Soviet printed press - what they read in the USSR. Soviet magazines

Soviet printed press - what they read in the USSR. Soviet magazines
22.09.2019

During the Soviet years it was one of the most widespread and popular publications. It was founded in 1912 by V.I. Lenin, who was its actual leader and editor. He selected the team of authors, determined the direction, and developed its structure. Pravda was published with voluntary contributions from workers, many of whom were its employees or distributors.

It is not surprising that Pravda played the role of a Bolshevik propagandist and organizer of workers. And during the years of the Great Patriotic War this publication was one of the most ardent agitators in the fight against fascism. Today the Pravda newspaper is published three times a week and is the organ of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation.

In some months, Pravda was published in a circulation of 60 thousand copies daily.

Newspaper "Izvestia"

Another popular newspaper of the USSR is Izvestia. The first issue of this publication, which was originally the printed organ of the Petrograd Council of Workers' Deputies, was published in Petrograd in 1917. After the October coup, Izvestia acquired the status of one of the official printed organs of the new government; on its pages the main documents of the communist government were published - “Decree on Peace” and “Decree on ”.

Since 1991, Izvestia has become a media outlet. Today this newspaper covers the most important events in Russia and abroad, and its owners are various large business structures.

Newspaper "Komsomolskaya Pravda"

The first issue of this newspaper, initially aimed at covering Komsomol activities, was published on May 24, 1925. Until 1991, Komsomolskaya Pravda was the press organ of the Komsomol Central Committee and was aimed at the youth audience of the Soviet Union. It published many works by young writers, adventure and popular science articles.

“Komsomolskaya Pravda” was the first in the USSR to publish a color newspaper - the “Interlocutor” supplement, aimed at 20-year-old Soviet people.

With the beginning of perestroika, the newspaper began publishing critical articles with a social orientation, which only added to the publication’s popularity. In 1990, Komsomolskaya Pravda had the world's largest circulation of a daily newspaper - 22 million 370 thousand copies. Today, publications of Komsomolskaya Pravda often cause litigation regarding publications and scandals.

Newspaper "Trud"

The Trud newspaper, from its first issue published in 1921, until perestroika, was the press organ of the All-Russian Central Council of Trade Unions. It was oriented towards the Soviet

