Samizdat, book published by Pathfinder Press containing a collection of forbidden Trotskyist Samizdat texts. In contrast to such catchy bookcovers, typical cover page of a genuine samizdat publication was made to look as inconspicuous as possible in order to avoid attention.

Samizdat (Russian: самиздат, Polish: Bibuła, Bulgarian: самиздат) was the clandestine copying and distribution of government-suppressed literature or other media in Soviet-bloc countries. Copies were made a few at a time, and those who received a copy would be expected to make more copies. This was often done by handwriting or typing. This grassroots practice to evade officially imposed censorship was fraught with danger as harsh punishments were meted out to people caught possessing or copying censored materials. There exist many possible systems for transliterating the Cyrillic alphabet of the Russian language to English or the Latin alphabet. ... Look up translate in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (772x1204, 132 KB)Samizdat Published by Pathfinder Press, New York, 2002. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (772x1204, 132 KB)Samizdat Published by Pathfinder Press, New York, 2002. ... Trotskyism is the theory of Marxism as advocated by Leon Trotsky. ... During the Cold War, the Eastern Bloc (or Soviet Bloc) comprised the following Central and Eastern European countries: Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, East Germany, Poland, Albania (until the early 1960s, see below), the Soviet Union, and Czechoslovakia. ... Grassroots is a political movement for individual constituents of a community to voice their ideas and opinions. ... Censorship is the control of speech and other forms of human expression. ... Censorship is the control of speech and other forms of human expression. ...

Vladimir Bukovsky defined it as follows: "I myself create it, edit it, censor it, publish it, distribute it, and [may] get imprisoned for it."^[1] Vladimir Bukovsky early photo Vladimir Konstantinovich Bukovsky (Russian: ; b. ...

Techniques

Essentially, the samizdat copies of text, such as Mikhail Bulgakov's novel The Master and Margarita, were passed among friends. The techniques to reproduce the forbidden literature and periodicals varied from making several copies of the content using carbon paper, either by hand or on a typewriter, to printing the books on semi-professional printing presses in larger quantities. Before glasnost, the practice was dangerous, since copy machines, printing presses and even typewriters in offices were under control of the First Departments (KGB outposts): for all of them reference printouts were stored for identification purposes. Mikhail Bulgakov Mikhail Afanasievich Bulgakov (Russian: Михаил Афанасьевич Булгаков; May 15 [O.S. May 3] 1891, Kiev – March 10, 1940, Moscow) was a Russian novelist and playwright of the first half of the 20th century. ... The Master and Margarita book cover. ... A sheet of carbon paper, coating side down. ... Mechanical desktop typewriters, such as this Underwood Five, were long time standards of government agencies, newsrooms, and sales offices. ... The printing press is a mechanical device for printing many copies of a text on rectangular sheets of paper. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The First Department (Первый отдел, Pervyj Otdel) was in charge of secrecy and political security of the workplace of every enterprise or institution of the Soviet Union that dealt with any kind of technical or scientific information (plants, R&D institutions...

Terminology and related concepts

Etymologically, the word "samizdat" is made out of "sam" (Russian: сам, "self, by oneself") and "izdat" (Russian: издат, shortened "издательство", izdatel'stvo, "publisher"), thus, self published. Etymology is the study of the origins of words. ...

The term was coined as a pun by Russian poet Nikolai Glazkov in the 1940s in an analogy with the names of Soviet official publishing houses, such as Politizdat (short for Politicheskoe izdatel'stvo, Russian: Политиздат ^[2]), Detizdat (literature for children), etc. It has been suggested that dajare be merged into this article or section. ... Nikolay Glazkov Nikolai Ivanovich Glazkov (Russian: Никола́й Ива́нович Глазко́в); (January 30, 1919, Lyskovo – October, 1979, Moscow), was a Soviet poet renowned for his uncanny and ironic verse, his alcoholism, and for jokingly coining the term samizdat, which came to be internationally known. ... // Events and trends World War II was a truly global conflict with many facets: immense human suffering, fierce indoctrination, and the use of new, extremely devastating weapons such as the atomic bomb. ... 1. ...

