VAPLITE

VAPLITE (the Free Academy of Proletarian Literature) is a literary organization that operated in Kharkiv from 1926 to 1928 and united the most talented Ukrainian writers of the renaissance era around the idea of a highly professional, European-oriented national literature. Its ideological leader was Mykola Khvylovy, and its members included Pavlo Tychyna, Mykola Kulish, Yurii Yanovsky, Mykola Bazhan, Oles Dosvitnii, and Arkadii Liubchenko. VAPLITE opposed mass-ism and provincialism and defended quality, craftsmanship, and an orientation toward 'psychological Europe' (Khvylovy's slogan 'On to Europe!'). Under ideological pressure and accusations of 'nationalism' the organization was forced to dissolve itself in 1928. VAPLITE became a symbol of Ukrainian culture's struggle for creative freedom and national dignity, and most of its members were later destroyed in the era of the Executed Renaissance.