  • Introduction
    • Book history subject
    • Short review basic literature on the history of Russian and Soviet books
    • Periodization of book history
  • Writing and bookmaking in Rus' in the 9th-15th centuries.
    • Origin of Slavic writing
    • Distribution of the letter to Ancient Rus'
    • Books in Ancient Rus' X-XII centuries Subjects and types of books
    • Monuments of ancient Russian book writing of the 11th-13th centuries.
    • Bookmaking in Rus' XIV-XV centuries.
    • Monuments of book writing of the XIV-XV centuries.
    • Writing materials and tools. Design of handwritten books
  • The beginning of printing and bookmaking in Russia in the 16th century.
    • General characteristics of the book business at the beginning of printing
    • Subjects and types of handwritten books. Monuments of book writing of the 16th century.
    • Reasons for the introduction of printing in the Moscow State
    • Anonymous printing house and hopeless publications
    • Ivan Fedorov and Pyotr Mstislavets. Moscow period of activity
    • Activities of Ivan Fedorov in Lithuania and Ukraine
      • Activities of Ivan Fedorov in Lithuania and Ukraine - page 2
    • Book printing in Moscow after the departure of Ivan Fedorov. His successors are Andronik Nevezha and Nikifor Tarasiev
  • Book in Russia in the 17th century.
    • General characteristics of the book industry in the 17th century.
    • Handwritten book
    • Book centers
    • Subjects and types of handwritten books
    • Handwritten newspaper "Chimes"
    • Forbidden literature and censorship of books in the 17th century.
    • Activities of the Moscow Printing Yard
    • Contents and topics of printed books of the 17th century. The first secular printed books
    • Books in Russia in the first half of the 18th century.
    • Alphabet and seal reform
    • General characteristics of the book business
    • The beginning of book printing in St. Petersburg
    • Subjects and types of publications of the first quarter of the 18th century.
    • The first Russian printed newspaper
    • Handwritten book
    • Characteristics of the book business in 1725-1750.
    • Publishing activity of the Academy of Sciences
    • Subjects and types of publications
      • Subjects and types of publications - page 2
    • Books in Russia in the second half of the 18th century.
    • General characteristics of the book business. Decree of 1783 on “Free Printing Houses”
    • Subjects and types of publications
    • Publishing activities of Moscow University
    • "The Assembly Trying to Translate foreign books into Russian"
    • Publishing activity of N.I. Novikova
      • Publishing activity of N.I. Novikova - page 2
    • Publishing activity of A.N. Radishcheva
    • Publishing activity I.A. Krylova
    • Provincial publishing houses
    • Books in post-reform Russia (second half of the 19th century)
    • General characteristics of the second book business half of the 19th century V. Subjects of books
    • The main bourgeois educational publishing houses of the second half of the 19th century.
      • The main bourgeois educational publishing houses of the second half of the 19th century. - page 2
      • The main bourgeois educational publishing houses of the second half of the 19th century. - page 3
      • The main bourgeois educational publishing houses of the second half of the 19th century. - page 4
    • Democratic publishing houses of the second half of the 19th century. Book publishing activities of revolutionary democrats
      • Democratic publishing houses of the second half of the 19th century. Book publishing activities of revolutionary democrats - page 2
      • Democratic publishing houses of the second half of the 19th century. Book publishing activities of revolutionary democrats - page 3
      • Democratic publishing houses of the second half of the 19th century. Book publishing activities of revolutionary democrats - page 4
    • Publishing “books for the people”
    • Creation of a free Russian press abroad. Publishing activity of A.I. Herzen
      • Creation of a free Russian press abroad. Publishing activity of A.I. Herzen - page 2
    • Illegal revolutionary printing houses and publications of the 60-70s. XIX century
      • Illegal revolutionary printing houses and publications of the 60-70s. XIX century - page 2
      • Illegal revolutionary printing houses and publications of the 60-70s. XIX century - page 3
    • Publishing activity of the first Russian Marxist organizations. Beginning of publication and distribution of works by K. Marx and F. Engels in Russia
      • Publishing activity of the first Russian Marxist organizations. The beginning of the publication and distribution in Russia of the works of K. Marx and F. Engels - page 2
  • Book in Russia during the period of imperialism (late 19th - early 20th centuries)
    • Press legislation. Censorship
    • General characteristics of the book business in 1895-1917. Subjects of books
      • General characteristics of the book business in 1895-1917. Subjects of books - page 2
    • The main bourgeois educational publishing houses of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
      • The main bourgeois educational publishing houses of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. - page 2
    • Progressive publishing houses of the early 20th century.
      • Progressive publishing houses of the early 20th century. - page 2
    • Illegal publishing activities of Marxist revolutionary organizations
      • Illegal publishing activities of Marxist revolutionary organizations - page 2
      • Illegal publishing activities of Marxist revolutionary organizations - page 3
    • Bolshevik legal publishing houses
      • Bolshevik legal publishing houses - page 2
    • conclusions
    • The book during the Great October Socialist Revolution and civil war(1917-1920)
    • State of the Printing Industry
    • Organization of the first Soviet publishing houses
      • Organization of the first Soviet publishing houses - page 2
    • Private and cooperative publishing houses
    • Organization of the State Publishing House of the RSFSR
    • Publishing books in the languages ​​of the peoples of the USSR
    • The book during the period of restoration of the national economy and the beginning of industrialization (1921-1929)
    • General state book publishing
    • Activities of Gosizdat
    • Activities of other state and party publishing houses
    • Cooperative and private publishing houses
    • Organization of publication of books in the languages ​​of the peoples of the USSR
    • Publishing socio-political books
    • Publishing technical and natural science books
    • Publishing encyclopedias and reference books
    • Publishing fiction
    • The book during the period of reconstruction of the national economy and strengthening of socialist society (1930-1941)
    • Restructuring the publishing industry. Creation of OGIZ (1930)
    • Resolution of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks “On publishing work.” Further typification of publishing houses
    • Publishing socio-political books
    • Publishing technical and natural science books
    • Publishing agricultural books
    • Publishing fiction
    • Publishing children's and youth books
    • The role of A.M. Gorky in development publishing activities
  • Book during the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945)
    • State of the printing database
    • General state of book publishing
    • Publishing socio-political books
    • Publishing military and military-technical books
    • Publishing technical and natural science books
    • Publishing fiction
    • The book during the period of restoration of the national economy and the completion of the construction of socialism (1945-1958)
    • Restoration and development of the printing industry
    • General state of book publishing
    • Publishing socio-political books
    • Publishing technical and natural science books
    • Publishing agricultural books
    • Publishing fiction in the post-war period
    • Publishing children's books
    • The book during the period of developed socialism and the transition to communism
    • State of the printing database
    • General state of book publishing
      • General state of book publishing - page 2
      • General state of book publishing - page 3
    • Publishing socio-political books
      • Publication of socio-political books - page 2
    • Publishing technical and natural science books
    • Release of encyclopedic publications
    • Publishing agricultural books
    • Publishing fiction
      • Fiction publication - page 2
    • Publishing children's and youth books
    • conclusions

The publishing industry in the republic was radically restructured on a state basis in accordance with the principles of the Soviet state and the tasks facing it.

Control publishing was concentrated in the People's Commissariat for Education.

Soviet publishing houses began to be created at the end of 1917. The first of them was the Literary Publishing Department (LIO) of the People's Commissariat for Education (then the People's Commission for Education). It was created on the initiative of V.I. Lenin in mid-November 1917 at one of the first meetings of the People's Commissariat for Education as a state publishing house. On December 29 (old style) of the same year, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee adopted and approved the decree “On the State Publishing House,” which reflected Lenin’s ideas of party culture, the use of classical cultural heritage and its critical development.

