Beyond Gutenberg
The Dynamic of the Dissident Public
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
Samizdat under Socialism was not monolithic. Publications such as the Chronicle of Current Events promoted first and foremost the maintenance of human rights in the Soviet Union. They were dedicated to the journalistic ideal of objectivity and a universalistic under-standing of the public sphere. In addition, the samizdat culture also embraced “subjective” projects, many of which were non-political. Diversity created the vitality of samizdat culture, which represented the polar opposite of the regulated uniformity of the official Socialist public sphere. The “pre-Gutenberg” forms of production hindered the control of content and guaranteed the vitality of individual publications.
(Osteuropa 11/2010, pp. 43–58)