Russian Independent Press

The IISH has brought together a large collection of Russian periodicals from the late eighties of the twentieth century. The collection contains "neformal'nye" (unofficial) publications (newspapers, newsletters, bulletins) from the Gorbachev era to the present. Here a short introduction and a few frontpages.

They were published by a wide range of organizations: political parties from the extreme left to the extreme right, democratic movements, trade unions and workers' movements, anarchist movements, women's movements, organizations in the field of human rights, national minorities, and environmental causes. In addition to publications from Moscow and St Petersburg, there are also many papers from other regions. The over 2,500 titles provide together a fascinating picture of this turbulent age.
A major part of the materials was acquired in close cooperation with the SHPL (State Historical Public Library) and the MNOB (Moscow Independent Public Library). In 1987 the MNOB started to collect materials and made the collection available in her library.

In the beginning of the Gorbachev era glasnost' and perestroika led to a break in the party and state's monopoly of the press. From 1987 onwards independent, uncensored periodicals start to appear. In many cases these publications were stencilled or copied in limited editions.
Among the first newspapers we find Ekspress-Khronika by the former political prisoner and human rights activist Aleksandr Podrabinek, Glasnost' by the former political prisoner Sergei Grigor'ants, and Obshchina published by the anarchist-syndicalist group of the same name.
Though opposed by the authorities and hindered by financial and practical problems, they enjoyed a large readership. The total number of "neformal'nye", independent, alternative newspapers and periodicals in the field of human rights, trade union movement, political parties and groups, environment and antimilitarism, numbered 500 in Russia and 1000 in the entire Soviet Union in this period.

On August 1, 1990 a new press law officially banned censorship. Under this law newspapers and periodicals that have runs of more than 1000 copies must register but can be legally published. The editions, which in the beginning were limited to no more than a few hundred copies, increased enormously: the number of copies of the Ekspress-Khronika is 65,000 by the end of 1992.
In the years following 1992 the runs of non-commercial editions were again reduced. They had trouble surviving: after the coup of 1993 censorship was (temporarily) instituted, while the country, as well as the independent media, suffered from runaway inflation.

The stock market crash of 1998 marked the end of many newspapers. Many of them tried the cheaper opportunities offered by the Internet. From 2000 on Prima News, edited by Aleksandr Podrabinek and espousing the same viewpoints as Ekspress-Khronika, appeared as www.prima-news.ru, Glasnost' was continued as www.glasnostonline.org.

The collection can be accessed from the online catalogue by searching the special collection 'MNOB' (= Moskovskaja Nezavisimaja Obscestvennaja Biblioteka) or on the specific title. The first acquisitions were described in a List of Serials - (PDF file, 817 Kb). This doubles many of the titles in the online catalogue.
In addition to this collection of periodicals, the IISH holds a collection of documentary materials (leaflets, small brochures, pamphlets, and posters) in the same field. After they have been properly catalogued, these materials will also be available.

Further reading:
Suetnov, Aleksandr. Samizdat. Bibliograficeskij ukazatel'. Moskva, Archiv netradicionnoj pecati, 1992
Tom 1. Katalog netradicionnych izdanij (1985-1991)
Call number: 1996/1123
Tom 2. Vspomogatel'nye ukazateli
Call number: Bro 2477/5

Sociologija obscestvennych dvizenij. Konceptual'nye modeli. Issledovanija 1989-1990. Red. V.V.Kostjusev. Moskva, S-Peterburg, Institut sociologii RAN, 1992.
Call number: 1993/1312

Sociologija obscestvennych dvizenij. Empiriceskie nabljudenija i issledovanija. Red. V.V.Kostjusev. 2 tt. Moskva, S.-Peterburg, Institut sociologii RAN, 1993.
Call number: 1994/3980-3981

Paskalova, M.A.; Solov'eva, S.A.; Strukova, E.N.
Samizdat i novaja politiceskaja pressa : (po materialam kollecij Moskvy i Sankt-Peterburga). Moskva : [s.n.], 1993.
Call number: Bib R 167

Otecestvennaja literatura po problemam sovremennych obscestvennych dvizenij (1986-1991 gg.). Bibliograficeskij spravocnik. C.1. Sost. E.I. Alekseeva. Moskva, Institut sociologii RAN, 1995.
Call number: Bib R 151/1

Katalog russkojazycnych periodiceskich izdanij, nachodjascichsja v sobranijach neformal'noj i mestnoj pechati issledovatel'skogo instituta RSE/RS. 1984-1993. Sost. Berend Wispelweij. Mjunchen, 1994.
Call number: Bib R 98

Nezavisimyj bibliograf. Spravocnik periodiceskogo samizdata
Call number: Bro 4402

Bibliograficeskij listok. Bjulleten Archiva nezavisimoj pecati
Call number: Bro 4395

Strukova, Elena Nikolaevna. Al'ternativnaja periodiceskja pecat' i ee rol' v stanovlenii mnogopartijnosti v Rossii (1987-1996 gg.). Moskva : MGU, 2002.
Call number: Bro 4580/12