The decree ordered the People's Commissariat for Education, through the Literary Publishing Department, to begin the widespread production of Russian classical literature and textbooks.

LIO was supposed to publish works of Russian classics of two types - complete scientific editions and abridged editions of selected works. First of all, cheap folk editions of Russian classics were to be published in one compact volume. When choosing works for publication, the editors had to be guided, among other considerations, by the degree of their closeness to the working people. All collections and individual especially significant works had to be accompanied by forewords by authoritative critics and literary historians.

People's editions of the classics were supposed to be sold at cost, and sometimes distributed at a reduced price, or even free, through libraries.

In February 1918, the resolution of the People's Commissariat of Education "On the publication of works of Russian writers" announced the nationalization by the state of the right to publish literary works and on the licensing procedure for publishing scientific works. Earlier, in January 1918, a list of 58 Russian fiction writers, poets and critics was published, whose works it was decided to publish, monopolizing them for 5 years (later the monopoly was extended for another 5 years). The works of writers not included in this list and who died no later than December 31, 1917, could be published by any publishing house without state permission. Works that became the property of the LIO according to the list could be published by private publishers only with the permission of the LIO.

A Bolshevik scientist, a member of the party since 1902, a “Vperyodist”, one of the largest Soviet Marxist literary scholars, an active statesman P.I. Lebedev-Polyansky.

LIO consisted of three subsections - literary and artistic, popular science and pedagogical. The literary and artistic editorial commission included A.A. Blok, N.I. Altman (painter, graphic artist and sculptor), historian of Russian literature, Pushkin scholar, corresponding member Russian Academy Sciences P.O. Morozov and artist D.P. Shterenberg, and after the publishing house moved to Moscow - V.Ya. Bryusov, V.V. Veresaev, I.E. Grabar et al.

The department for publishing popular science books consisted of socio-political and natural history sections. The latter included K.A. and A.K. Timiryazev, L.S. Berg, P.I. Walden, astronomers K.L. Baev, S.N. Blazhko, V.V. Stratonov and other scientists and popularizers in all fields natural sciences. The pedagogical subdepartment was formed later than the others; it published two or three textbooks, pedagogical works by N.K. Krupskaya, A.V. Lunacharsky and others.

In December 1917, the publishing department of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee was created, reorganized in mid-1918 into an independent publishing house, headed by Pravdist K.S. Eremeev. The publishing house had several industry departments, with socio-political and military departments occupying the first place.

The publishing house has published several works by classics of Marxism-Leninism, works by A. Bebel, P. Lafargue, F. Mehring, K. Zetkin. It published historical-revolutionary, popular science books, and the journal “Bulletin of Knowledge”. But mainly mass propaganda and political brochures and mass military literature were published.

In the fall of 1918, the publishing house “World Literature” was created under the People's Commissariat for Education. It was organized by A.M. Gorky together with A.N. Tikhonov, Z.I. Grzhebin and I.P. Ladyzhnikov. Gorky recruited more than 80 major writers, historians, and literary scholars. The catalog of publications “World Literature,” printed in 1919 on good paper, with parallel Russian and foreign texts, included more than 1,500 books.

“In terms of its breadth, this publication is the first and only in Europe,” Gorky wrote proudly in the preface to the catalogue. Having familiarized himself with it, V.I. Lenin said: “I am very glad that Alexey Maksimovich managed to develop this enormously important matter here and compile such a wonderful catalogue. We must help him in every possible way in this matter. This will be very useful for our reading masses.”

According to the plan of A.M. Gorky, the publications of “World Literature” were supposed to acquaint readers with both the work of individual writers and literary schools and directions, with the mutual influence of literatures, with the development of the art of prose and the technique of verse. The publications were supplied with introductory articles, notes, and biographical information.

The publishing house had a very strong Eastern department, in which academicians I.Yu. Krachkovsky, N.Ya. Marr, S.F. Oldenburg worked on literary monuments of the East.

The editorial board of the publishing house included, in addition to A.M. Gorky, A.A. Blok, V.Ya. Bryusov, A.V. Lunacharsky and some writers from the bourgeois camp, who soon emigrated. “World Literature” has scheduled the release of two series. The main series included the most significant works of world literature. The folk series (small-format books) included more famous and accessible works and was intended for the mass reader. The most significant works of each country, mainly with social themes, were selected for publication. Much attention was paid to the usefulness of the texts and the skill of translation.

The development of publishing houses was decisively influenced by the resolution of the plenum of the CPSU Central Committee (1963), which provided for their consolidation and specialization. To manage book publishing, regardless of the departmental subordination of publishing houses, it was created in 1963 State Committee according to the press of the Council of Ministers of the USSR. The committee was supposed to monitor compliance with the publishing profile, allocate paper resources, eliminate duplication in production, etc. Instead of 62 central publishing houses, 44 were created, among them: Political Publishing House, “Thought”, “Economics”, “Science”, “Mechanical Engineering”, “Metallurgy”, “Medicine”, “Fiction”, “World”, “Progress”, “Book”, etc. In 1981, the publishing houses “Finance and Statistics”, “Radio and Communications”, Energoatomizdat, “ Light industry» .

