The national library sphere during the World War I. On the occasion of the 100-th anniversary of Brest-Litovsk Treaty and the end of the WWI

Abstract

The author discusses the history of librarianship inRussiain 1914-1918 that is poorly investigated. The activities of pro-government and illegal libraries of various political parties are examined. The examples of the agitation-and-propaganda literature for the militaries are given. The conditions for distributing illegal library literature among the front-line troops are revealed. The libraries for the Russian prisoners of war in the German and Austro-Hungarian camps were organized. Precious library collections were deported fromRussiaunder the Brest-Litovsk Treaty. Methods and vectors of the activities of illegal and semi-legal libraries behind the lines are also examined. The author proves that these libraries were in fact the revolutionaries’ pivot: there the meetings and gatherings were held; the revolutionaries used the library premises as safe houses. The weak top bureaucracy was unable to confront the revolutionary forces, in particular by the library laws. The author emphasizes that the ideological division within the Russian society was growing, strata and classes were splitting. The conditions for ideological defeat ofRussiain the World War I are analyzed.