Samizdat (Down with Big Tech)

Freedom of speech is declining everywhere, though the reasons (or justifications) vary by region. Meanwhile, the power of Big Tech is growing as rapidly as its data collection and interference. In this new era, a nearly forgotten Soviet response is resurfacing: samizdat, the underground DIY press and distribution system.

Self/DIY

The word самиздат roughly translates to self- or DIY publishing. Сам (sam) means self, издатель means publisher. If you do a Google search for the term, you’ll often come across services offering self-publishing and self-funded book publishing. Вас могут читать уже сегодня! – You can be read today. Стать автором, become an author. Sometimes, it’s just too easy.

The samizdat referred to here was described by Vladimir Bukovsky as: ‘I write myself, I edit myself, I censor myself, I publish myself, I distribute myself, and I serve the sentence myself.’ Music, religion, and ideas banned or disapproved by censors, were all spread through samizdat.

Samizdat (самиздат): We Publish Ourselves
(Josh, 2021, 9 m)

Samizdat: How Soviet Rebels Read Banned Books
(Byron Lewis, 2020, 6 m)

‘Samizdat’: The Secret Printing Press
(Candles Behind the Wall, 2020, 3 m)

Rock-samizdat

Подпольный рок-самиздат 80-х. Лекция Александра Кушнира
(Новая газета, 2021, 11 m)
More about Александр Кушнир on Wikipedia (RU).

Кое что о Рок-Самиздате
(Прогулки с Медведьевичем!, 2021, 10 m)

See also Беседы о Рок-Самиздате (программа ”Субтропики”, TV Квант, 1997) (Rock-Пробег, 2017, 38 m), Петр Май – о золотом веке рок-самиздата (EktbTV, 2015, 2 m) and Рок-самиздат (2013, 26 m).

More Samizdat

• Самиздат (Заокская Церковь, 2020, 29 m)
• Чем опасен самиздат. Из курса «Диссиденты в СССР» (Arzamas, 2016, 8 m)
• Самиздат (10-летию журнала посвящается) (PashCo1966, 2013, 57 m)
• Natalya Gorbanevskaya about samizdat (2013, 2 m)

See/read

EN

• Alexei Navalny protests show the power of digital ‘samizdat’ (Financial Times, 2021)
• The story behind the 70s samizdat that launched late Soviet feminism (The Calvert Journal, 2020)
• Samizdat: Reproduction of Censored Literature (Sean Ryan, Macalester.edu 2009)
• The Terrifying Mimicry of Samizdat (Serguei Oushakine, Research Gate 2001)
• Samizdat Is Russia’s Underground Press (Albert Parry, The New York Times 1970)
• Uitgeven in samizdat (Masterandmargarita.eu)
• Will memes become digital Samizdat? (PublicPressure.org)
• Wkipedia

RU

• 1968 год в истории самиздата (Colta.ru, 2018)
• Самиздат: неподцензурная журналистика в СССР (История, 2003)
• Самиздат. Попытки осмысления (Svoboda.org, 2000)
• Академик
• Кругосвет
• Википедия