Regional and regional publishing houses were consolidated. In the RSFSR, instead of 46 local publishing houses, 20 consolidated ones were formed according to economic regions: Verkhne-Volzhskoye, East Siberian, Priokskoye, South Ural, etc.

The creation of enlarged publishing houses with a clear profile contributed to the monopolization of book publishing and increased control over their work. This was also due to the streamlining of the publishing activities of ministries and departments. In 1966, there were more than 3,300 publishing organizations, which produced 30 percent of the total book circulation. By 1972, the number of publishing organizations had dropped to 623.

In the second half of the 1960s, new management methods, which were introduced into the Soviet economy in accordance with the decisions of party plenums, became relevant for the book business. Before this, more than half of the publishing houses operated at a loss, receiving subsidies state budget. The ideological side of publishing clearly prevailed over the economic one. For example, publishing houses did not bear any financial responsibility for books that were unsold and written off in the bookselling network.

In 1968, the “Regulations on the Socialist State Publishing House” were introduced, which expanded the operational independence of publishing houses and provided more opportunities to take initiative in economic activities.

Publishers who have switched to new system planning and economic stimulation, higher organizations approved eleven indicators, while previously the number of approved indicators reached one hundred. However, in Soviet times, publishing houses did not receive the right to independently set the circulation of publications; they were prohibited from directly conducting commercial activities.

The centralization of publishing activities allowed industry authorities in the 1970s to draw up consolidated thematic plans for publication in the main sections of literature. In 1975, a system of consolidated thematic planning and coordinating the publication of literature by all publishing houses. The thematic release plan of the publishing house has become the main indicator of its activities. Publishers had to maintain the stability of plans and implement them. The publishing house could replace titles, postpone the release date, change the volume and other characteristics of the publication only with the permission of a higher organization.

Based on consolidated thematic plans, Goskomizdat tried to develop forecasts of the optimal ratio of species and thematic groups publications Thus, in the mid-1980s, the State Committee for Publishing of the RSFSR developed three comprehensive programs publishing publications (in light of the decisions of the 26th Congress of the CPSU): literature that contributes to the implementation of the party’s instructions in the area of ​​solving the food program; books for Siberia and Far East and books telling about these regions; books and textbooks for schools, teenagers and young people. Measures were taken to strictly regulate the average volume of a book for certain types of literature in order to save scarce paper.

In 1987, for the first time in Soviet publishing practice, an experiment was conducted to form a publishing repertoire in direct accordance with demand. The publishing house “Book Chamber” began publishing the “Popular Library” series in 1987. The composition of the books in this series was determined on the basis of data from the Book Institute on the most popular authors and works of fiction.

The largest publishing project was the publication of the “Library of World Literature” (BWL) in 200 volumes, which included the most outstanding works of world literature. In three series of this library (I series - literature Ancient East, antiquity, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the 17th and 18th centuries; II series - XIX century; III series - XX century) 25,800 works were published by 3,235 outstanding writers from more than eighty countries. The BVL was published by the publishing house "Khudozhestvennaya Literatura" in 1967-1977. This largest publishing house published the widely known series “People's Library”, “Foreign Novel of the 20th Century”, “Library of the Historical Novel”, “Library of the Classics”, etc.

Academic collected works were published by the Nauka publishing house. In the 1970s, the collected works of F. M. Dostoevsky and A. P. were published. Chekhov. The newspaper and magazine publishing house "Pravda" published scientific and popular collected works.

In 1973, by decision of the State Committee for Publishing of the USSR, in order to replenish the collections of public libraries, the publication of the “Library Series” began, the books of which were intended for sale only to libraries. This year 7 million copies were produced. books, mainly fiction, in 1974 - 8 million copies, in 1975 - 9 million copies. A powerful group of publishing houses participated in the production of books in this series: in 1973 it included 14 publishing houses, in 1982 - 17

The publication of educational literature has always been under the close attention of party and government bodies. During the years of Soviet power, great successes were achieved in the education of citizens. So, for example, in 1974-1975. in the country in different forms Almost 90 million people studied. In 1975, the share of educational literature was 23% in the total circulation of all publications. Resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR “On the transition to free use of textbooks by students secondary schools"(1978) set before the country's book industry the task of providing schoolchildren with free educational literature.

The number of books on technology, industry, transport, and communications in 1976 compared to 1940 increased (in terms of titles) twofold, in terms of circulation - five times. Specific gravity of these publications in the total mass of printed products (by title) increased from 26 to 34 percent. An increasing place in the scientific and technical literature was occupied by books on automation and mechanization, computer technology and other current issues. The production of translated literature increased. The central scientific and technical publishing houses (“Mechanical Engineering”, “Metallurgy”, “Mir”, “Science”, “Soviet Radio”, etc.) annually published about four hundred works by foreign authors. However, since the late 1970s, the number of scientific and technical publications began to decline, which reduced the supply of information to specialists. This was partly explained by the fact that the transition of publishing houses to self-supporting made it unprofitable for them to publish small-circulation books. The problem arose of providing narrow groups of specialists with book products.

