socialism

The conceptual problem this article aims to research is how zines (of the Western or “the first world”) and music samizdat (of socialist countries or “the second world”) should be analysed. Thus far, they have been regarded as separate phenomena; however, do these two forms of underground literature differ so greatly that they should be analysed using different theoretical approaches? The subject of the paper, От Винта (Ot Vinta), is a Russian-language music samizdat from the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic which was published in the late Soviet period.

In this article we introduce the theme of special issue focusing on sel-publishing activities In Central and Easter Europe from 1980s to 2000s. The articles presented in this issue offer an interdisciplinary view on the history of independent publishing in both the late socialist and post-socialist periods. We would like to enrich the scholarly debate beyond the dichotomies of communism/capitalism, socialism/post-socialism, East/West and samizdat/fanzine, respectively.

While we strive to develop existing research on fanzines in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), this article provides an introduction to the discussion about of fanzines and the specific historical contexts of CEE. This thematic issue aims to open a debate about CEE subcultures and alternative-press practices in the context of the relationship between the local and the global in contemporary history.

Fanzines have been among the most significant means of communication for the subculture of fans and “users” of the fantastic arts, so-called sci-fi (SF) fandom, since the birth of the genre. This is also the case in Czechoslovak (later Czech and Slovak) fandom, for which fanzines primarily represented the activities of SF clubs. The community of Czechoslovak fans mostly belonged to the “grey zone” of late socialist society, where fandom members were more or less tolerated.

The study deals with the circumstances of the formation of social protests within the context of the lower classes during the first years after the establishment of Czechoslovakia and with the relationship between social radicalism and radical socialism during this period. On one hand, the author focuses on the social causes of the protests, on the other hand, the ways in which the protests were expressed are analysed.