Leon Trotsky: The state of our publishing affairs

(A Conversation)

[my own translation of the Russian text in Izvestia VTsIK, No. 90, 26 April 1921, Reprinted in Sochineniya, Vol. 21 Moscow-Leningrad 1927. compared to the German translation. Corrections by English native speakers would be extremely welcome]

The Commission of the Central Committee¹ has completed its work. It began with the distribution of newspapers and then moved on to more complex issues - the organisation of the newspaper affairs, to the state of the printing and paper industries. In the field of publishing, as in all other fields, we need the greatest economy. The circulation of our newspapers is negligible in comparison with the real needs. Hence the need to adapt the entire distribution system to our poverty. We moved from disseminating newspapers to distributing them correctly. The principle of this distribution is to give as much as possible to the lower ones, to the masses. The commission adopted a specific allocation of newspapers for different categories of readers (workers, peasants, Soviet employees, etc.). In accordance with this, measures have been taken to increase the placarding and distribution of newspapers. The Commission made a small but undoubtedly valuable technical improvement: copies intended for placarding are printed on only one side of the sheet; this not only creates savings in ink, but produces a much clearer print. Those who have to read the placarded newspapers have undoubtedly already noticed this modest progress in Soviet technology.

In organising newspapers, we proceeded from the principle: to reduce the number of newspapers as much as possible, to increase their circulation. Unfortunately, we achieved only modest progress in this area so far. New efforts and pressure will be needed here. It is quite clear that in the centres they read or look through several newspapers, which are three-quarters repeating each other. As to the mass worker (I am not even talking about the peasant), he often does not see a single newspaper nearby. With our poverty in paper and printing facilities, defending a large number of newspapers means proceeding from the considerations of a privileged Soviet reader or editorial and other circles, who, of course, believe that their newspaper is the most important and necessary. Here you still have to shrink - and very much so, because the prospects of paper and printing require, I repeat, the greatest economy and accuracy of accounting for each sheet of printed paper. Our paper production is dependent primarily on fuel. But since paper is still a matter of prime necessity, the Commission insisted on working out a production plan that would be backed by firewood. This plan will be published shortly. Let's hope it will be fulfilled.

On the whole, our newspapers are poorly printed, as the equipment is largely out of order and there is not enough material. But it would be wrong in this area - as in all others - to seek explanations only in objective circumstances. The fact is that in recent months there have been certain successes in the printing matters. Suffice it to refer to "Ekonomicheskaya Zhizn" [Economic Life], which could not be read and which is now being printed tolerably. There can be no doubt that even greater and greatest successes are possible, even with our technical resources: more careful organisation, more correct organisational control and more vigilant control of public opinion are needed.

A number of administrative and technical measures developed by our subcommittees on paper and printing production are now being carried out by the relevant organs.

In the field of book publishing, the Commission noted that there was no plan. Particularly striking is the almost complete absence of children's textbooks, while books were being printed that by no means can be called books of first necessity. The commission found it necessary to work out an accurate schedule of the State Publishing House, and the best book printers should be utilised for textbooks. For textbooks, the same principle is accepted as for newspapers: the minimum number of textbooks with the maximum possible circulation.

I return to the question of the distribution of printed works, both newspapers and books and pamphlets. This question becomes all the more important, the more economy we must observe. The question of the distribution of the works of the press should be the subject of special attention of the Party, Soviet and trade union organisations. We sent a small set to the Oryol province to investigate how the expedition was distributing the press on the ground. Only the correctness of this distribution, only the collective use of newspapers and the correct organisation of reading aloud will allow us - at least to a minimal extent - to satisfy the cultural and educational needs of the country in the face of our terrible technical poverty.