Producción y circulación de la edición comunista en el Cono Sur: el caso de la editorial Sudam (1929-1935)

Abstract

Objective/Context: This research aims to analyze the editorial practice of the ssa, especially the Sudam publishing house; as well as to identify what were the functions of the published writings and what motives drove the organization to sustain its editorial efforts in the repressive conjuncture of the 1930s. Methodology: We used a qualitative methodology, which consists of the analysis and interpretation of a vast body of documents (composed of internal documents and the public press of the ssa, correspondence, pamphlets and books published by Sudam and Ediciones Europa-América), in relation and dialogue with the secondary bibliography referred to the history of communist books and publishing, of the Communist International and of communism in South America. Originality: The Sudam publishing house has not been approached by historiography as an object of specific analysis so far. This research seeks to contribute to the studies on the Latin American communist book and publishing in the early 1930s, and to favor the understanding of the role of publishing in the development of communist ideology in South America. Conclusions: Although Sudam’s production and diffusion level was limited, its main contribution was to propose a political-editorial practice based on militant and partisan networks, on which the editorial proposals with regional projection of the later period, during the years of the Popular Front policy, were based. Likewise, the titles introduced had a strong ideological and political indoctrination content, so that they collaborated in the Bolshevization and Stalinization of the South American communist parties.