The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (GSE; , BSE) is one of the largest Russian-language encyclopedias,The 3rd edition contains more than 95,000 articles, and nearly 35,000 illustrations and maps. Compare with over 120,000 articles in the Russian Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary (1890–1907) and with 100,000 in the 15th edition of Britannica published in the Soviet Union from 1926 to 1990. After 2002, the encyclopedia's data was partially included into the later Great Russian Encyclopedia in an updated and revised form. The GSE claimed to be "the first Marxist–Leninist general-purpose encyclopedia".
Origins The idea of the Great Soviet Encyclopedia emerged in 1923 on the initiative of Otto Schmidt, a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. In early 1924 Schmidt worked with a group which included Mikhail Pokrovsky, (rector of the Institute of Red Professors), Nikolai Meshcheryakov (Former head of the Glavit, the State Administration of Publishing Affairs), Valery Bryusov (poet), Veniamin Kagan (mathematician) and Konstantin Kuzminsky to draw up a proposal which was agreed to in April 1924. Also involved was Anatoly Lunacharsky, People's Commissar of Education (Narkompros), who had previously been involved with a proposal by Alexander Bogdanov and Maxim Gorky to produce a Workers' Encyclopedia.
Editions
There were three editions. The first edition of 65 volumes (65,000 entries, plus a supplementary volume about the Soviet Union) was published during 1926–1947, with the release of the initial volume being announced by the Soviet government on March 23, 1926, with a projection of all 30 volumes to be available within six years."New Soviet Encyclopedia; Bolsheviki Publish First Book of a Thirty-Volume Edition", The New York Times, March 24, 1926, p.15 The chief editor was Otto Schmidt (until 1941). The second edition of 50 volumes (100,000 entries, plus a supplementary volume) was published in 1950–1958; chief editors: Sergei Vavilov (until 1951) and Boris Vvedensky (until 1969); two index volumes to this edition were published in 1960. The third edition of 1969–1978 contains 30 volumes (100,000 entries, plus an index volume issued in 1981). Volume 24 is in two books, one being a full-sized book about the USSR, all with about 21 million words,Kister, p. 365 and the chief editor being Alexander Prokhorov (since 1969). In the third edition, much attention was paid to the philosophical problems of natural sciences, physical and chemical sciences, and mathematical methods in various branches of knowledge.
From 1957 to 1990, the Yearbook of the Great Soviet Encyclopedia was released annually with up-to-date articles about the Soviet Union and all countries of the world.
The first online edition, an exact replica of text and graphics of the third (so-called Red) edition, was published by Rubricon.com in 2000.
Editors Editors and contributors to the GSE included a number of leading Soviet scientists and politicians:
Georgy Aleksandrov (author of articles on materialism, first edition, and idealism, second edition) Hamid Alimjan Victor Ambartsumian Valentin Asmus (author of articles on metaphysics, Plato, Schopenhauer, Schleiermacher, Chernyshevsky and Spengler, first edition) Nikolai Baibakov Mykola Bazhan Walter Benjamin (author of article on Goethe, first edition) Maia Berzina Nikolay Bogolyubov Andrei Bubnov (executed in 1938) Nikolai Bukharin (executed in 1938) Nikolai Burdenko Abram Deborin (author of article on Hegel, first edition) Mikhail Frunze Victor Glushkov Igor Grabar Mikhail Grushevsky (author of article on Galicia (Eastern Europe), first edition) Hugo Huppert (author of article on Heinrich von Kleist, first edition) Veniamin Kagan Lev Kamenev (executed in 1936, author of article on Herzen, first edition) Ivan Knunyants Andrei Kolmogorov Gleb Krzhizhanovsky Nikolay Kun Valerian Kuybyshev Pavel Lebedev-Polianskii Solomon Lozovsky (author of article on Popular Front, first edition) György Lukács (author of articles on Nietzsche and novel, first edition) Anatoly Lunacharsky (author of articles on Shakespeare, Dostoyevsky, Gorky, Belinsky, Hamann, Hasenclever, Bohemianism, Bab, Garibaldi, Hausenstein, first edition)Указатель жанров > Статья для энциклопедии Nikolai Meshcheryakov (author of articles on Bolsheviks, Etienne Cabet and Gleb Uspensky, first edition) Mark Borisovich Mitin (purported author of article on dialectical materialism, first edition, which was in fact authored by Jan Sten before his purge ) Vladimir Obruchev Aleksandr Oparin Valerian Pereverzev (author of article on Gogol, first edition) Wilhelm Pieck (author of articles on Karl Liebknecht and Wilhelm Liebknecht, first edition) Mikhail Pokrovsky (author of articles on bureaucratism, Julius Caesar, Entente and the biographies of most Tsars, first edition) Yuri Prokhorov Karl Radek (executed in 1939, author of articles on Victor Adler, Africa, Bavarian Soviet Republic, Berlin–Baghdad railway, Otto Bauer, August Bebel, Belgium, Conference of the Three Internationals, Eduard Bernstein, Otto von Bismarck, Ulrich von Brockdorff-Rantzau, Emperor Wilhelm II, Germany during World War I, German Revolution of 1918–1919, Rudolf Hilferding and Paul von Hindenburg, first edition) Otto Schmidt Nikolai Semashko Alexander Sergeevich Serebrovsky (co-author of article on genetics, first edition) Sergei Skazkin (author of articles on History of Germany, first edition, and Catholicism, third edition) Ivan Sollertinsky (author of article on drama, first edition) Pēteris Stučka (author of article on democracy, first edition) Nikolai Vavilov (author of articles on genetics and eugenics, first edition) Kliment Voroshilov David Zaslavsky (author of article on Shchedrin, first edition) Grigory Zinoviev (executed in 1936, author of article on the Moscow uprising of 1905, first edition)
Role and purpose in Soviet society The foreword to the first volume of the GSE (2nd ed.) proclaims "The Soviet Union has become the center of the civilized world." The GSE, along with all other books and other media and communications with the public, was directed toward the "furtherance of the aims of the party and the state."From extensive discussions with the editors of the second edition of the GSE, editor-in-chief Vvendensky. Benton, W. This Is The Challenge. Associated College Presses. 1959 The 1949 decree issued for the production of the second edition of the GSE directed:
The foreword to the GSE (3rd ed.) expanded on that mission, paying particular attention to developments in science and technology: nuclear engineering, space technology, atomic physics, polymer chemistry, and radio electronics; also detailing the history and activities of the Russian revolutionary movement, the development of the labor movement worldwide and summarizing Marxist scholarship on political economy, sociology, and political science. In support of that mission, the GSE (2nd ed.) described as the role of education:
The third edition of the GSE subsequently expanded on the role of education: Education is essential to preparing for life and work. It is the basic means by which people come to know and acquire culture, and it is the foundation of culture's development...The Soviet education rests on the principles of the unity of education and communist upbringing; cooperation among the school, the family, and the society in bringing up young people; and the linkage of education and training to life and the practical experience of building communism. The underlying principles of the Soviet system of public education include a scientific approach to and continual improvement of education on the basis of the latest achievements in science, technology and culture; a humanistic and highly moral orientation in education and upbringing; and co-education of both sexes, secular education which excludes the influence of religion.
