Pravda, Printing House

Categories / Economy/Industry
PRAVDA (14 Sotsialisticheskaya Street), a printing house, open joint-stock company. It originates from Khudozhestvennaya Pechat, P. V. Berezin's printing house founded in 1906, which specialised in newspapers. It printed such newspapers as Zvezda, a legal Marxist newspaper, Mensheviks' Luch, right-wing extremists' Zemshchina, Probuzhdenie and Zhavoronok magazines, etc. Bolsheviks’ Pravda was printed here from 22 April 1912 till 8 July 1914 (commemorative plaque). After it was acquired by Russkaya Volya newspaper in the late 1916, the printing house was named after the newspaper. The building was seized by a detachment of soldiers headed by S. G. Uralov, commissar of the Petrograd Military Revolutionary Committee, on the night of 25 October (7 November) 1917. Pravda was printed here again from 27 October (9 November) 1917 till 10 March 1918. The printing house, named the 14th State Printing House in the 1920s and Zinovyev Printing House in 1922-27, printed such newspapers as Leningradskaya Pravda (till 1939), Leninskie Iskry, Smena, etc., as well as leaflets and posters. It also printed books published by Priboy and Academia in the 1920-30s. Handed over to Leningradskaya Pravda Publishing House in 1928, the printing house was named after the publishers. In 1941-1945 it printed Smena, over 30 military newspapers, Zvezda, Leningrad, Propaganda, and Agitator magazines, leaflets both in Russian and German, technical literature, and manuals; the work was stopped in January-May 1942 due to lack of electricity. In the post-war period the Printing House mainly printed newspapers, including 65 local factory periodicals. The company was upgraded in 1947-58, over 100 pieces of foreign and domestic printing equipment were installed. Newspaper printing was turned over to Volodarsky Printing House in 1963. Privatised and upgraded again in the 1990s, the printing house became one of the best printing enterprises in St. Petersburg. The building of the printing house constructed by architect B. I. Girshovich in 1905-06 is a monument of industrial architecture.

Reference: Вечтомова Е. А. Здесь печаталась "Правда": Очерк истории типографии № 4. Л., 1969.

V. G. Avdeev. Berezin P.V.
Girshovich Boris Ionovich
Volodarsky V. (Moisey Markovich Goldstein)
Zinovyev Grigory Evseevich
Sotsialisticheskaya St./Saint Petersburg, city, house 14
Вечтомова Е. А. Здесь печаталась "Правда": Очерк истории типографии № 4. Л., 1969 Luch (Ray), newspaper
Pravda (The Truth), newspaper
Leninskie Iskry (Lenin's Sparks), newspaper
Smena (The New Generation), newspaper
Surf, the Publishing House, 1913, 1922
Academia, publishing house, 1921-1937
Leningrad, journal
Zvezda (The Star), journal