Difference between revisions of "Samizdat (USSR)"

''Samizdat '' is a specific textual culture that existed in the Soviet Union from the late 1950s to the mid 1980s. Through the production and circulation of texts outside of official institutional frameworks, the practice of ''samizdat'' challenged dominant values and positions and created a space for alternative cultural production and communication. The word ''samizdat'' can be translated as ‘self-publication.’ Etymologically, the word comes from the Russian ''sam'' (сам), meaning ‘self, or by oneself’ and -''izdat'' (-издат), an abbreviation of the word ''izdatel'stvo'' (издательство) which means ‘publishing house.’ Well-known dissident Vladimir Bukovsky summarized the ''samizdat'' process as follows: “I write myself, edit myself, censor myself, publish myself, distribute myself, go to jail for it myself” (Bukovsky 1979: 141<ref>Bukovsky, Vladimir. 1979. '' To build a Castle: My Life as a Dissenter''. New York: Viking Press. </ref>).

''Samizdat'' emerged out of the space of relative cultural liberalization created by the Thaw. A growing aversion to tired ideology and a desire to reassert literary autonomy led to resistance within the cultural field (Komaromi 2015: 38<ref>Komaromi, Ann. 2015. '' Uncensored: Samizdat Novels and the Quest for Autonomy in Soviet Dissidence''. Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University Press. </ref>). This quest for greater cultural autonomy is key to the emergence of samizdat. The samizdat of the late 1950s primarily consisted of the unofficial circulation of banned, suppressed, and otherwise un-publishable literature and literary journals. Access to such literature in samizdat allowed authors and readers to critically explore language and conceptions of self and society free of the constraints of official Soviet culture. Examples include the works of Pasternak, Akhmatova, Mandelshtam, and Tsvetayeva and poetry journals such as ''Feniks'' and'' Sintaksis'' (Alexeyeva 1990: 98<ref> Alekeyeva, Ludmilla. 1990. ''The Thaw Generation: Coming of Age in the Post-Stalin Era''. Boston: Little, Brown. </ref>). In the second half of the 1960s, samizdat activity intensified and became inextricably linked with dissidence. After the 1965-66 trial of writers Andrei Siniavskii and Yuli Daniel’ and the repressions that followed, ''samizdat'' not only functioned as means of artistic and literary expression, but also played a crucial role in dissident communication and activism. Various groups and individuals, representing such interests as human rights, religious freedoms, and national self-determination, produced and circulated petitions, appeals, periodicals, open letters, and trial transcripts in ''samizdat''. While those involved in the production and dissemination of samizdat material faced severe repressions from the state (incarceration, exile, and confinement to psychiatric wards), ''samizdat'' activity endured until the advent of ''glasnost and perestroika''.  

The status of samizdat texts was reinforced by the practice of ''tamizdat'', which was the smuggling of texts to the West for publication. Once published, the texts would often be smuggled back into Soviet Union and circulated in ''samizdat'', as was the case with Solzhenitsyn’s ''The Gulag Archipelago'' (Lovell 2000; 112). Indeed, the development of samizdat was in many ways supported by audiences abroad and Western publishing opportunities (Komaromi 2015: 133<ref>Komaromi, Ann. 2015. '' Uncensored: Samizdat Novels and the Quest for Autonomy in Soviet Dissidence''. Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University Press. </ref>). Some groups, such as human rights defenders and Jewish ''refuseniks'', relied on ''tamizdat'' to help garner international support for their cause and bring political pressure to bear on Soviet leaders. Another practice closely connected to ''samizdat'' was ''magnitizdat'' (see this volume), which involved the production and circulation of audiotapes. The tapes were often amateur recordings of live performances of cult musicians such as Alexander Galich, Bulat Okudzhava,’ and Vladimir Vysotskii (Steiner 2008: 622<ref>Steiner, Peter. 2008. ‘Introduction: On ''Samizdat, Tamizdat, Magnitizdat'', and Other Strange Words That Are Difficult to Pronounce,’ Poetics Today, 29(4): 613-628. </ref>).