Mshak

Mshak 

(The Toiler), an Armenian literary-political newspaper, published in Tbilisi from 1872 to 1920. It was founded by the liberal publicist and critic G. Artsruni. After Artsruni’s death in 1892, Mshak was edited by A. Kalantar and A. Arakelian, among others. From a liberal-bourgeois stance, the newspaper attacked the reactionary clergy and conservative inertia; it published articles on the harsh conditions facing Armenians in Turkey and raised the questions of mass education, emancipation of women, and the development of Armenian literature and art. The oppressed condition of the peasants and workers also found expression in the pages of Mshak. The newspaper published works by Raffi, R. Patkanian, A. Shirvanzade, and others. During 1917–20, Mshak became a mouthpiece of bourgeois nationalism.