In the USSR, a system of encyclopedic and reference publications developed, which included: universal encyclopedias (Great Soviet Encyclopedia), sectoral encyclopedias (for example, “Soviet Historical Encyclopedia” - 16 volumes, “Agricultural Encyclopedia” - 6 volumes); one-volume dictionaries (“Polytechnic Dictionary”). The publishing house “Soviet Encyclopedia” specialized in the production of reference literature.

Contacts between Soviet publishing houses and partners in foreign countries are expanding, which was facilitated by the USSR's accession (1973) to the World (Geneva) Copyright Convention and the creation of the All-Union Copyright Agency (VAAP). It was believed that until 1982 the USSR occupied first place in the world in issuing translated publications, but most translations were from the languages ​​of the peoples of the USSR and socialist countries (for example, out of 8654 translated publications published in 1985, 6595 were translations from the languages ​​of the peoples of the USSR ) . Translated literature was subject to even greater ideological censorship than the original; often the political position of the author was more important than the artistic merits of his work.

The art of designing publishing products is developing, and the production of books with illustrations is growing. Creating new fonts makes book design more interesting. The production of publications in solid paper binding, with bright colorful covers, is increasing. Seamless adhesive binding of books, varnishing of paper bindings, color print on the binding, etc. The publication of “pocket” publications has developed, but a clear division is not achieved functional purpose this type of publications and bound books. Works of fiction are often published in multimillion-dollar bound editions, but on poor paper, design, and printing quality. For paperback books, medium rather than pocket formats were more often used.

The quality of publications' design was negatively affected by the state of technical equipment of publishing houses and printing enterprises. Modern electronic equipment was not introduced into publishing processes quickly enough. In the 1980s, some publishing houses began to use automated systems for processing text information using computer technology.

Since 1988, there have already been 244 publishing houses operating in the USSR. This number included purely “book” publishing houses, as well as newspaper and magazine publishing houses that published books in addition to periodicals, and those that, along with book products, produced sheet music, albums or posters. The Main Directorate of Geodesy and Cartography stood apart - a monopolist in the production of cartographic publications. It can be considered the 245th publishing house.

The publishing system, for all its stability, changed slightly from year to year. Publishing houses were sometimes enlarged (in 1983, two publishing houses were merged into “Finance and Statistics”), or divided (in 1987, the “Book Chamber” was spun off from “Kniga”). In 1983 there were 229 publishing houses, in 1973 - 193. The largest increase in numbers was provided by publishing houses of the Union republics and local party newspaper and magazine publishing houses. The number of university publishing houses also grew.

Of the 244 publishing houses, 120 were located on the territory of the RSFSR, of which exactly half were central. 55 central publishing houses were located in Moscow, 4 in Leningrad, 1 in Kazan. Republican Russian publishing houses were represented by 6 Moscow, 2 Leningrad, 52 local.

Most of the central and almost all Russian publishing houses were under the jurisdiction of the state publishing houses of the USSR and the RSFSR, respectively. Some of them were in double subordination. A number of publishing houses were under the jurisdiction of ministries and departments (Military Publishing House, Publishing House of Standards), creative unions (Soviet Writer, Soviet Artist), others public organizations(Profizdat, “News”, “Knowledge”). The Communist Party owned powerful publishing houses. The central publishing houses included three publishing houses of the CPSU Central Committee, as well as Lenizdat and Moskovsky Rabochiy, respectively the Leningrad and Moscow (city and regional) party organizations. These five publishing houses produced a third of the circulation of all central publishing houses and 40% of printed sheets. And the publishing house "Pravda" (since 1992 - "Press") was the largest Soviet publishing house. Second in circulation to Children's Literature and Enlightenment, it occupied 1st place in volume: in 1988, 4.4 billion printed sheets of book products alone.

And the last thing worth mentioning, completing the description of the bygone era, is the structure of the retail price of the book. If a book in a store was sold for 1 ruble, then the authors received 4 kopecks, editorial and publishing costs cost 5 kopecks, materials - 16 kopecks, printing - 17 kopecks, profit was 33 kopecks, book trade kept 25 cop. A single 25 percent trade discount was differentiated by territory. Using the example of Mosoblkniga - one of the large Russian booksellers - we will show the distribution of the discount. 4 out of 25 percent went to the maintenance of the union and republican wholesale chain, 2 was enough to maintain the regional apparatus and book base, 19 ensured the operation of bookstores. In other words, a 33 percent markup on the publisher’s price paid for the work of all parts book trade. Such a detailed introduction was necessary because many authors who turn to the characteristics of the book industry of the Soviet era cannot avoid approximateness, tendentiousness, and myth-making.

Thus, the further development of the book business in the country increasingly came into conflict with political and economic conditions. The industry needed free enterprise, liberation from ideological and economic dictates from government agencies.

Briefly about the most popular magazines of the last century.

