The rise and fall of the soviet underground press

Abstract

Although samizdat (self‐publication) has existed since the days of Catherine the Great as the principal means by which banned works have been circulated in Russia, the most fertile period for the underground Soviet press was from 1968 through the early 1970s. A study of the content and contributors of two prominent samizdat publications, the Chronicle of Current Events and Supergirl Oktyabrina, reveals differences in the concerns of the dissidents and their relationship with the regime. The Chronicle's content was primarily literary and oriented toward the “human rights” movement. In contrast, Oktyabrina was satirical and comical, with no serious literary intent. An examination of the Soviet's handling of these two samizdat publications suggests that dissent in Russia is handled selectively, and that the Soviet authorities are not interested in eliminating all dissent, only the dissent that they find challenging to their rule.