In the cultural formation of the Mari Autonomous Oblast, created in 1920, as well as throughout the country as a whole, the party and soviet authorities gave an important role to the periodical press, making it the main vehicle for the ideology of socialism in the masses. A number of new local printed publications were established, including national ones, and in addition to them – cantonal and regional. These changes occurred during the period of the Mari Autonomous Oblast in the Nizhny Novgorod (since 1932 – Gorky) region in 1929–1936, one of the industrially developed centers of the USSR. The article is devoted to the history of origin and formation of the regional periodical press of the Northeastern region of the Republic of Mari El. The Mari-Turek and Kosolapov district newspapers “The Way of Lenin” (Lenin Korno) and The Way of Stalin (Stalin Korno) occupied a notable place in the Mari press in the 1930s. They were political, party bodies of the Soviet Union at the local level and published in Russian and in Mari. The article examines their role in reflecting local life, collective and cultural construction in the region, political campaigns conducted by party and Soviet authorities.