Russian Free Press Fund Pamphlets

February 15, 2022

The Ludmilla A. Patrick Collection is primarily comprised of materials from her husband George Patrick's library. George worked as assistant to the legal department of the Russian Embassy's Division of Supplies in the United States until 1919, when he began studying for a PhD in French. He later taught French and Russian, and served as head of the Slavic Department at UC Berkeley. Ludmilla taught as a lecturer in Russian, wrote, and published Fourteen Russian One-Act Plays in 1950. The materials in the Patrick Collection reflect their interests in Russian culture and literature, as well as an interest in the Russian socialist and revolutionary movements beginning in the 19th century.

A number of pamphlet publications in the collection were published in the 1890s and 1900s by the Russian Free Press Fund in London. Alexander Herzen first established the Free Russian Press in 1853. The Press initially published the periodical Polar Star, but took off with The Bell (Kolokol), first published in 1857 and designed as a cheaper, more frequent newsletter for the discussion of current events. After Herzen moved to Geneva in 1865 the popularity and influence of the publication declined and the Press eventually closed.

The tsarist government in Russia and press censorship in the Russian Empire in the 19th century drove many Russians to emigrate to other countries where they could more freely publish works on current events and political thought. In the 1890s a group of Russian emigres established a new printing press and bookshop in Hammersmith, London under the revived name Russian Free Press Fund. Russians running and publishing under the Press Fund included Sergei Stepniak and Feliks Volkovsky. The Press Fund published books, the Russian news bulletin Flying Leaflets (Letuchie listki), and distributed copies of banned books. The pamphlets published by the Russian Free Press Fund include conference proceedings, histories of socialist and revolutionary movements and individuals in the field, and information and discussion on current events.

The pamphlets in the Ludmilla A. Patrick Collection, both from the Russian Free Press Fund and those published in other locations across Europe, are evidence of the transnational networks of Russian publishing and political rhetoric during this time. In addition to pamphlets published in London by the Russian Free Press Fund, the Collection also contains pamphlets published in the late 19th and early 20th century in Geneva, Paris, New York, and Nagasaki, as well as a smaller number from Moscow and St. Petersburg. Most of the pamphlets in the collection are in Russian, though some are in French and other languages.

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Post tagged as: special collections, publications, international