VTsIK Regulations on the State Publishing House approved

May 20, 1919 Chairman of the Central Executive Committee Mikhail Kalinin approved the Regulations "On the State Publishing House," according to which, in Moscow, was organized the first major Soviet publishing house under the People's Commissariat for Education of the RSFSR.

State Publishing House (Gosizdat) was formed by the merger of the publishing departments of VTsIK, Moscow and Petrograd Soviets, People's Commissariat for Education, "Communist" publishing house and publishers of cooperative organizations.

The first step toward creating a new central publishing system was made December 29, 1917 (January 11) 1918, when the Soviet government adopted a decree "On the State Publishing House", under which publishing houses under the People's Commissariats and institutions acted as organs of state authorities.

According to the Regulations "On the State Publishing House", the Gosizdat became a government body. At the head of the State Publishing House was an editorial board, whose chairman and members were appointed by the Soviet of People's Commissariat on the proposal of the People's Commissariat for Education and approved by the Central Executive Committee. Besides the actual release of publications, Gosizdat was charged with compilation of a single publishing plan, the management of other publishing houses, book distribution control, paper production planning, etc.

At the head of the State Publishing House was set essayist and critic Vladimir Vorovsky. In 1921-1924 this post was occupied by O. Yu. Schmidt, in 1927 – by A. B. Khalatov. The editorial board included  N. I. Bukharin, V. I. Nevsky, M. N. Pokrovsky, I. I. Skvortsov-Stepanov, etc.

The Decree of 1917 (1918), the objectives of the State Publishing Hous boiled down to "a broad publishing ... production of cheap popular editions of Russian classics," "mass publishing of textbooks",   in the editing of this production was involved "a special panel of representatives of educational, literary and educational societies, specially invited experts and delegates of labor organizations." Check and improvement of old textbooks and creation of new once were to be done by a special committee on textbooks including of delegates from teachers, scientists, and democratic institutions, and especially the invited experts.

The Regulations of 1919 focused on the Gosizdat’s leadership: "All the publishing of People's Commissariats, divisions of All-Russian Central Executive Committee and other Soviet institutions, as it relates to general political and cultural issues, is subject to the State Publishing House, which has been granted the right to exercise this publishing activity directly or let these institutions do it under its control." The State Publishing House was supposed to regulate and control the publishing of "all scholars and literary societies, as well as all other publishers."

In the beginning, the State Publishing House produced mostly propaganda and political literature, fables by D. Bedniy, poetry by Vladimir Mayakovsky calling for the protection of the Soviet Republic and the fight against economic chaos and famine.

From 1920 the Gosizdat published the first Soviet editions of works by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, Collected Works of V. I. Lenin, G. V. Plekhanov, produced non-fiction books, textbooks; the series "Popular Library" featured selected works of the classics of Russian literature. New Soviet publishing houses, numerous publishing departments under the People’s Commissariats, departments and executive committees issued a huge number of printed copies and distributed it for free through Tsentropechat (the central print).

From 1921, after the reorganization, the State Publishing House united the largest Soviet publishers. In 1930, under the People's Commissariat for Education of the RSFSR, on the basis of the resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) on "The work of the State Publishing House of the RSFSR and the merger of publishing" on the basis of the Gosizdat was established the Association of State Publishers of the RSFSR - OGIZ.

Lit.: Антонова С. Г., Соловьёв В. И., Ямчук К. Т. Редактирование. М., 1999. Гл. 10. Редакторский опыт в советский период. Параграф. 1. Общая характеристика книгоиздания; Госиздат // Большая советская энциклопедия. М., 1972. Т. 7; Жирков Г. В. История цензуры в России XIX-XX вв. М., 2001; Становление и развитие системы издательств, выпускавших учебно-педагогическую книгу в 20-е годы // Юдина А. В. Учебно-педагогическое книгоиздание в 20-30-е годы XX столетия. М., 1999; Терехов И. М. Издательское дело // Большая советская энциклопедия. М., 1972. Т. 10; 20 мая. Положение ВЦИК о Государственном издательстве // Декреты Советской власти. М., 1971. Т. 5: 1 апреля — 31 июля. С. 207.

Based on the Presidential Library’s materials:

Beginning of the Great Soviet Encyclopedia issue // On this day. 13 February 1925;

The Decree “On Centralizing Library Work in RSFSR” approved // On this day. 3 November 1920.