In the Soviet Union at one time there were about 200 periodicals of varying degrees of popularity. Today we invite you to remember those of them that left the most vivid mark in the hearts of our readers.

"Funny pictures"

"Funny Pictures" is a children's humor magazine designed for children from 4 to 10 years old. Published in Moscow monthly since September 1956. Along with Murzilka, it was the most popular children's magazine in the USSR in the 1960-80s. In the early 1980s, its circulation reached 9.5 million copies.

"Around the world"

“Around the World” is the oldest Russian popular science and regional studies magazine, published since December 1860. During its existence, it changed several publishers. From January 1918 to January 1927 and from July 1941 to December 1945 the magazine was not published. The topics of the articles are geography, travel, ethnography, biology, astronomy, medicine, culture, history, biographies, cooking.

"Behind the wheel"

“Behind the Wheel” is a popular Soviet and Russian Russian-language magazine about cars and the automotive industry. Until 1989, it was the only automobile periodical in the USSR, designed for a wide range of readers. By the end of the 1980s, the magazine's circulation reached 4.5 million copies. It is known, for example, that the poet Vladimir Mayakovsky worked in this magazine.

"Health"

"Health" - monthly Soviet and Russian magazine about human health and ways to preserve it. Began publishing in January 1955. Initially it was an organ promoting a healthy lifestyle, but later became a full-fledged popular science magazine.

"Knowledge is power"

“Knowledge is Power” is a popular science and art magazine founded in 1926. It published materials about achievements in various areas sciences - physics, astronomy, cosmology, biology, history, economics, philosophy, psychology, sociology. The magazine's motto is Francis Bacon's statement: “Knowledge itself is power.”

"Foreign literature"

"Foreign Literature" (IL) is a literary and artistic magazine specializing in the publication of translated literature. Founded in July 1955 as the governing body of the USSR Writers' Union.

For Soviet readers, the magazine was the only opportunity to get acquainted with the work of many major Western writers, whose books were not published in the USSR for censorship reasons.

"Seeker"

“Seeker” is a monthly almanac that publishes adventure, fantasy and detective works, popular science essays, as well as fiction and educational literature for children from 2 to 14 years old. It was founded in 1961, in the year of the centenary of the magazine “Around the World”, as a literary supplement to the latter.

Chapters from the stories of the Strugatsky brothers “Trainees” and “Monday Begins on Saturday” were published for the first time in The Seeker. The magazine's pages featured works by Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Clifford Simak, Robert Heinlein, and Robert Sheckley.

"Bonfire"

“Koster” is a monthly literary and artistic magazine for schoolchildren. It was founded by the publishing house "Children's Literature" in 1936. Published from July 1936 to 1946, then after a ten-year break, publication was resumed in July 1956. IN different time“Koster” was an organ of the Komsomol Central Committee; Central Committee of the Komsomol and the Union of Writers of the USSR. Marshak, Chukovsky, Schwartz, Paustovsky, Zoshchenko and many others were published in it.

Sergei Dovlatov worked for this magazine. And it was here that the first publication of Joseph Brodsky in the Soviet press took place. Also, some works of famous foreign children's writers - Gianni Rodari and Astrid Lindgren - were published here for the first time.

"Peasant Woman"

“Peasant Woman” is a periodical published since 1922. The first issue of “Peasant Woman” was published in a circulation of five thousand copies, and in 1973 the circulation reached 6.3 million copies.

The first issue published an appeal from the Chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, Mikhail Kalinin, to female readers, which explained the role of the publication in introducing working women to public and cultural life countries. Each issue was accompanied by free benefit- lessons in cutting and sewing, knitting, fashion and so on.

Krupskaya and Lunacharsky spoke on the pages of the magazine. Demyan Bedny, Maxim Gorky, Serafimovich, Tvardovsky and other famous writers wrote for him.

"Crocodile"

"Crocodile" - satirical magazine, founded in 1922 as a supplement to the Rabochaya Gazeta. At the end of the 20s, an airplane was built using funds collected from the magazine's subscribers and its employees.

Writers Zoshchenko, Ilf and Petrov, Kataev, artists Kukryniksy and Boris Efimov worked in the magazine on a permanent basis. Bagritsky and Olesha published periodically.

In 1933, the NKVD discovered a “counter-revolutionary formation” in Krokodil that was engaged in “anti-Soviet agitation” in the form of writing and distributing illegal satirical texts. As a result, two magazine employees were arrested, the editorial board was dissolved, and the editor lost his post. By decision of the Organizing Bureau and Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, “Krokodil” was transferred to “Pravda”, and from that time began to participate in all Soviet political campaigns.

Since 1934, Krokodil has been the most important official mouthpiece of politics at all levels of social and political life.

"Horizon"

"Krugozor" is a monthly literary, musical, socio-political and illustrated magazine, with applications in the form of flexible gramophone records. Published in 1964-1992.

At the origins of the magazine were Yuri Vizbor, who worked in it for 7 years since its founding, Lyudmila Petrushevskaya, and poet Evgeniy Khramov.