Magnitizdat refers to the passing on of taped sound recordings (magnit- referring to magnetic tape), often of "underground" music groups, bards or lectures. Magnitizdat (in Russian магнитиздат) is a term used to describe the process of re-copying and self distributing live audio tape recordings in the Soviet Union that were not available commercially. ... Compact audio cassette Magnetic tape is a non-volatile storage medium consisting of a magnetic coating on a thin plastic strip. ... Bulat Okudzhava, a pioneer of the Bard genre For other meanings of the word, see Bard (disambiguation). ...

Tamizdat refers to literature published abroad (там, tam, meaning "there"), often from smuggled manuscripts.

In Poland, the usual term in the later years of Communism was drugi obieg or "second circulation" (of publications), the "first circulation" implied being legal and censored publications. The term bibuła ("blotting-paper") is more time-honored, having been used even in Tsarist times.

History

In the Soviet Union

Self-published and self-distributed literature has a long history, but samizdat is a unique phenomenon in the post-Stalin USSR and other countries with similar socio-economic systems. Under the grip of censorship of police state these societies used underground literature for self-analysis and self-expression. ^[3] Iosif (usually anglicized as Joseph) Vissarionovich Stalin (Russian: Иосиф Виссарионович Сталин), original name Ioseb Jughashvili (Georgian: იოსებ ჯუღაშვი&#4314... A police state is a political condition where the government maintains strict control over society, particularly through suspension of civil rights and often with the use of a force of secret police. ...

At the outset of the Khrushchev Thaw in the mid-1950s USSR, poetry became very popular and writings of a wide variety of known, prohibited, repressed, as well as young and unknown poets circulated among Soviet intelligentsia. In Soviet history, Kruschevs Thaw or Khrushchev Thaw refers to the period between the end of 1950s and the beginning of 1960s, when repressions and censorship reached a low point. ... The 1950s was the decade spanning the years 1950 to 1959. ... The Chinese poem Quatrain on Heavenly Mountain by Emperor Gaozong (Song Dynasty) Poetry (from the Greek , poesis, making or creating) is a form of art in which language is used for its aesthetic qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its ostensible meaning. ... The intelligentsia (from Latin: intelligentia) is a social class of people engaged in complex mental and creative labor directed to the development and dissemination of culture, encompassing intellectuals and social groups close to them (e. ...

On June 29, 1958, a monument to Vladimir Mayakovsky was opened in the center of Moscow. The official ceremony ended with impromptu public poetry readings. The Moscovites liked the atmosphere of relatively free speech so much that the readings became regular and came to be known as "Mayak" (Russian: Маяк, the lighthouse), with students being a majority of participants. However, it did not last long as the authorities began clamping down on the meetings. In the summer of 1961, several meeting regulars (among them Eduard Kuznetsov) were arrested and charged with "anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda" (Article 70 of the RSFSR Penal Code). Editor and publisher of Moscow samizdat magazine "Синтаксис" (Syntaxis) Alexander Ginzburg was arrested in 1960. 1958 (MCMLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Portrait of Vladimir Mayakovsky Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky (Влади́мир Влади́мирович Маяко́вский) (July 7 (O.S.) July 19 (N.S.), 1893 – April 14, 1930) was among the foremost representatives for the poetic futurism of early 20th century Tsarist Russia and the Soviet Union. ... Location Position of Moscow in Europe Government Country District Subdivision Russia Central Federal District Federal City Mayor Yuriy Luzhkov Geographical characteristics Area  - City 1,081 km² Population  - City (2005)    - Density 10,415,400   8537. ... Freedom of speech is the right to freely say what one pleases, as well as the related right to hear what others have stated. ... 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1961 calendar). ... Eduard Kuznetsov (Russian language: Эдуард Кузнецов; born in Moscow, 1939) is a Soviet dissident, human rights activist, and writer. ... Anti-Soviet refers to persons and activities actually or allegedly aimed against the Soviet Union or the Soviet power within the Soviet Union. ... State motto: Пролетарии всех стран, соединяйтесь! (Workers of the world, unite!) Official language None (Russian in practice) Capital Moscow Chairman of the Supreme... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Criminal Code. ... Alexander Ginzburg Alexander (Alik) Ilyich Ginzburg (Russian: ; November 21, 1936 Moscow – July 19, 2002 Paris), was a Russian journalist, poet, human rights activist and dissident. ... 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1960 calendar). ...

