"Liquidators" was the term used during the Bolshevik occupation of Ukraine to refer to activists who fought against illiteracy. Presumably, these individuals were involved in building a new school in Hoptsi, and there was something akin to social competitions among them. The "Liquidators" dedicated their free time to the cause of combating illiteracy, and the photo likely captures one of the periods of intensive school improvement.
It can also be assumed that since the initiative to improve the school was not exclusively the work of "Liquidators" from one village, the image depicts the activities of "Liquidators" from Pohrebyshche district, and the term should be read as "conference." The people who fought against illiteracy, often peasants themselves, sometimes did not master Ukrainian perfectly, especially considering that both words (competition and conference) are foreign and not typical for peasant usage (from a 1924 document: "the absolute majority of liquidators do not even have secondary education, only lower education, and no pedagogical experience").
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