The magazine constantly published songs performed by Soviet pop stars: Kobzon, Obodzinsky, Rotaru, Pugacheva, popular VIA (“Pesnyary”, “Gems”, “Flame”, etc.), and many famous foreign performers, whose recordings were in demand in the Soviet Union significantly exceeded supply.

"Model designer"

“Modelist-constructor” (until 1966 - “Young modeller-constructor”) is a monthly popular scientific and technical magazine.

The first issue of the magazine entitled “Young Model Designer” was published in August 1962 under the guidance of famous aircraft designers A. Tupolev, S. Ilyushin, as well as cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. Until 1965, the magazine was published irregularly; a total of 13 issues were published. Since 1966, it became a monthly subscription publication and changed its name to “Modelist-Constructor”.

Each issue of the magazine published drawings and diagrams of the most various designs- from devices for household to homemade microcars and amateur aircraft, as well as materials on the history of technology.

"Murzilka"

"Murzilka" is a popular monthly children's literary and art magazine. From the day of its foundation (May 16, 1924) until 1991, it was the printed organ of the Komsomol Central Committee and the Central Council of the All-Union Pioneer Organization named after V.I. Lenin.

They started their own in the magazine creative path writers such as Samuil Marshak, Sergei Mikhalkov, Boris Zakhoder, Agnia Barto and Nikolai Nosov.

In 1977-1983, the magazine published a detective-mystery story about Yabeda-Koryabeda and her agents, and in 1979 - science fiction dreams “Travel there and back” (author and artist - A. Semenov).

In 2011, the magazine was included in the Guinness Book of Records. It has been recognized as the longest running children's publication.

"Science and life"

“Science and Life” is a monthly popular science illustrated magazine of a wide profile. It was founded in 1890. The publication was resumed in October 1934. The magazine's circulation in the 1970s-1980s reached 3 million copies and was one of the highest in the USSR.

"Ogonyok"

"Ogonyok" is a socio-political, literary and artistic illustrated weekly magazine. It was founded and published in 1899-1918 in St. Petersburg (Petrograd), and in 1923 it began publishing in Moscow.

In 1918, publication of the magazine ceased and was resumed through the efforts of Mikhail Koltsov in 1923. Until 1940, 36 issues were published per year; since 1940, the magazine turned into a weekly. In 1925-1991, artistic and journalistic brochures were published in the “Library “Ogonyok”” series.

"Sail"

“Parus” (until 1988 “Working Shift”) is an all-Union youth magazine that published fiction stories by both aspiring Soviet authors and world-famous foreign authors. The circulation reached 1 million copies.

The last page of the magazine published covers for cassettes of both domestic groups (“Alice”) and foreign ones (“Animals”). In addition, almost every issue of the magazine published a fantastic story.

"Pioneer"

“Pioneer” is a monthly literary, artistic and socio-political magazine of the Komsomol Central Committee and the Central Council of the All-Union Pioneer Organization named after V.I. Lenin for pioneers and schoolchildren.

The first issue was published on March 15, 1924 and was dedicated to V.I. Lenin. It is considered a bibliographic rarity, since the author of the essay on Lenin was Leon Trotsky, and the published copies were subsequently destroyed.

"Pioneer" had permanent sections on school and pioneer life, journalism, science and technology, art, sports, and children's artistic creativity. In addition, the magazine organized the work of Timur’s teams and detachments.

"Working Girl"

“Rabotnitsa” is a socio-political, literary and artistic magazine for women.

It was established on the initiative of Vladimir Lenin to “protect the interests of the women’s labor movement” and promote the views of the labor movement. The first issue was published on February 23 (March 8, new style) 1914. Until 1923 it was published in St. Petersburg, then in Moscow. Since 1943, “Rabotnitsa” began to be published monthly.

In 1985, the magazine began a three-year series of publications - the Home Academy on Housekeeping and Handicrafts. The Academy program included 4 sections - Cutting and sewing, Knitting, Cooking, Personal care. In post-Soviet times, the magazine appeared sections “Over 50, and everything is fine”, “Man and woman”, “Conversation for two”, “Men in our lives”, “Life history”.

"Coeval"

"Rovesnik" is a youth magazine published since July 1962. The main audience is young people from 14 to 28 years old. In the Soviet Union, existing under the auspices of the Central Committee of the Komsomol and the KMO of the USSR, “Coeval” wrote on topics that were then unique for Soviet youth - such as rock music, the life and culture of foreign youth.

In the 1980s and 1990s, “Rovesnika” published the “Rovesnika Rock Encyclopedia” - practically the first attempt at a rock encyclopedia in Russian. It was written by Sergei Kastalsky, and in each issue several encyclopedia articles were published, in alphabetical order.

"Roman-newspaper"

"Roman-Gazeta" is a Soviet and Russian literary magazine published monthly since 1927 and twice monthly since 1957.

By July 1987 (on the 60th anniversary of the publication of the first issue of the magazine), 1066 issues of Roman-Gazeta had been published with a total circulation of over 1 billion 300 million copies. During this period, 528 authors spoke in Roman-Gazeta, of which 434 were Soviet writers and 94 foreign. 440 novels, 380 stories and 12 poetic works were published.

