Illegal Printing Offices

Categories / Social Life/Political Parties and Organizations
ILLEGAL PRINTING OFFICES opened in St. Petersburg by revolutionary organizations to print illegal press such as periodicals, brochures, and leaflets. A printing office would be organized in a rented apartment, equipment and fonts usually delivered illegally from abroad or made by revolutionaries themselves, and generally operate for a few months. The first illegal printing offices appeared in the early 1860s including P.D. Balloda's Pocket Press opened in 1862. In 1865, it was members of Ishutin's Circle who were organizing printing offices. Zemlya i Volya had 3 printing offices in St. Petersburg in 1877-79: the so-called 1st office that operated from February to April 1877 at 134/2 Obvodny Canal Embankment, the 2nd office that operated from the autumn of 1877 to May 1878 on Obvodny Canal Embankment (house number not known), and the 3rd office opened by the group of the illegal newspaper Nachalo (The Beginning) in February 1878 and transferred to Zemlya i Volya in August 1878. The 3rd office was located in Nikolaevskaya Street (today, Marata Street) and worked till August 1879. As Zemlya i Volya was dissolved in the spring-autumn of 1879, the 3rd office was transferred to Narodnaya Volya and operated at 8 Saperny Lane (the wing not preserved) until it was arrested on January 17, 1880, the office members offering armed resistance to the police. Narodnaya Volya had another illegal printing office in Troitsky Lane (today, 25 Rubinsteina Street) where its newspaper Rabochaya Gazeta (The Workers' Gazette) was printed. Cherny Peredel (Black Repartition) opened its printing office in the late 1879 at 23 14th Line, Vasilievsky Island, which was arrested on January 28, 1880. The printing office of the Northern Union of Russian Workers operated at 1 Meschanskaya Street in St. Petersburg in February-March 1880. Members of Narodnaya Volya organized their 2nd printing office at 39 Podolskaya Street in October 1880; their activities were abandoned in May 1881 under the threat of arrest. Apart from stationary offices, Narodnaya Volya also had three mobile (compact) printing offices in St. Petersburg in 1880-83, equipment and fonts easily cased and transported from one apartment to another. The Group of Members of Narodnaya Volya was the last populist organization to have an illegal printing office in 1894-96 at 10 11th Line, Vasilievsky Island, from February 1895 - at 23 Kryukov Canal, from May 1896 - in the settlement of Lakhta, where press of both Narodnaya Volya and Social Democrats was printed until the office was arrested by the police on June 24, 1896. It was Marxist circles that played an increasingly important role in publishing and distributing illegal press from the mid-1880s, replaced by the Union of Struggle for Liberation of the Working Class, St. Petersburg from the mid-1890s, and the St. Petersburg Committee of the Russian Social-Democratic Workers' Party and committees of other revolutionary parties afterwards. A number of large illegal printing offices appeared in 1900-03 as the social-democratic newspaper Iskra was spreading through Russia. Revolutionary parties and groups abandoned illegal printing offices in the capital by the early 20th century after they had made a number of unsuccessful attempts, so illegal press was delivered from abroad or printed in other cities, some liberal press reproduced by typewriting, manifolding, etc.

Reference: Куделли П. Ф. Народовольцы на перепутьи: Дело Лахтинской типографии. Л., 1925; Переписка В. И. Ленина и редакции газеты "Искра" с социал-демократическими организациями в России, 1900-1903 гг.: Сб. док.: В 3 т. М., 1969-1970; Сводный каталог русской нелегальной и запрещенной печати XIX века: Листовки: В 3 ч. М., 1977; Сводный каталог русской нелегальной и запрещенной печати XIX века: Книги и периодич. изд.: В 3 ч. 2-е изд., доп. и перераб. М., 1981-1982; Барабанова А. И., Ямщикова Е. А. Народовольцы в Петербурге. Л., 1984; Книга в России, 1881-1895. СПб., 1997.

Z. P. Solovyeva. Ballod Peter Davydovich
11th Line of Vasilievsky Island/Saint Petersburg, city, house 10
14th Line Vasilievsky Island/Saint Petersburg, city, house 23
Kaznacheiskaya St./Saint Petersburg, city, house 1
Kryukova Canal Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city, house 23
Marata St./Saint Petersburg, city
Obvodny Canal Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city, house 134/2
Obvodny Canal Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city
Podolskaya St./Saint Petersburg, city, house 39
Rubinsteina St./Saint Petersburg, city, house 25
Saperny Lane/Saint Petersburg, city, house 8
Куделли П. Ф. Народовольцы на перепутьи: Дело Лахтинской типографии. Л., 1925
Барабанова А. И., Ямщикова Е. А. Народовольцы в Петербурге. Л., 1984
Сводный каталог русской нелегальной и запрещенной печати XIX века: Кн. и периодич. изд.: В 3 ч. 2-е изд., доп. и перераб. М., 1981-1982
Переписка В. И. Ленина и редакции газеты "Искра" с социал-демократическими организациями в России, 1900-1903 гг.: Сб. док: В 3 т. М.,, 1969-1970
Сводный каталог русской нелегальной и запрещенной печати XIX века: Листовки: В 3 ч. М., 1977
Виленская Э. С. Революционное подполье в России (60-е годы XIX в.) М., 1965 Zemlya i Volya (Land and Liberty) of 1870s
Narodnaya Volya
Cherny Peredel, revolutionary organizations
Northern Union of Russian Workers
Union of Struggle for Liberation of the Working Class, St. Petersburg
1771