Access
Use
Acquisition Information
Preferred Citation
Alternate Forms Available
Biographical/Historical Note
Scope and Content of Collection
Arrangement
Related Materials
Title: Narodno-trudovoĭ soiuz samizdat collection
Date (inclusive): 1960-1991
Collection Number: 2000C83
Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Library and Archives
Language of Material:
Russian
Physical Description:
74 manuscript boxes, 2 oversize boxes, 1 cardfile box
(33.8 Linear Feet)
Abstract: The collection contains novels, poems, and articles submitted for publication, as well as periodicals, pamphlets, speeches
and writings, press releases, statements, petitions, photographs, slides, films, and sound recordings, published or circulated
by underground and uncensored presses or groups in the Soviet Union, relating to political and cultural conditions in the
Soviet Union and collected by the Narodno-trudovoĭ soiuz. Sound use copies of sound recordings available.
Creator:
Narodno-trudovoĭ soi͡uz
Physical Location: Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Access
The collection is open for research; materials must be requested in advance via our reservation system. If there are audiovisual
or digital media material in the collection, they must be reformatted before providing access.
Use
For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Acquisition Information
Acquired by the Hoover Institution Library & Archives in 2000.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Narodno-trudovoĭ soiuz samizdat collection, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library
& Archives.
Alternate Forms Available
Sound use copies of sound recordings available. Digital versions of selected photographs also available.
Biographical/Historical Note
Narodno-trudovoĭ soiuz (National Alliance of Russian Solidarists, known by its Russian abbreviation "NTS") was founded in
1930 by a group of young Russian "White émigrés" in Serbia. As a Russian patriotic, anticommunist organization, the NTS fought
communism by studying Soviet culture to understand the soul of people living in the USSR. It is the largest and most active
political association of Russian émigrés in Western Germany.
Beginning in 1945, the NTS published the monthly magazine Posev and the literary review Grani, often featuring anti-Soviet
samizdat literature smuggled from the USSR.
Samizdat is dissident literature written by Soviet citizens that would not be accepted by Soviet authorities for publication
in the USSR. The name Samizdat combines the word sam (self, by oneself), and izdat, the abbreviation of izdatel'stvo (Publishing
house). Such literature was available only as handwritten or typewritten copies, distributed secretly among trusted people.
Scope and Content of Collection
The collection contains novels, poems, and articles submitted for publication, as well as periodicals, pamphlets, speeches
and writings, press releases, statements, petitions, photographs, slides, film, and sound recordings, related to political,
social, and economic conditions in the Soviet Union and collected by the Narodno-trudovoĭ soiuz.
Samizdat documents that were created in the former Soviet Union reflect the interests and activities of dissidents. The materials
were smuggled abroad for publication in the West and collected by the NTS publishing house Posev.
The materials were cataloged by NTS. As of 31 March 2000 more then 3442 documents were arranged by serial number roughly in
chronological order by the date of arrival, although not all documents here are numbered.
The materials are arranged by the numbering system assigned by NTS. Each number consists of two components: a number assigned
sequentially and a year of creation in two-digit abbreviation (ie. 1968 would be 68). For example, number 139/66 is the 139
document acquired, which dates from 1966. Not all sequential numbers are included in the collection and the material is not
in exact chronological order.
The date of arrival at NTS is later than the date of document creation since it took some time to deliver the materials to
the West. The title, type of document, physical form, and information on publication may be found in the NTS item catalog.
Items without numbers are listed by title at the end of the numerical sequence.
The materials were arranged in two categories by NTS: Samizdat and Oversize samizdat. The Hoover Institution separated other
formats for preservation. Now the materials are arranged by size and physical form and are divided into four categories: (1)
Samizdat files, (2) Oversize samizdat files, (3) Film, slides, and negatives (4) Sound recordings.
Arrangement
Records are arranged as originally received from the organization; generally by the Narodno-trudovoi soiuz number. Each number
consists of two components: a number assigned sequentially and a year in two-digit abbreviation (ie. 1968 would be 68). For
example, number 139/66 is the 139th document, which dates from 1966. Not all sequential numbers are included in the collection
and the material is not in exact chronological order.
Related Materials
The most complete collection of samizdat in the West is the Arkhiv Samizdata of the Research Department of Radio Liberty in
Munich (now at the Open Society Archives in Budapest). However, that collection does not include poetry, novels and other
literature widely represented in the Hoover Institution Library & Archives Narodno-trudovoĭ soiuz samizdat collection.
M. Baranovich papers, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Aleksandr Suetnov papers, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Narodno-trudovoĭ soiuz declaration, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Constantin W. Boldyreff papers, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
George Miller-Kurakin papers, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Sergej Utechin interviews, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
B. Prianishnikov papers, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Audiotapes
Soviet Union -- History -- 1985-1991
Soviet Union -- Civilization
Underground literature -- Soviet Union
Censorship -- Soviet Union
Soviet Union -- History -- 1953-1985