In 1989, the magazine's circulation exceeded 3 million copies.

"Change"

"Smena" is an illustrated popular humanitarian magazine with strong literary traditions. Founded in 1924, it was the most popular youth magazine in the Soviet Union.

Since its founding, the magazine has published premiere publications of books that later became bestsellers. In the twenties, it was in Smena that the first stories by Mikhail Sholokhov and Alexander Green, and poems by Vladimir Mayakovsky appeared. In the thirties, Konstantin Paustovsky, Lev Kassil, and Valentin Kataev published their first works on the pages of Smena. An excerpt from Alexei Tolstoy’s new novel “Peter I” and his fairy tale “The Adventures of Pinocchio” were published.

In the post-war years, the pages of Smena published an excerpt from the novel “The Young Guard” by Alexander Fadeev and the story “Test of Loyalty” by Stanislav Lem, not yet known in the USSR. In 1975, the Weiner brothers’ novel “The Era of Mercy” appeared on the pages of Smena.

“Soviet Screen” is an illustrated magazine published at various intervals from 1925 to 1998 (with a break in 1930-1957). In January-March 1925, the magazine was published under the name “Ekran Kinogazeta”, in 1929-1930 - “Cinema and Life”, in 1991-1997 - “Ekran”. Until 1992, the magazine was the organ of the Union of Cinematographers of the USSR and Goskino of the USSR. The magazine published articles about domestic and foreign novelties on the silver screen, articles about the history of cinema, criticism, and creative portraits of actors and filmmakers.

In 1984, the publication's circulation was 1,900 thousand copies. In 1991, the magazine was renamed Ekran.

"Sport games"

“Sports Games” is a Soviet and Russian sports and methodological magazine published in 1955-1994. Published in Moscow by the Committee for physical culture and sports under the Council of Ministers of the USSR. The magazine was dedicated various problems theory and practice of sports games.

The magazine talked about game types sports (football, hockey, basketball, tennis, etc.). Published the results of sports competitions. As of 1975, the magazine's circulation was 170 thousand copies.

"Student Meridian"

“Student Meridian” is a journalistic, popular science, literary and artistic youth magazine, formed in 1924 under the name “Red Youth” (1924-1925). Before the Great Patriotic War, the name changed twice (“Red Students”, 1925-1935; “Soviet Students”, 1936-1967).

In 1925, the magazine was headed by N.K. Krupskaya. As a teacher, she became closely involved in student issues and published a significant number of pedagogical articles here. Around these years, Alexander Rodchenko worked at the magazine, who attracted Vladimir Mayakovsky to collaborate.

The editorial archive contains a certificate from the “Book of Records”, confirming that the editorial office has a unique collection of 36 thousand kisses sent to “St. M." fans of the magazine.

In July-August 1991, there was a special issue of the magazine, 100 pages long, entirely dedicated to The Beatles.

"Technology for youth"

“Technology for Youth” is a monthly popular science and literary and artistic magazine. Published since July 1933.

“Technology for Youth” is one of the few Soviet popular science magazines published during the Great Patriotic War. It published the best works of Soviet and foreign science fiction.

The editors of the magazine organized over 20 all-Russian and international shows and competitions of amateur cars. Using the materials of the magazine and with the participation of its authors, the program “You Can Do It” was broadcast on television.

"Ural Pathfinder"

“Ural Pathfinder” is a popular monthly literary, journalistic, educational magazine about tourism and local history published in Yekaterinburg (Sverdlovsk). The first issue of the magazine was published in April 1935, then, after nine issues, publication was discontinued. The magazine experienced a rebirth in 1958.

The magazine published Vladislav Krapivin, Viktor Astafiev, Sergei Drugal, Sergei Lukyanenko, German Drobiz and many others.

In 1981, the editors of the Ural Pathfinder magazine established the Aelita fiction festival, which awarded the Aelita literary prize, which is the first major literary prize in the Ural region and the first literary prize in the field of fiction in the country.

"Youth"

"Youth" is a literary and artistic illustrated magazine for young people. It was founded in Moscow in 1955 on the initiative of Valentin Kataev, who became the first editor-in-chief and was removed from this position in 1961 for publishing the story “Star Ticket” by Vasily Aksenov.

Yunost differed from other literary magazines in its great interest in public life and the surrounding world. It had permanent sections “Science and Technology”, “Sports”, “Facts and Searches”. The magazine was one of the first to cover the phenomenon of bard song, and in the eighties - “Mitkov”.

One of the most characteristic features of “Youth” was the humorous section, which in 1956-1972 was called “Vacuum Cleaner”, later - “Green Briefcase”. The editors of the section at different times were Mark Rozovsky, Arkady Arkanov and Grigory Gorin, Viktor Slavkin and Mikhail Zadornov.

These were the most interesting magazines Soviet Union. Which ones did you have? Which ones did you enjoy reading the most?