Revolutions in print: Jewish Publishing under the Tsars and the Soviets

Abstract

T he paradoxical history of Jewish publishing in Russia includes both revolutionary bursts of creativity--often taking place in a hostile environment and almost always working against the censor's strictures--as well as momentary lulls, particularly in the years following great social upheaval. Yet many of the transformations of East European Jewry were wrought on the printed page--in books, pamphlets, journals, newspapers and posters written in Yiddish, Hebrew, and Russian. Through these documents we are able to gain first-hand knowledge of Jewish life in Russia over the past two centuries. We come to understand the struggle between the voices of tradition and modernity among Russian Jews as well as their subsequent efforts to define themselves in the face of changing and often hostile attitudes of the Russian polity. Today these publications bear witness not only to the profound vitality of Russian Jews but also to their continuing impact on the politics, culture, and even the language of modern Jewry.