State Publishing House of the RSFSR (

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

: Госуда́рственное изда́тельство РСФСР), also known as Gosizdat (Госиздат), was a publishing house founded in the

Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...

on 21 May 1919. It was to become one of the principal publishing houses in the Soviet Union. In 1930 it was superseded by OGIZ ( :ru:Объединение государственных книжно-журнальных издательств).

History

It was formed at the People's Commissariat of Education of the RSFSR on May 20, 1919 in accordance with the Regulations of the

All-Russian Central Executive Committee The All-Russian Central Executive Committee () was (June – November 1917) a permanent body formed by the First All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies (held from June 16 to July 7, 1917 in Petrograd), then became the ...

and on the initiative of

Anatoly Lunacharsky Anatoly Vasilyevich Lunacharsky (, born ''Anatoly Aleksandrovich Antonov''; – 26 December 1933) was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and the first Soviet People's Commissariat for Education, People's Commissar (minister) of Education, as well ...

. The publishing house was headed by an editorial board, the chairman and members of which were provided by the People's Commissariat of Education, appointed by the Council of People's Commissars and approved by the All-Russian Central Executive Commission The decree founding Gosizdat placed all private publishing in

Soviet Russia The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...

under their control. Although publishers were required to submit manuscripts before publication, Gosizdat was remarkably inefficient and was unable to enforce this. The most significant problems were lack of paper and maintaining the printing presses. Also the book trade had been municipalised in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

by October 1918, and from April 1919 to autumn 1921 all books were distributed free of charge by Tsentropechat. In February 1921, following the report of the Litkens Commission, Gosizdat was incorporated as a department within

Narkompros The People's Commissariat for Education (or Narkompros; , directly translated as the "People's Commissariat for Enlightenment") was the Soviet agency charged with the administration of public education and most other issues related to culture. In 1 ...

. On October 8, 1930 the publishing house was transformed into the

Association of State Book and Magazine Publishing Houses Association may refer to: *Club (organization), an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal *Trade association, an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry *Voluntary associatio ...

(OGIZ). In total, in the years 1919–1930, Gosizdat published 29,555 titles of books and brochures with a total circulation of 610.3 million copies.

Directors

* 1919–21

Vatslav Vorovsky Vatslav Vatslavovich Vorovsky (; 27 October ld Style and New Style dates, O.S. 15 October1871 – 10 May 1923) was a Russian Bolsheviks, Bolshevik revolutionary, literary critic, journalist, and Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, Soviet dipl ...

* 1921–24

Otto Schmidt Otto Yulyevich Shmidt (born Otto Friedrich Julius Schmidt; – 7 September 1956), better known as Otto Schmidt, was a Soviet scientist, mathematician, astronomer, geophysicist, statesman, and academician. Biography He was born in the town of ...

* 1927–30

Artemic Khalatov Artemic (Artashes) Bagratovich Khalatov (Russian: Артемий Багратович Халатов; 15 (27) April 1894 – 26 September 1937 or 27 October 1938)(sources differ) was a Bolshevik revolutionary and Soviet Union, Soviet politician w ...

Publications

Periodicals

*''

Print and Revolution ''Print and Revolution'' was a Soviet literary-critical magazine whose official subtitle was "a journal of literature, art, criticism and bibliography". It was published between 1921 and 1930 by Gosizdat, the State Publishing House of the RSFSR. ...

'' "a journal of literature, art, criticism and bibliography", 1921-1930

References

{{reflist Publishing companies of the Soviet Union Publishing companies established in 1919 People's Commissariat for Education