Some legitimate publications in the state-controlled media, such as a novel One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (the Nobel Prize in Literature, 1970), first published in literary magazine Novy Mir in November 1962, were practically impossible to find in (and later taken out from) circulation and made their way into samizdat. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn (Russian: ; born in Kislovodsk, Russia, on December 11, 1918) is a Russian novelist, dramatist and historian. ... Nobel Prize in Literature medal. ... Novy Mir (rus. ... 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar). ...

Not everything published in samizdat had political overtones. In 1963, Joseph Brodsky (to become a Nobel laureate in 1987) was charged with "social parasitism" and convicted for being nothing but a poet. In the mid-1960s, an underground literary group СМОГ ("Самое Молодое Общество Гениев", Samoye Molodoye Obshchestvo Geniyev, translated as The Youngest Society of Geniuses) issued their literary almanac "Сфинксы" (Sfinksy; The Sphinxes) and collections of prose and poetry. Some of their writings were close to Russian avantgarde of the 1910s–1920s. 1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (the link is to a full 1963 calendar). ... Joseph Brodsky Joseph Brodsky (May 24, 1940 – January 28, 1996), born Iosif Aleksandrovich Brodsky (Russian: ) was a poet and essayist who won the Nobel Prize in Literature (1987) and was chosen Poet Laureate of the United States (1991-1992). ... The Nazi propaganda poster titled New People reads: This person suffering from hereditary defects costs the people 60,000 Reichmarks during his lifetime. ... The 1960s decade refers to the years from 1960 to 1969, inclusive. ... An almanac (also spelled almanack, especially in Commonwealth English) is an annual publication containing tabular information in a particular field or fields often arranged according to the calendar. ... Beat the white with the Red wedge, a 1919 lithograph by Lissitzky The Russian avant garde is an umbrella term used to define the large, influential wave of modernist art that flourished in Russia from approximately 1890 to 1930 - although some place its beginning as early as 1850 and its... // Events and trends The 1910s represent the culmination of European militarism which had its beginnings during the second half of the 19th Century. ... The 1920s was a decade sometimes referred to as the Jazz Age or the Roaring Twenties, usually applied to America. ...

The infamous 1965 show trial of writers Yuli Daniel and Andrei Sinyavsky (also charged with violating Article 70) and increased repressions marked the demise of the Thaw and harsher times for samizdat. Some of the samizdat content became more politicized and played an important role in the dissident movement in the Soviet Union. 1965 (MCMLXV) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1965 calendar). ... The term show trial serves most commonly to label a type of public trial in which the judicial authorities have already determined the guilt of the accused: the actual trial has as its only goal to present the accusation and the verdict to the public as an impressive example and... Yuli Markovich Daniel (Russian: ; November 15, 1925 — December 30, 1988) was a Soviet dissident writer, poet, translator, political prisoner and gulag survivor. ... Andrei Sinyavsky Andrei Donatovich Sinyavsky (Russian language: Андрей Донатович Синявский) (1925 - 1997) was a Russian writer, dissident, gulag survivor, emigrant, Professor of Sorbonne University, magazine founder and publisher. ...

From 1964 to 1970, historian Roy Medvedev regularly published analytical materials that later appeared in the West under the title "Политический дневник" (Politicheskiy Dnevnik; The Political Journal). 1964 (MCMLXIV) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1964 calendar). ... 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1970 calendar). ... Roi Medvedev, (b. ...

