On the History of the Gosizdat of the Nep Era. Documents of the Inspection of the Leningrad Branch of the State Publishing House by the Workers’ and Peasants’ Inspectorate (1924

JATS XML:

XML

BibTEX:

BIB

Research Information Systems Citation Format:

RIS

PDF
Abstract:
Gosizdat had initially functioned under the auspices of the Commissariat of Public Education before it became part of its Moscow branch. From 1924 to 1926, the Leningrad branch operated under the watchful eye of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Inspectorate. These years heralded the zenith of the New Economic Pol- icy, a time when state enterprises gracefully transitioned to self-financing amidst a burgeoning market, thus catalyzing a decentralization of publishing administration. In this fertile environment, Lengiz emerged as an ostensibly independent and thriving bastion of book publishing, resisting subordination to the Moscow headquarters. Consequently, the central office, once a pivotal arm of the People’s Commissariat for Education, lost its grip on Lengiz’s activities, both financially and ideologically. This shift necessitated an examination of the operational framework of Lengiz and its dynamic with the central office. Concurrently, an inquiry into the relations between the People’s Commissariat of Education and the central office of the State Duma unfolded. The archival survey documents illuminate the true nature of the State Publishing House during the NEP period, revealing its evolving structure, the influential figures within its Board, and affirming that Lengiz adopted a markedly more effective publishing strategy.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.22455/CM.2949-0510-2025-6-196-237
EDN:
https://elibrary.ru/OVWEYT
Author: Daria S. Moskovskaya
About the author: Daria S. Moskovskaya, DSc in Philology, Director of Research, Head of the Manuscript Department, A.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Povarskaya St., 25A, bld. 1, 121069 Moscow, Russia. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8089-9604 E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Received: April 30, 2025
Date of Publication: May 15, 2025
Approved after reviewing : November 11, 2025
Publication Type: Scientific Publication of Archival Materials
For citation: Moskovskaya, D.S. “On the History of the Gosizdat of the Nep Era. Documents of the Inspection of the Leningrad Branch of the State Publishing House by the Workers’ and Peasants’ Inspectorate (1924–1926).” Codex manuscriptus, issue 6. Moscow, IWL RAS Publ., 2025, pp. 196–237. (In Russian) https://doi.org/10.22455/CM.2949-0510-2025-6-196-237
Keywords: archive, publication, literary institutions, NEP, Gosizdat, Lenghiz, organizational structure.

REFERENCES

Goriaeva, M. Politicheskaia tsenzura v SSSR. 1917–1991 gg. [Political Censorship in the USSR in 1917–1991], 2nd ed., corr. Moscow, ROSSPEN Publ., 2009. 405, [2] p. (Seriia “Istoriia stalinizma” [Series “The History of Stalinism”]) (In Russ.)
Izdatel’skoe delo v pervye gody Sovetskoi vlasti (1917–1922): dokumentov i mat., sost. E.A. Dinershtein, T.P. Iavorskaia [Publishing in the Early Years of Soviet Power (1917–1922), coll. of documents and materials, comp. E.A. Dinerstein, T.P. Yavorskoy]. Moscow, Kniga Publ., 1972. 240 p. (In Russ.)
Muromskii, P. “Leningradskie ob”edineniia 1917–1932 gg. v Rossii (problemy izucheniia)” [“Leningrad Associations of 1917–1932 in Russia (Problems of Study)”]. Iz istorii literaturnykh ob”edinenii Petrograda — Leningrada 1910–1930-kh gg.: issledovaniia i mat., [otv. red. V.P. Muromskii] [From the History of Literary Associations of Petrograd — Leningrad in the 1910s and 1930s. Research and Materials, [ex. ed. V.P. Muromsky]]. St. Petersburg, Nauka Publ., 2002. Vol. 1, pp. 5–46. (In Russ.)
Starostin, N. “Iz istorii Gosizdata (1917–22)” [“From the History of the State Publishing”]. Administrativno-komandnaia sistema upravleniia. Problemy i fakty, mezhvuz. sb. nauch. rabot, [otv. red. T.P. Korzhikhina] [Administrative and Command Management System. Problems and Facts. Interuniversity Coll. of Scientific Papers, [ex. ed. T.P. Korzhikhina]]. Moscow, RGGU Publ., 1992, pp. 121–132. (In Russ.)
Shomrakova, I.A. “Gosizdat i problemy optimal’noi struktury sovetskogo izdatel’skogo dela” [“State Publishing and Problems of Optimal Structure of the Soviet Publishing Business”], Kniga i kul’tura, [ st.], [otv. red. A.A. Sidorov] [Book and Culture, [coll. of art.], [ex. ed. A.A. Sidorov]]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1979, pp. 175–193. (In Russ.)
Fitzpatric, The Commissariat of Enlightment. Soviet Organization of Education and the Arts under Lunacharsky, October 1917–1921. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1970. 416 p. (In English)

On the History of the Gosizdat of the Nep Era. Documents of the Inspection of the Leningrad Branch of the State Publishing House by the Workers’ and Peasants’ Inspectorate (1924–1926)