Gosizdat
Gosizdat (Russian: Госиздат) was the State Publishing House founded in Russia on 21 May 1919. It was to become one of the principal publishing houses in the Soviet Union. In 1930 it was superseded by OGIZ (Unified State Publishing House).[1]
Origins
The decree founding Gosizdat placed all private publishing in Russia under their control. Although publishers were required to submit manuscripts before publication, Gosizdat was remarkably inefficient and was unable to enforce this. The most significant problems were lack of paper and maintaining the printing presses. Also the book trade had been municipalised in Moscow by October 1918, and from April 1919 to autumn 1921 all books were distributed free of charge by Tsentropechat.[2]
In February 1921, following the report of the Litkens Commission, Gosizdat was incorporated as a department within Narkompros.[3]
Directors
- 1919–21 Vatslav Vorovsky
- 1921–24 Otto Shmidt
- 1927–30 Artemic Khalatov
References
- "Gosizdat". The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970–1971). The Gale Group. Retrieved 26 January 2016.
- Fitzpatrick, Sheila (1970). The Commissariat of Enlightenment: Soviet Organization of Education and the Arts under Lunacharsky. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-52438-4.
- Read, Christopher (1990). Culture and Power in Revolutionary Russia. London: Macmillan. ISBN 978-1-349-11003-2.