One of the longest-running and well-known samizdat publications was the information bulletin "Хроника текущих событий" (Khronika Tekushchikh Sobitiy; Chronicle of Current Events)^[4], dedicated to the defense of human rights in the USSR. For 15 years from 1968 to 1983, a total of 63 issues were published. The anonymous authors encouraged the readers to utilize the same distribution channels in order to send feedback and local information to be published in the subsequent issues. The Chronicle was known for its dry concise style; its regular rubrics were titled "Arrests, Searches, Interrogations", "Out of Court Repressions", "In Prisons and Camps", "News of Samizdat", "Persecution of Religion", "Persecution of Crimean Tatars", "Repressions in Ukraine", "Lithuanian Events", etc. The authors maintained that according to the Soviet Constitution, the Chronicle was not an illegal publication, but the long list of people arrested in relation to it included Natalya Gorbanevskaya, Yuri Shikhanovich, Pyotr Yakir, Victor Krasin, Sergei Kovalev, Alexander Lavut, Tatyana Velikanova, among others. Chronicle of Current Events may refer to: Chronicle of Current Events (samizdat) - soviet 1968-1983 samizdat periodical (Russian: Хроника текущих событий) Chronicle of Current Events (film) - a 1971 film by Peter Handke, with Rüdiger Vogler (German: Chronik der laufenden Ereignisse) [1] Category: ... Human rights are rights which some hold to be inalienable and belonging to all humans. ... 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1968 calendar). ... 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Gulag ( , Russian: ) is an acronym for Главное Управление Исправительно—Трудовых Лагерей и колоний, Glavnoye Upravleniye Ispravitelno-trudovykh Lagerey i kolonii, The Chief Directorate [or Administration] of Corrective Labour Camps and Colonies of the NKVD. Anne Applebaum, in her book Gulag: A History, explains: Literally, the word GULAG is an acronym, meaning Glavnoe Upravlenie Lagerei, or Main Camp... The Crimean Tatars (Qırımtatar (aka Qırım, Qırımlı and Qırım türkü), Pl. ... The Soviet Union was governed by four versions of its Constitution: 1918 Soviet Constitution 1924 Soviet Constitution 1936 Soviet Constitution 1977 Soviet Constitution The political theory underlying the Soviet Constitution differed from the political theory underlying constitutions in the West. ... Natalya Gorbanevskaya (Наталья Евгеньевна Горбаневская) (born 1936) is a Russian poet and civil rights activist. ... Sergei Kovalev Sergei Adamovich Kovalev (Russian: ) (born March 2, 1930) is a notable dissident and political prisoner in the former Soviet Union, and a human rights activist and politician in post-Soviet Russia. ...

Another notable and long-running (about 20 issues in the period of 1972-1980) publication was refusenik political and literary magazine "Евреи в СССР" (Yevrei v SSSR, Jews in the USSR), founded and edited by Alexander Voronel and after his release, by Mark Azbel and Alexander Luntz. Refusenik (Hebrew: , transliterated: mesorav; or: אסיר ציון, transliterated: asir tzion, literally means: Prisoner of Zion) or Otkaznik (Russian: , from отказ, English equivalent: refusal, rejection) was an unofficial term for individuals, typically but not exclusively Soviet Jews, who were denied permission to emigrate abroad by the authorities of the former Soviet Union. ...

With increased proliferation of computer technologies, it became practically impossible for the government to control the copying and distribution of samizdat.

In Iran

After Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was exiled by the Shah of Iran in 1964, his sermons were smuggled into Iran on cassette tapes and widely copied, increasing his popularity and leading, in part, to the Iranian Revolution. Ayatollah Khomeini founded the first modern Islamic republic Ayatollah Seyyed Ruhollah Khomeini (آیت‌الله روح‌الله خمینی in Persian) (May 17, 1900 – June 3, 1989) was an Iranian Shia cleric and the political... For the meaning of cassette in genetics, see cassette (genetics). ... Protestors take to the street in support of Ayatollah Khomeini. ...

In Poland

Selection of Polish underground publications.

In the 19th century in partitioned Poland, many underground newspapers existed; among the most prominet was Robotnik, published in over 1,000 copies from 1894. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1534x1845, 834 KB) Polish samizdat books & brochures printed in 1980s File links The following pages link to this file: Samizdat Predictions of Soviet collapse Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1534x1845, 834 KB) Polish samizdat books & brochures printed in 1980s File links The following pages link to this file: Samizdat Predictions of Soviet collapse Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to... The Partitions of Poland (Polish: Rozbiór Polski or Rozbiory Polski; Lithuanian: Padalijimas) took place in the 18th century and ended the existence of the sovereign Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. ... Robotnik (The Worker) was the bibuła (underground) newspaper published by Polish Socialist Party (PPS). ...

In the People's Republic of Poland during the 1970s and 1980s, several books (sometimes as long as 500 pages) were printed in quantities often exceeding 5000 copies. Newspapers were also published. For example, in 1980, a news-sheet, Solidarnosc, reached a print run of 30,000 copies daily[2] and some of the largest runs reached over 100,000 copies. The Peoples Republic of Poland or Polish Peoples Republic (Polish: Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa, PRL) was the official name of Poland from 1952 to 1989, during its period of rule by the Communist party, officially called the Polish United Workers Party (Polska Zjednoczona Partia Robotnicza, or PZPR). ...

