100 years ago, Kyiv’s young writers sought artistic freedom. Stalin’s purges cut their experiment short

MARS, the Workshop of the Revolutionary Word, was founded in Kyiv on 7 November 1926 by young Ukrainian writers seeking room for literature beyond Soviet ideological demands. Though the group did not set itself up as a political challenge, its commitment to artistic independence became risky as Stalin’s government tightened control over cultural life.

Founded by writers including Valerian Pidmohylnyi, Yevhen Pluzhnyk and Hryhorii Kosynka, MARS grew out of the earlier group Lanka and dissolved a little over a year later. It had no formal manifesto or rules, and its members were monitored by Soviet secret police, including through an informant at meetings. Several members were executed in the 1930s, while Pidmohylnyi’s novel *The City* exemplified the group’s interest in complex human experience rather than political instruction.