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HU OSA 300-85-9
Fonds 300: Records of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Research Institute
Subfonds 85: Samizdat Archives
Series 9: Published Samizdat

Date(s) 1968-1992

Extent and medium 182 Archival boxes, 23 linear meters

Archival history

The series contains registered Samizdat documents. Some documents (those published in the West before they were reproduced in “Materialy Samizdata") were not included in the collection, but had a registration sheet filed instead. Some items are missing.

The documents in the series are filed according to their registration numbers, i.e. in chronological order of arrival. “In many cases order of arrival does not correspond with the date of the document since the time which it takes a document to reach the West may vary widely from one item to another"('The Archiv Samizdata", [RL, 1974], Series Administrative Files, HU OSA 300-85 Samizdat Archives, HU OSA 300 Records of the Research Institute of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Open Society Archives, Budapest, Hungary).

“Originals" of the published Samizdat documents (in this context an original is a document delivered to RL/RFE) are filed along with stencils used for publication or printouts of the document, notes by staff researchers, and occasionally some reference materials.

The first 3000 published Samizdat documents are accompanied by registration sheets (a special form filled in for each document). Some registration sheets are missing.

The form had the following fields:
Classifications
Biblio (i.e. registration number and title)
Index keywords
Details and description
Cross-references in samizdat
Initial source (including issue of “Materialy Samizdata" where the item appeared)
Published version
Notes
Sources
Press treatments

Actually “Biblio" was the only obligatory field. Some registration sheets contain useful additional information.

Documents with numbers above 3000 are accompanied by “Materialy Samizdata" cover pages listing documents included under their registration numbers.

***
Since the Soviet Research Department started collecting Samizdat at the end of the 60s, by the time Samizdat Archives (SA) was set up as a separate unit (1971), the Samizdat collection numbered 500 documents. The first issue of the Samizdat register (1972) lists 559 samizdat documents.

The register was published every year during the period from 1972 to 1977. The number of registered documents reflects (to a certain extent) the rate at which the collection was expanding:
1973 - 1478
1975 - 2000
1977 - 3000

By the end of the registration process in 1992, there were 6617 samizdat documents in the collection.

This collection was considered the most representative in the West and is comparable with the best samizdat collections in Russia.

Scope and content

To give readers a good idea of the contents of the collection, we refer them to the description of the SA classification system compiled by the SA staff in 1974 "('The Archiv Samizdata", [RL, 1974], Series ? Administrative Files, Sub-fond 85 Samizdat Archives, Fond 300 Records of the Research Institute of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Open Society Archives, Budapest, Hungary).

According to the description, the Samizdat collection {which at that time numbered 2094 registered documents) included the following groups of documents:
a) documents concerning individual complaints or specific themes, which is by far the largest group (784 registered documents);
b) literary and philosophical Samizdat (120 registered documents). “…most essays and poetry included in the Archiv Samizdata have some political significance“;
c) general political writings (183 registered documents). "This category embraces articles and even some books which aim at a more or less general discussion and analysis of the Soviet political system". For example AS 1500: R. A. Medvedev, The Problem of Democratization and the Problem of Detente (October 1973);
d) religious Samizdat (487 registered documents). “The principal sections within the group concern the Baptists, the Russian Orthodox Church, and the Lithuanian Roman Catholics. The Baptists are particularly active in Samizdat. There are also a small number of documents regarding the Uniates (a formerly numerous group from the Western Ukraine, adhering to the old Slavonic liturgy and to the Roman Catholic Church) and the Buddhists. Islam is notably absent from Samizdat literature but geographical factors may in part be blamed for this (the Islamic population is to be found mostly outside Russia proper - Azarbaidzhan, Central Asia and the region of the Urals). Documents concerning the Jewish religion have been classed under (e)";
e) Jewish Samizdat (176 registered documents). “Jewish Samizdat is a comparative latecomer and does not start until 1968. Most of it is concerned with individual acts of discrimination, often in connection with the expression of the wish to emigrate to Israel";
f) national Samizdat (203 registered documents). “This category embraces documents attacking the official nationalities policy, or complaining about specific acts related to the nationality question in the USSR. The most numerous are documents concerning the Crimean Tartars, followed by another large contingent of Ukrainian documents (most of them in Ukrainian). Other significant groups of national Samizdat concern Meskhetians (a small Turkic-speaking nation from Southern Georgia), the Armenians and the Lithuanians. Jewish Samizdat is not included in the group";
g) official Soviet documents (52 registered documents). “This group consists chiefly of official reports about searches (which should be handed to the inhabitant of the premises which have been searched), arrests, etc.; psychiatric reports about dissidents; documents issued by the prison administration, copies of court sentences and the like";
h) trial reports and “final" words (43 registered documents). “Official reports of trials of political dissidents have not appeared in Soviet court bulletins, but since the Siniavskii - Daniel trial in February 1966, it has been the practice among Soviet dissidents to prepare verbatim reports (as far as possible) immediately after the trial by comparing notes (usually made surreptitiously) and relying on the memory of several observers. An impressive number of reports have been compiled in this way, providing not only a vivid account of the confrontation between the Soviet regime and its dissident citizens, but also rare information about the actual operation of the Soviet legal system. In many cases the final words spoken by the accused have been incorporated in the trial reports, but a number of speeches from the dock also circulate separately and for this reason have been included in this group of documents";
i) non-dissident Soviet documents (19 registered documents). “This category covers a relatively small number of documents of completely 'loyal’ character which have ended up in Samizdat because of their specific interest to dissident circles". As an example one could mention AS 42: Transcript of a teachers' union meeting in Moscow held to punish teacher V. M. Gerlin for signing a protest petition about the Ginzburg - Galanskov trial (16 April, 1968);
j) documents of foreign origin (4 registered documents). “The Archiv Samizdata contains a few bibliographical notes about foreign works circulating in Samizdat (or sometimes in the original form) in the Soviet Union…". (AS 464: note concerning Djilas" “The New Class").