Most of the Polish underground press was organized in the 1970s by the Movement for Defense of Human and Civic Rights (ROBCiO) and Workers' Defence Committee (KOR). Over several years, alongside hundreds of small individual publishers, several large underground publishing houses were created, fueled by supplies smuggled from abroad or stolen from official publishing houses. Movement for Defense of Human and Civic Rights (Polish: , ROPCiO) was a political and social organization formed in Poland in March of 1977. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... 1. ...

The Polish underground press drew on experiences of Second World War veterans of Armia Krajowa and much attention was paid to conspiracy; however, after martial law in Poland and the government crackdown on Solidarity, the activities of underground publishing were significantly curtailed for several years following. However, with the communist government losing power in the second half of the 1980s, production of Polish samizdat (in Poland known as bibuła) dramatically increased and many publications were distributed throughout the entire country. After the Autumn of Nations in 1989 some of the underground publishers transformed into regular and legal publishing houses. Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ... The Armia Krajowa (Home Army) or AK functioned as the dominant Polish resistance movement in World War II in German-occupied Poland, which was active in all areas of the country from September 1939 until its disbanding in January 1945. ... Broadcast of Wojciech Jaruzelski declaring martial law (December 13, 1981) The period of martial law in Poland refers to the period of time from December 13, 1981 to July 22, 1983 when the government of the Peoples Republic of Poland drastically restricted normal life. ... Solidarity (Polish: Solidarność; full name: Independent Self-governing Trade Union Solidarity — Niezależny SamorzÄ…dny ZwiÄ…zek Zawodowy Solidarność) is a Polish trade union federation founded in September 1980 at the GdaÅ„sk Shipyards, and originally led by Lech WaÅ‚Ä™sa. ... The Autumn of Nations is the series of events in Central and Eastern Europe in the autumn of 1989, when various communist satellite states of the Soviet Union were overthrown in the space of a few months[1]. The name of this event refers to the Revolutions of 1848, known...

There were important differences of scale between Polish underground publishing and the samizdats of the Soviet Union, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and other Soviet-sphere countries. In the 1980s, at any time there were around one hundred of independent publishers in Poland that formed an extremely interesting institution of an underground market. Books were sold through underground distribution channels to paying customers, including the top communist leaders (!). Among a few hundred periodicals, the "Tygodnik Mazowsze" weekly reached an average circulation of 20,000, up to 50,000, copies. The estimated production of books and thick journals can be put close to one thousand per year and more than one million copies. Other products on this market included cassettes, videocassettes, postcards, stamps, and calendars.

Footnotes

1. ^ (Russian) "Самиздат: сам сочиняю, сам редактирую, сам цензурирую, сам издаю, сам распространяю, сам и отсиживаю за него." (autobiographical novel И возвращается ветер..., And the Wind returns... NY, Хроника, 1978, p.126) Also online at [1]
2. ^ Full title: "Государственное издательство политической литературы", State Publishing House of Political Literature
3. ^ (Russian) History of Dissident Movement in the USSR. The birth of Samizdat by Ludmila Alekseyeva. Vilnius, 1992
4. ^ (Russian) Chronicle of Current Events Archive at memo.ru

See also

• Freedom of speech
• Freedom of the press
• Podcasting
• Samizdat Express
• Self publishing

The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ... Freedom of the press (or press freedom) is the guarantee by a government of free public press for its citizens and their associations, extended to members of news gathering organizations, and their published reporting. ... Podcasting is the method of distributing multimedia files, such as audio or video programs, over the Internet using syndication feeds, for playback on mobile devices and personal computers. ... The B&R Samizdat Express is a small book publishing company started in 1974 by Barbara and Richard Seltzer. ... Self-publishing is the publishing of books and other media by the authors of those works, rather than by established, third-party publishers. ...

External links

• December 1970 report by KGB regarding "alarming political tendencies" in Samizdat and Preventive measures (from the Soviet Archives collected by Vladimir Bukovsky)
• Alexander Bolonkin - Memoirs of Soviet Political Prisoner detailing some technology used
• Marek Kaminski - Book of Polish Political Prisoner and Underground Publisher makes various references to Polish underground publishing
• Foundation "Karta" founded to preserve documents related to Polish underground publications
• Anthology of samizdat
• Samizdat archive Вѣхи (Vekhi Library, in Russian)
• Julius Telesin - Inside "Samizdat" published in Encounter 40(2), pages 25-33, February 1973

[[uk: Самвидав]