Samizdat facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Samizdat |
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Russian samizdat and photo negatives of unofficial literature
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| Russian | самиздат |
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| Romanization | samizdat |
| Literal meaning | self-publishing |
Samizdat (which means "self-published" in Russian) was a special way people in the Eastern Bloc (like the Soviet Union) shared secret writings. These writings were usually censored by the government. People would copy them by hand or using typewriters. Then, they would pass these documents from one reader to another. This was a common practice because typewriters and printing machines were controlled by the government. It was a way for ordinary people to get around the strict rules about what could be published.
Contents
What Does "Samizdat" Mean?
The word samizdat comes from two Russian words. Sam means 'self' or 'by oneself'. Izdat is short for 'publishing house'. So, samizdat literally means 'self-published'.
In Ukraine, there was a similar word: samvydav. It also meant 'self-published'.
A Russian poet named Nikolay Glazkov made a funny version of the word in the 1940s. He typed his poems and wrote "Myself by Myself Publishers" on the front page.
Tamizdat was another term. It referred to books published abroad, often from secret writings sent out of the country. Tam means 'there' in Russian.
In Poland, people called this "drugi obieg," which means the "second circuit" of publishing.
How Samizdat Was Made
In the Soviet Union, it was very hard to print things without the government knowing. Decades ago, offices had to give samples of their typewriters' fonts to the KGB (the Soviet secret police). This way, they could trace any printed text back to its source.
When photocopy machines appeared, the KGB made it even harder. People needed special permission to use them. This was to stop the mass production of unapproved materials. Sometimes, people would bribe employees to get around these rules.
Because of these strict rules, privately owned typewriters were the most common way to make samizdat. People would often make many copies of a text at once. They used thin carbon paper or tissue paper. These materials were cheap and easy to hide. The copies were then shared among trusted groups of people.
The Look of Samizdat
Samizdat was special not just for its ideas, but also for how it looked. The pages were often typed by hand, blurry, and wrinkled. They had many typing mistakes and plain covers. This look made Russian samizdat different from official Western books.
This simple look came from a lack of resources and the need to be discreet. Over time, people in the USSR started to admire these qualities. The rough look of samizdat was a sharp contrast to the smooth, well-made books approved by the government. The way samizdat looked became a symbol of cleverness and rebellious spirit. Reading samizdat became a secret and valued act.
Who Read Samizdat?
Samizdat started with the intelligentsia (smart, educated people) in Russia who disagreed with the government. Most samizdat was written for these educated Russian people. Even though not many people read samizdat (about 200,000 readers on average), many of them were important cultural figures.
Also, government officials often read samizdat. They needed to know what was being said to censor it. While the general public sometimes saw samizdat, most people couldn't get these expensive texts. They were often unhappy with the heavily censored reading material provided by the state.
History of Samizdat
People in Russia have a long history of self-publishing. But samizdat as we know it really started after Joseph Stalin died in the USSR. When faced with strict government censorship, people turned to underground writings to express themselves.
Samizdat Books
The first full book to be shared as samizdat was Boris Pasternak's novel Doctor Zhivago in 1957. Even though parts of it were published officially, the full book was banned. So, it began to circulate as samizdat.
Some books, even if officially published, were very hard to find. For example, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's novel One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich was widely shared through samizdat.
During the "Khrushchev Thaw" in the mid-1950s, poetry became very popular. Poems by famous, banned, or unknown writers were shared among educated Soviets. Several samizdat magazines published unofficial poetry. These included Sintaksis (1959–1960) and Phoenix (1961).
The people who made these magazines often attended public poetry readings in Moscow. But the authorities soon stopped these gatherings. In 1961, some people were arrested for "anti-Soviet propaganda." This ended most of the poetry magazines.
Not all samizdat was political. In 1963, Joseph Brodsky was charged with "social parasitism" just for being a poet. His poems were shared in samizdat, but only a few were allowed in official Soviet books.
The 1965 trial of writers Yuli Daniel and Andrei Sinyavsky made things harder for samizdat authors. This trial was carefully recorded in a samizdat collection called The White Book (1966). This book was put together by Yuri Galanskov and Alexander Ginzburg. Both writers were later arrested. After this, some samizdat became more political and important for the dissident movement in the Soviet Union.
Samizdat Periodicals
The first samizdat magazines were short-lived and mostly about literature. These included Sintaksis and Phoenix. From 1964 to 1970, historian Roy Medvedev published The Political Journal. It contained analyses that later appeared in the West.
The most famous samizdat magazine was A Chronicle of Current Events. It focused on protecting human rights by giving accurate information about events in the USSR. From 1968 to 1982, 65 issues were published. The anonymous editors asked readers to send feedback and local information for future issues.
The Chronicle was known for its clear, short style and careful corrections. It had sections like "Arrests, Searches, Interrogations" and "In Prisons and Camps." Over time, sections on "Persecution of the Crimean Tatars" and "Persecution and Harassment in Ukraine" were added.
The Chronicle editors argued their publication was legal under the Soviet Constitution. But the authorities disagreed. Many people involved in the Chronicle's creation and distribution were harassed, arrested, or forced to leave the country. The first editor, Natalya Gorbanevskaya, was arrested and put in a mental hospital. Later, others took over the publication when editors were arrested.
