Komsomolskaya Pravda - History

History

During the Soviet era, Komsomolksaya Pravda was the All-Union newspaper of the Soviet Union and an official organ of the Central Committee of the Komsomol. It was established according to the decision of the 13th Congress of the Russian Communist Party (b) and the first issue was published on May 24, 1925, in an edition of 31,000 copies.

Комсомольская правда began as the official organ of the Communist Union of Youth, or Komsomol, the youth wing of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. As such, it targeted the same 14-28 demographic as its parent organization, focusing initially on popular science and adventure articles while teaching the values of the CPSU. During this period, it was twice awarded the Order of Red Banner of Labour, and was also the recipient of the Order of Lenin, the Order of the October Revolution, and the Order of the Patriotic War.

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, on 1 December 1990 the paper shifted from serving as a Komsomol mouthpiece to a Russian nationwide daily tabloid newspaper. During the 1991 August Putsch, the paper was banned by the State Committee of the State of Emergency, or "Gang of Eight," and did not publish from 19–20 August, the first time in its history that it failed to appear on schedule. Nevertheless, on 21 August, the newspaper published the entire chronicle of the coup as a historical document.

It is currently owned by Media Partner, which in turn is owned by ECN Group, an energy company led by Grigory Berezkin, who has close links to Gazprom. The newspaper reached its highest circulation in 1990, when it sold almost 22 million daily copies. It is currently the top-selling newspaper in Russia, with daily circulation ranging from 700,000 to 3.1 million.