Тhe role of M. Gorky in the history of the publishing house “Detgiz”

Abstract

On September 9, 1933 the Central Committee of the CPSU(b) has issued a resolution on the establishment of the new press directed at children, the State Publishing House “Detgiz”. M. Gorky took part in the preparatory work for this resolution. He served as the main initiator and ideologue who inspired the creation of this new children’s publishing house. The article attempts to reveal Gorky’s role in the history of the Detgiz which was created as a unified entity of the publishing house “Young Guard” and the State Publishing House of Fiction (GIKHL). The new publishing house was located in two cities — Moscow and Leningrad – and this situation has affected its work and the relationship between the press’s editors. Gorky’s correspondence from the Gorky Archive in Moscow (IWL RAS), as well as various letter exchanges and the analyses of his contemporaries ‘recollections restore for us the turbulent history surrounding the foundation of this highly important and unique press.

Keywords: Gorky, «Detgiz», history of the publishing house, children’s literature, children’s books