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How Soviet Citizens Escaped Censorship: Samizdat

The Cold War

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Our historical documentary series on the history of the Cold War continues with a look at how censored information and ideas were spread in the Soviet Union. This look at Soviet samizdat includes how the government responded and reacted to underground publishing.

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#ColdWar #ColdWarHistory #History #ModernHistory #USSR #Soviet #SovietUnion #samizdat #publishing #underground #Zhivago

*SOURCES*
Komaromi, Ann (2004). "The Material Existence of Soviet Samizdat"
To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement
Benjamin Nathans
The Cambridge History of Russian Literature.
Reddaway, Peter (1972). Uncensored Russia – protest and dissent in the Soviet Union. The unofficial Moscow journal, A Chronicle of Current Events

20 Comments

@maciekszymanski8340 6 months ago

In Poland, illegal publishing reached industrial levels in the 1970s. I myself participated in their creation and distribution.

@MaxiWolf88 6 months ago

Once again, the history that is presented here is well done. Thank you!

@andyreznick 6 months ago

Always learn plenty. Thank you, David. Keep 'em comin'.

@lorensims4846 6 months ago

As a former desktop publisher (back when that was still a thing) I really appreciate this video. The printed word WILL get out!

@queenofdramatech 6 months ago

FYI Editing error at 16:24.

@riopratamamartin7870 6 months ago

In Putin era , samizdat happened again

@Marvin-cw8sf 6 months ago

Please make a video on the 1962 Yi-Ta incident in Xinjiang China. This incident is part of the Sino-Soviet Split and made a significant impact on Xinjiang lasting to this day, but very few people have even heard of it.

@JZTC 6 months ago

Will the Cold War cover the short lived Karelo-Finnish SSR, Soviet Karelia as a whole or the ASSRs?

@Ralphieboy 6 months ago

And when they got together for group readings it was a poetry slamizdat'

@eruno_ 6 months ago

Very informative!

@thomasglynn9651 6 months ago

Crazy coincidence that I just watched the movie Dr Zhivago and now this popped up in my feed

@josephthomasjr.6551 6 months ago

This is RELLY fascinating stuff, my friend. Thank you VERY much!!! Now my head is filled to overflowing of questions. How did East German samizdat compare to Albanian samizdat? Was samizdat overall in the 1980s QUALITATIVELY more sophisticated than samizdat in the 1950s? Does The Islamic Republic of Iran have their own version of samizdat today? And what of North Korea? The mark of an effective video is that it gets you THINKING. And, by that standard, YOU HAVE SUCCEEDED WITH FLYING COLORS!!!

@bigsarge2085 6 months ago

Interesting!

@Evening_Star_Above 6 months ago

Pivotal plot device in the movie about the Stasi, "The Lives Of Others (Das Leben Der Anderen)"

@Meguuuuuu 6 months ago

The Samizdat reminds me of a similar entity in Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. Very good parallels. 🦄

@konst80hum 6 months ago

Fascinating stuff!

@Anti-CornLawLeague 6 months ago

For a second I was gonna say I thought the Gulag Archipelago was allowed to be published in the USSR, but then I remembered it was One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich I was thinking of.

@mattpierre891 6 months ago

I've heard that some Samizdat was actually introduced into the USSR by the CIA, and after The Wall fell dissidents were shocked to learn that Orwells' Animal Farm was written by a Westerner.