Soviet newspapers: Which Soviet newspapers are available online?

The Library has purchased several nearly complete digital archives of some of the most prominent Soviet national-level newspapers as well as a runs of several titles from individual Soviet republics. All patrons have access to these resources in the Library via library guest wifi; UNC affiliates have remote access. OCR can be spotty, particularly for older issues, so keyword search results should be taken with a grain of salt, and the online version may need to be supplemented by print or microform holdings.

Аргументы и факты (Argumenty i fakty)

Argumenty i fakty ("Arguments and facts"), originally a monthly information bulletin aimed at Soviet propagandists, transformed into a full-fledged national-level weekly and a major mouthpiece of perestroika and glasnost by the late 1980s. In 1990 the newspaper became the highest circulating newspaper in the world with a print run of 33,431,100 copies and was entered into the Guinness Book of Records.

• 1983-2021 online (text only, these are not scans) via UNC University Libraries.

• 1984-2001 in print (with some issues missing) and 1994, 1998-2007 on microfiche and microfilm (also with some issues missing) via UNC University Libraries.

Известия (Izvestiia)

Izvestiia ("Announcements", "Reports" or, simply, "News") was a national-level daily (issued 6 times a week) and the official mouthpiece of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the USSR. The newspaper was founded in March 1917 as the official newspaper of the Petrograd Soviet, later of the Central Executive Committee of the Soviet Union, then of the Council of the People's Deputies. By the late 1960s its print run was over 8 million copies, and by 1990, over 10 million. The newspaper had a national and a Moscow edition, and, after 1960, a Sunday supplement called Неделя (Nedelia, "The Week"), not included in the digital archive.

• 1917-2010 online via UNC University Libraries. Contains a mix of national and Moscow edition issues and does not contain the Sunday supplement Неделя (Nedelia).
• 1953-1959 in print and 1972-1977, 1977-1991 on microfilm via UNC University Libraries.
• 1959 and Jul-Dec 1975 online via the Center for Research Libraries.
• 1917-1999 on microfilm via Duke University Libraries.

Литературная газета (Literaturnaia gazeta)

Literaturnaia gazeta ("The Literary Newspaper") was a national-level weekly of the Writer's Union of the USSR, published since 1929. After 1947 the newspaper began to cover politics and social issues in addition to literature and the arts.

• 1929-2011 online via UNC University Libraries.
• 1955-2007 on microfilm via UNC University Libraries.
• 1989-1999 on microfilm via Duke University Libraries.

Правда (Pravda)

Pravda ("The Truth") was Soviet Union's leading national daily and the official publication of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. In the pre-revolutionary period, it was a Bolshevik newspaper that changed its name multiple times to evade censorship, thus Правда труда (Pravda truda), Пролетарская правда (Proletarskaia pravda), Рабочая правда (Rabochaia pravda), Трудовая правда (Trudovaia pravda), Северная правда (Severnaia pravda), Рабочий (Rabochii), Рабочий путь (Rabochii put'), За правду (Za pravdu), Рабочий и солдат (Rabochii i soldat) and Путь правды (Put' pravdy) were all published intermittently in Saint Petersburg between 1912 and 1918.

• 1912-2009 online via UNC University Libraries.
• 1917-1999 on microfilm (with some gaps) via UNC University Libraries.
• 1917; 1921-1938; 1940-2001; 2002-2010 on microfilm (with some gaps) via Duke University Libraries.

Правда Украины (Pravda Ukrainy)

Pravda Ukrainy ("The Truth of Ukraine"), originally Советская Украина (Sovetskaia Ukraina), was a Russian-language republic-level daily (issued 6 times a week) and the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine, published since 1938.

• 1938-2014 online via UNC University Libraries.
• 1988-1990 on microfilm via Duke University Libraries

Советская Киргизия (Sovetskaia Kirgiziia)

Sovetskaia Kirgiziia ("Soviet Kighizia") was a Russian-language republic-level daily (issued 6 times a week) and the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Kirghiz Communist Party, published since 1925. It was preceded by Батрацкая правда (Batratskaia pravda) and Крестьянский путь (Krestianskii put').

•  1925-2020 online via UNC University Libraries. Including the paper's post-Soviet incarnation as Слово Кыргызстана (Slovo Kyrgyzstana).
• 1961-1969, 1988-1990 on microfilm via Duke University Libraries.

Советская культура (Sovetskaia kul'tura)

Sovetskaia kul'tura ("Soviet Culture") was a national culture and arts weekly and the official publication of the Ministry of Culture and the Cultural Workers Labor Union, published since 1953. It was preceded by Рабочий и искусство (Rabochii i iskusstvo), Советское искусство (Sovetskoe iskusstvo), Литература и искусство (Literatura i iskusstvo), and Советское искусство (Sovetskoe iskusstvo), published between 1929 and 1953.

• 1929-2013 online via UNC University Libraries.
• 1974-1991 on microfilm via UNC University Libraries.

Туркменская искра (Turkmenskaia iskra)

Turkmenskaia iskra ("Turkmen spark") was a Russian language republic-level daily and the official newspaper of Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Turkmen SSR, published in Ashgabat since 1924. It was succeeded by Нейтральный Туркменистан (Neitral'nyi Turkmenistan).

• 1943-1995 online via UNC University Libraries.
• 1988-1990 on microfilm via Duke University Libraries.

Moscow News

Moscow News was Soviet Union's English-language weekly aimed at readers abroad and ex-pats in the Soviet Union, published since 1930.

• 1930-2014 online via UNC University Libraries. Includes sister publication Moscow Daily News (1932-1938).
• 1976-1999, 2002-2007 on microfilm via UNC University Libraries.
• 1932-1933 online via the Center for Research Libraries.

Collections/portals:

Календарь оцифрованных газет

Russian National Library's newspaper discovery tool that allows you to see which newspapers have been digitized for a given day in history.

Государственная публичная историческая библиотека России

Collection of scattered issues of late 1910s-early 1920s newspapers from the Russian State Public Historical Library.

Президентская Библиотека им. Б.Н. Ельцина

Selections of digitized newspapers from various years from the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library.

Новосибирская областная научная библиотека

Novosibirsk Oblast Scientific Library collection of digitized local Siberian newspapers from 1920s-1940s, including the major regional daily Советская Сибирь (Sovetskaia Sibir').

Libraria: архів української періодики онлайн

Archive of periodicals published on the territory of present-day Ukraine from the first half of the 20th century. Includes a number of local Soviet-era newspapers from the 1920s from Eastern and Central Ukraine, as well as a wealth of newspapers published in Nazi-occupied territories in the 1940s.

Newspapers of the October Revolution : January 3, 1917 through December 31, 1917

Center for Research Libraries digital collection of scattered or single issues from 70 scare newspapers, primarily from St. Petersburg and Moscow, but also from a number of cities in Ukraine, Moldova, Lithuania, and Siberia.

Старые газеты

Defunct portal (archived via Wayback Machine) hosting scattered digitized issues of different newspapers from different years. Not a consistent research tool, but a way to get a taste for some of the content.

Individual titles:

За индустриализацию (Za industrializatsiiu)

March 1932 and March 1937 issues (the end of first two five-year plans) via the History Department of Moscow State University.