How a 1936 Soviet publisher shaped Russia's Far East culture for decades

From wartime resilience to postwar reinvention, this publisher turned a remote outpost into a literary force. Its story mirrors the ambitions—and struggles—of Soviet Kolyma.

, and Administrator

2026 April 29 . 6:05 PM

1 min read

The image shows an old book with a picture of a city on it, which is a Soviet propaganda poster... — The image shows an old book with a picture of a city on it, which is a Soviet propaganda poster from 1930. The poster features text and images, likely related to the Soviet Union.

ARTICLE

How a 1936 Soviet publisher shaped Russia's Far East culture for decades

By Order No. 134 of the Dalstroy State Trust, dated April 29, 1936, the publishing house Sovetskaya Kolyma was established to streamline publishing operations in the Kolyma region and ensure the efficient use of newsprint, printing, and zincography materials. Its mission included producing the eponymous newspaper Sovetskaya Kolyma, the magazine Kolyma, pamphlets, anthologies of central press materials, and works of fiction. Robert Apin, the newspaper's editor-in-chief, was appointed to concurrently oversee the publishing house, as reported by our news agency.

During the war years, the publisher released over 100 titles annually, featuring works by leading Soviet and foreign writers and publicists. In the postwar period, Sovetskaya Kolyma became the most prolific publishing house in the Far Eastern region by volume. It was also then that the series Library of the Dalstroy Stakhanovite was launched. Following the establishment of Magadan Oblast in 1953, the Magadan Regional Book Publishing House was founded on July 1, 1954, based on the infrastructure of Sovetskaya Kolyma.