Another important publication was "Евреи в СССР" (Jews in the USSR). This magazine was for refuseniks (Jews who were denied permission to emigrate). It was published from 1972 to 1980.
In the late 1980s, more samizdat magazines appeared. These included Glasnost and Ekspress-khronika.
What Kinds of Topics Did Samizdat Cover?
Samizdat covered many topics. The main ones were literature, religion, nationality, and politics. The government censored many types of materials, even detective novels and science fiction. So, these also appeared in underground samizdat. Most samizdat authors wrote for educated people. However, samizdat also included simpler genres.
One study looked at an archive of samizdat. It found that about 1% was literary, 17% nationalist, 20% religious, and 62% political. Literary works were often not collected in this archive, so their actual share was likely much higher.
Literary Samizdat
In its early years, samizdat was mostly about literature. It included poetry, classic Russian books that couldn't be published, and famous foreign books. For example, when the USSR refused to publish Boris Pasternak's Doctor Zhivago, it became an underground book. Also, Alexander Solzhenitsyn's famous book about the gulag system, The Gulag Archipelago, led to a samizdat boom in the mid-1970s.
However, because samizdat was against the state, it started to focus more on human rights violations. Later, it shifted even more towards politics.
Political Samizdat
Most samizdat texts were political. Many were personal statements, appeals, protests, or information about arrests and trials. Other political samizdat included analyses of problems in the USSR. They also suggested different ways the government could handle events.
There wasn't one single political idea in samizdat. Authors debated from many different viewpoints. Socialist, democratic, and Slavophile (pro-Russian culture) ideas were common. Socialist authors compared the government to the ideals of Marxist socialism. They wanted the state to keep its promises. Many socialists hoped for reforms in the Soviet Union.
However, when the Soviet Union invaded Czechoslovakia during the "Prague Spring", hopes for reform were crushed. Because the state wouldn't change, samizdat began to focus on other political systems.
Some samizdat focused on the idea of a democratic political system. These democratic writings were revolutionary. They said that a big change in the political structure was needed. Most democrats believed in a gradual approach to achieving democracy. They focused on open, public ways to advance their cause, rather than secret ones.
Slavophile samizdat was different from democratic and socialist ideas. It saw democracy and socialism as Western ideas that didn't fit Eastern Europe. Slavophile samizdat brought a nationalistic Russian view to the political debate. It stressed the importance of cultural diversity and the unique nature of Slavic cultures.
This movement tried to unite the USSR under a vision of a shared glorious history of Russian rule and Orthodoxy. However, the USSR had many different nationalities, which made it hard for the Slavophile movement to unite everyone. Some Slavophile writings had racist and anti-Semitic views, which divided readers and the opposition.
Religious Samizdat
Religious samizdat texts were mostly written by Orthodox, Catholic, Baptist, Pentecostalist, and Adventist groups. While many different religious samizdat texts circulated, there are no known Islamic ones. This is surprising given the large number of Muslims in the USSR.
National Samizdat
Jewish samizdat called for an end to the repression of Jews in the USSR. Some expressed a desire for aliyah, which meant moving to Israel. The aliyah movement also discussed broader topics like human rights for Soviet citizens.
However, Jewish samizdat was divided. Some authors were more forceful and wanted Jewish emigration. They wrote mostly in political magazines. Others argued that Jews should stay in the USSR to build Jewish culture. They wrote in cultural and literary magazines.
Crimean Tatars, Volga Germans, and Meskhetian Turks also created samizdat. They protested the government's refusal to let them return to their homelands after Stalin's death. Their samizdat often used words like "genocide" and "concentration camps" to describe the injustices they faced. Ukrainian samizdat opposed the idea that Russian culture was better than Ukrainian culture. It also condemned the forced adoption of the Russian language by Ukrainians.
Secret Audio Recordings
"Ribs," "music on the ribs," "bone records," or roentgenizdat were homemade records. They were copied from forbidden recordings smuggled into the country. These recordings included Western rock and roll, jazz, and music by banned artists. They were sold and traded on the black market.
Each disc was a thin, flexible plastic sheet with a spiral groove. They could be played on a normal record player at 78 RPM. They were made from used X-ray film, which was cheap and available. Each large rectangular sheet was cut into a circle and recorded using a homemade machine.
Magnitizdat was the distribution of sound recordings on audio tape. This often included music by bards (singer-songwriters), Western artists, and underground music groups. Magnitizdat replaced roentgenizdat because it was cheaper, more efficient, and produced better quality copies.
Later Influence
After Bell Labs changed its UNIX license in 1979, sharing the source code became illegal. But a book from 1976 that contained the source code, called the Lions book, was still copied illegally for years. This act of copying the Lions book was often called samizdat.
In the world of hackers and computers, the term samizdat was used for sharing important documents or information that was hard to get.
Notable Samizdat Periodicals
- A-YA
- Bulletin "V"
- Chronicle of Current Events
- Chronicle of the Catholic Church in Lithuania
- Phoenix
- Sintaksis
See also
In Spanish: Samizdat para niños
- Anna's Archive
- Eastern Bloc media and propaganda
- Gosizdat
- Human rights in the Soviet Union
- Library Genesis, free articles and books, 21st century Russia
- Political repression in the Soviet Union
- Underground press
- USSR anti-religious campaign (1970s–1987)
