Editing Samizdat (section)

==History==
[[Self-publishing|Self-published]] and self-distributed literature has a long history in Russia. ''Samizdat'' is unique to the post-Stalin USSR and other countries with similar systems. Faced with the state's powers of censorship, society turned to underground literature for self-analysis and self-expression.{{sfn|Alexeyeva|1987|p=12}}

=== Samizdat books and editions ===

The first full-length book to be distributed as samizdat was [[Boris Pasternak]]'s 1957 novel ''[[Doctor Zhivago (novel)|Doctor Zhivago]]''.{{sfn|Crump|2013|p=105}} Although the literary magazine ''[[Novy Mir]]'' had published ten poems from the book in 1954, a year later the full text was judged unsuitable for publication and entered samizdat circulation.{{sfn|Crump|2013|p=105}}

Certain works, though published legally by the State-controlled media, were practically impossible to find in bookshops and libraries, and found their way into samizdat: for example [[Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn]]'s novel ''[[One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich]]'' was widely distributed via samizdat.{{sfn|Crump|2013|p=105}}<ref>November 1962 issue of the ''[[Novy Mir]]'' literary magazine</ref>

At the outset of the [[Khrushchev Thaw]] in the mid-1950s USSR poetry became very popular. Writings of a wide variety of poets circulated among the Soviet intelligentsia: known, prohibited, repressed writers as well as those young and unknown. A number of samizdat publications carried unofficial poetry, among them the Moscow magazine ''[[Sintaksis (Moscow)|Sintaksis]]'' (1959–1960) by writer [[Alexander Ginzburg]], [[Vladimir Osipov]]'s ''Boomerang'' (1960), and ''[[Phoenix (literary magazine)|Phoenix]]'' (1961), produced by [[Yuri Galanskov]] and [[Alexander Ginzburg]]. The editors of these magazines were regulars at [[Mayakovsky Square poetry readings|impromptu public poetry readings]] between 1958 and 1961 on Mayakovsky Square in Moscow. The gatherings did not last long, for soon the authorities began clamping down on them. In the summer of 1961, several meeting regulars were arrested and charged with "[[Anti-Soviet agitation|anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda]]" (Article 70 of the [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|RSFSR]] [[criminal code|Penal Code]]), putting an end to most of the magazines.

Not everything published in samizdat had political overtones. In 1963, [[Joseph Brodsky]] was charged with "[[Parasitism (social offense)|social parasitism]]" and convicted for samizdat poetry. His poems circulated in samizdat, with only four judged as suitable for official Soviet anthologies.{{sfn|Crump|2013|p=107}} In the mid-1960s an unofficial literary group known as [[SMOG (literary group)|SMOG]] (a word meaning variously ''one was able'', ''I did it'', etc.; as an acronym the name also bore a range of interpretations) issued an [[almanac]] titled ''The Sphinxes'' (''Sfinksy'') and collections of prose and poetry. Some of their writings were close to the [[Russian avant-garde]] of the 1910s and 1920s.

The 1965 [[Sinyavsky–Daniel trial|show trial]] of writers [[Yuli Daniel]] and [[Andrei Sinyavsky]], charged with anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda, and the subsequent increased repression, marked the demise of the Thaw and the beginning of harsher times for samizdat authors. The trial was carefully documented in a samizdat collection called ''The White Book'' (1966), compiled by Yuri Galanskov and Alexander Ginzburg. Both writers were among those later arrested and sentenced to prison in what was known as [[Trial of the Four]]. In the following years some samizdat content became more politicized and played an important role in the [[dissident movement in the Soviet Union]].

===Samizdat periodicals===
[[File:Samizdat Chronicle of Current Events No 22 Cover and pages.jpg|thumb|A typewritten copy of the Russian human rights periodical [[Chronicle of Current Events|''A Chronicle of Current Events'']], Moscow]]

The earliest samizdat periodicals were short-lived and mainly literary in focus: ''<nowiki/>[[Sintaksis (Moscow)|Sintaksis]]'' (1959–1960), ''Boomerang'' (1960), and ''[[Phoenix (literary magazine)|Phoenix]]'' (1961). From 1964 to 1970, communist historian [[Roy Medvedev]] regularly published ''The Political Journal'' (Политический дневник, or political diary), which contained analytical materials that later appeared in the West.

