by Soviet troops, the newspaper "Commune" was published again.

Since August 13, 1944, it has been published under the name "Banner".

It was in the publishing house "Znamya", in the newspaper "Young Leninist" that Bulat Okudzhava began his career. In 1952-1953, he taught at school No. 5 in Kaluga. Here Okudzhava earns a part-time job as a correspondent and literary employee of the Kaluga regional newspapers "Znamya" and "Young Leninist". His poems regularly appear on the pages of these newspapers. Okudzhava's first poetry collection: "Lyrics" was published in the publishing house of the newspaper "Znamya" in 1956.

From 1958 to 1985 (that is, for 27 years — more than anyone else), the editor-in-chief was Alexander Petrovich Bekasov. Under his leadership, special attention was paid to readers' letters, on the basis of which journalistic materials were prepared "from the scene of events". Apart from Okudzhava, Alexander Nikolaevich Avdonin, Valentin Alekseevich Volkov, Alexey Petrovich Zolotin, Anatoly Nikolaevich Kukhtinov, Rudolf Vasilyevich Panferov, Nikolai Vasilyevich Panchenko, Sergey Fedorovich Pitirimov were also published in the category "Literary Pages". The circulation of the newspaper reaches the maximum in its history — 90 thousand copies.

On August 18, 1967, the newspaper was awarded the Order of the Badge of Honor.

In November 1972, the editorial office moved from the Kaluga printing house building (Kaluga, Lenin Square, 5) to the Press House specially built for the media of the region at the address: Kaluga, Postal Lane, 4 (since November 2, 1972, renamed Marat Street, 10).

During the reforms of the late 1980s, the editorial board did not change its course and remained the official printing body of the Kaluga Regional Committee of the CPSU. The creation by the decision of deputies by the Kaluga Regional Council of People's Deputies of a new not party or departmental, but "people's" newspaper "Vesti", the first issue of which was published on January 5, 1991, led to the mass departure of journalists from the editorial office of "Znamya".

However, a tragic blow to the newspaper "Znamya" was the murder committed in its editorial office on January 11, 1991: the criminal and anti-communist Vladimir Vorontsov shot the editor-in-chief Ivan Fomin and wounded the photojournalist Gennady Golovkov. Vorontsov, who spent 10 years in prison before the murder for fights and assaults, explained his actions with political and ideological motives. In 1992, he was sentenced to death and shot a few years later.

In memory of Ivan Ivanovich Fomin, an annual prize in the field of journalism named after him has been awarded in the Kaluga Region since 1997.

Since 2003, Alexey Slabov, a graduate of K. E. Tsiolkovsky KSPU, has headed the newspaper as editor-in-chief. Currently, the editor-in-chief of the publication is Victoria Erikhovna Alekseeva.