Based on his extensive talks with the editors of the GSE, to whom he was granted unprecedented access, William Benton, publisher of the Encyclopædia Britannica, wrote the following in observation of the GSEs chief editor B. A. Vvedensky stating their compliance with the 1949 decree of the Council of Ministers: It is just this simple for the Soviet board of editors. They are working under a government directive that orders them to orient their encyclopedia as sharply as a political tract. The encyclopedia was thus planned to provide the intellectual underpinning for the Soviet world offensive in the duel for men's minds. The Soviet government ordered it as a fighting propaganda weapon. And the government attaches such importance to its political role that its board of editors is chosen by and is responsible only to the high Council of Ministers itself.
Translations
English
The third edition was translated and published into English in 31 volumes between 1974 and 1983 by Macmillan Publishers. Each volume was translated separately, requiring use of the index to locate specific items.
Greek The third edition was translated into Greek and published in 34 volumes between 1977 and 1983 from Akadimos publishing company (owned by Giannis Giannikos), which has also translated various Soviet encyclopedias and literature. All articles that were related to Greece or Greek history, culture and society were expanded and hundreds of new ones were written especially for the Greek edition. Thus the encyclopedia contains, for example, both the Russian entry on Greece as well as a much larger one prepared by Greek contributors. Each article written especially in the Greek edition is marked with the note "Greek version supplement" (or "Συμπλήρωμα ελληνικής έκδοσης" as written in the Greek translation).
Finally, a supplementary volume covering the 1980s was published in 1989. It contains translated and original Greek articles which, sometimes, do not exist in the 34-volume set. The articles of the Greek version are being gradually digitised now; the digitised volumes can be found on "vivlio2ebook" blog, which is dedicated on digitising various books in Greek language. It is written on Modern (Demotic) Greek, but it uses the polytonic alphabet.
Other Soviet encyclopedias
+Soviet encyclopediasOriginal titleTransliteration (if applicable)English titleVolumesDatesУкраїнська радянська енциклопедіяUkrainśka radianśka entsyklopediiaUkrainian Soviet Encyclopedia17 1959–1965Беларуская савецкая энцыклапедыяBiełaruskaja savieckaja encykłapiedyjaByelorussian Soviet Encyclopedia121969–1975Ўзбек совет энциклопедиясиOʻzbek sovet entsiklopediyasiUzbek Soviet Encyclopedia141971–1980Қазақ совет энциклопедиясыQazaq sovet ensıklopedııasyKazakh Soviet Encyclopedia101972–1978ქართული საბჭოთა ენციკლოპედიაkartuli sabch'ota encik'lop'ediaGeorgian Soviet Encyclopedia121965–1987Азәрбајҹан Совет ЕнсиклопедијасыAzərbaycan Sovet EnsiklopediyasıAzerbaijani Soviet Encyclopedia101976–1987Lietuviškoji tarybinė enciklopedija—Lithuanian Soviet Encyclopedia101976–1985Енчиклопедия советикэ молдовеняскэEnciclopedia sovietică moldoveneascăMoldavian Soviet Encyclopedia81970–1981Latvijas padomju enciklopēdija—Latvian Soviet Encyclopedia101981–1988Кыргыз Совет ЭнциклопедиясыKyrgyz Sovet EnsiklopediyasyKyrgyz Soviet Encyclopedia61976–1980Энциклопедияи советии тоҷикEntsiklopediya-i sovieti-i tojikTajik Soviet Encyclopedia81978–1988Հայկական սովետական հանրագիտարանHaykakan sovetakan hanragitaranArmenian Soviet Encyclopedia131974–1987Түркмен совет энциклопедиясыTürkmen sowet ensiklopediýasyTurkmen Soviet Encyclopedia101974–1989Eesti nõukogude entsüklopeedia—Estonian Soviet Encyclopedia81968–1976Сибирская советская энциклопедияSibirskaya sovetskaya entsiklopediyaSiberian Soviet Encyclopedia4 (planned — 6)1929—1933Малая Советская ЭнциклопедияMalaya sovetskaya entsiklopediyaSmall Soviet Encyclopedia111928—1960 (3 editions)Уральская советская энциклопедияUralskaya sovetskaya entsiklopediyaUral Soviet Encyclopedia1 (planned — ?) 1933
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