The longest-running and best-known samizdat periodical was ''A [[Chronicle of Current Events]]'' (Хроника текущих событий).<ref>[http://www.memo.ru/history/diss/chr/index.htm ''A Chronicle of Current Events, 1968–1982'' (in Russian)] Archive at memo.ru.</ref> It was dedicated to defending [[human rights]] by providing accurate information about events in the USSR. Over 15 years, from April 1968 to December 1982, 65 issues were published, all but two appearing in English translation.<ref>[https://chronicle6883.wordpress.com/ ''A Chronicle of Current Events'' 1968–1983 (in English).] All 1968 and 1969 issues may be found in {{harvnb|Reddaway|1972}}</ref> The anonymous editors encouraged the readers to utilize the same distribution channels in order to send feedback and local information to be published in subsequent issues.

The ''Chronicle'' was distinguished by its dry, concise style and punctilious correction of even the smallest error. Its regular rubrics were "Arrests, Searches, Interrogations", "Extra-judicial Persecution", "In Prisons and Camps", "Samizdat update", "News in brief", and "Persecution of Religion". Over time, sections were added on the "Persecution of the Crimean Tatars", "Persecution and Harassment in Ukraine", "Lithuanian Events", and so on.

The ''Chronicle'' editors maintained that, according to the [[1936 Constitution of the Soviet Union|1936 Soviet Constitution]], then in force, their publication was not illegal. The authorities did not accept the argument. Many people were harassed, arrested, imprisoned, or forced to leave the country for their involvement in the ''Chronicle''{{'}}s production and distribution. The periodical's typist and first editor [[Natalya Gorbanevskaya]] was arrested and put in a psychiatric hospital for taking part in the August [[1968 Red Square demonstration|1968 Red Square protest]] against the invasion of Czechoslovakia. In 1974, two of the periodical's close associates (Pyotr Yakir and [[Victor Krasin]]) were persuaded to denounce their fellow editors and the ''Chronicle'' on Soviet television. This put an end to the periodical's activities, until [[Sergei Kovalev]], Tatyana Khodorovich and [[Tatyana Velikanova]] openly announced their readiness to resume publication. After being arrested and imprisoned, they were replaced, in turn, by others.

Another notable and long-running (about 20 issues in the period of 1972–1980) publication was the ''[[refusenik (Soviet Union)|refusenik]]'' political and literary magazine "Евреи в СССР" (Yevrei v SSSR, ''Jews in the USSR''), founded and edited by Alexander Voronel and, after his imprisonment, by [[Mark Azbel]] and Alexander Luntz.

The late 1980s, which were marked by an increase in informal organizations, saw a renewed wave of samizdat periodicals in the Soviet Union. Publications that were active during that time included ''Glasnost'' (edited by [[Sergei Grigoryants]]), ''Ekspress-khronika'' (''Express-Chronicle,'' edited by [[Alexander Podrabinek]]), ''Svobodnoye slovo'' ("Free word", by the Democratic Union formed in May 1988), ''Levyi povorot'' ("Left turn", edited by [[Boris Kagarlitsky]]), ''Otkrytaya zona'' ("Open zone") of Club Perestroika, ''Merkurii'' ("Mercury", edited by Elena Zelinskaya) and ''Khronograph'' ("Chronograph", put out by a number of Moscow activists).{{sfn|Urban|Igrunov|Mitrokhin|1997|p=87}}

Not all samizdat trends were liberal or clearly opposed to the Soviet government and the official literary establishment. "The ''Russian Party''... was a very strange element of the political landscape of [[Leonid Brezhnev]]'s era—feeling themselves practically dissidents, members of the ''Russian Party'' with rare exceptions took quite prestigious official positions in the world of writers or journalists," wrote [[Oleg Kashin]] in 2009.<ref>{{Cite web |title=«Настоящий диссидент, только русский» — Русская жизнь |url=http://www.rulife.ru/mode/article/1314/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230206002800/http://rulife.ru/mode/article/1314/ |archive-date=2023-02-06 |access-date=2025-05-05 |website=www.rulife.ru |language=ru}}</ref>