In the course of time relative size of the listed groups changed (for example, the proportion of Jewish Samizdat certainly increased by the end of the 70s), though the classification remained valid until the time of Perestroika.

During this period (1986-1992) over 1000 documents were registered. Though some of them belong to the old categories, as a result of the changes that Soviet society was undergoing at that time, the old classification system did not cover newly emerged Samizdat topics, such as the building of new political parties, discussions on ongoing and future reforms, and historical topics. The classification of Samizdat from the Perestroika period is a problem that remains to be solved.

The Samizdat Collection is an essential source for the history of the Soviet dissident movement.
The series contains registered Samizdat documents. Some documents (those published in the West before they were reproduced in “Materialy Samizdata") were not included in the collection, but had a registration sheet filed instead. Some items are missing.

The documents in the series are filed according to their registration numbers, i.e. in chronological order of arrival. “In many cases order of arrival does not correspond with the date of the document since the time which it takes a document to reach the West may vary widely from one item to another"('The Archiv Samizdata", [RL, 1974], Series Administrative Files, HU OSA 300-85 Samizdat Archives, HU OSA 300 Records of the Research Institute of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Open Society Archives, Budapest, Hungary).

“Originals" of the published Samizdat documents (in this context an original is a document delivered to RL/RFE) are filed along with stencils used for publication or printouts of the document, notes by staff researchers, and occasionally some reference materials.

The first 3000 published Samizdat documents are accompanied by registration sheets (a special form filled in for each document). Some registration sheets are missing.

The form had the following fields:
Classifications
Biblio (i.e. registration number and title)
Index keywords
Details and description
Cross-references in samizdat
Initial source (including issue of “Materialy Samizdata" where the item appeared)
Published version
Notes
Sources
Press treatments

Actually “Biblio" was the only obligatory field. Some registration sheets contain useful additional information.

Documents with numbers above 3000 are accompanied by “Materialy Samizdata" cover pages listing documents included under their registration numbers.

***
Since the Soviet Research Department started collecting Samizdat at the end of the 60s, by the time Samizdat Archives (SA) was set up as a separate unit (1971), the Samizdat collection numbered 500 documents. The first issue of the Samizdat register (1972) lists 559 samizdat documents.

The register was published every year during the period from 1972 to 1977. The number of registered documents reflects (to a certain extent) the rate at which the collection was expanding:
1973 - 1478
1975 - 2000
1977 - 3000

By the end of the registration process in 1992, there were 6617 samizdat documents in the collection.

This collection was considered the most representative in the West and is comparable with the best samizdat collections in Russia.

Accruals Not expected

System of arrangement

Language/scripts of material

English, Georgian, Lithuanian, Russian, Ukrainian (Predominantly Russian)

Finding aids

Related units of description

Note

Sample document images: Bibilgraphy sheet, Original copy, Edited by the Samizdat Unit, English translation

Date(s) of descriptions

Arranged and described by Jennie Levine, 1996; revised by Natasha Zanegina, 4 November 2002
Online version updated 6 January 2012
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