The Evolutionary Scheme of the Moscow Youth Samizdat in the Journal Kontr Kult Ur’a

Abstract

The article examines a scheme of Moscow samizdat, published in the samizdat journal Kontr Kult Ur’a (1990, No. 2). The scheme, developed by the journal’s editors S. G. Guryev and A. S. Volkov with the participation of A. I. Kushnir, outlines the connections between samizdat journals, which were published in Moscow from the mid-1970s to the early 1990s. Most of them had a predominantly rock music focus. At its core, the scheme illustrates the evolution of the dominant form of subcultural publication in the 1980s: from the literary journal Litsey, the music journals Zerkalo, Ukho, and Urlait to a broader cultural journal Kontr Kult Ur’a. The scheme captures the final stage in the development of late Soviet samizdat S. G. Guryev, the author of this scheme provided his main commentary over 30 years later. It was provided with additional commentaries from A. I. Kushnir and A. S. Volkov. The comments include both relatively well-known facts about the history of rock samizdat in the 1980s and early 1990s, as well as previously unpublished information. An appendix to the article presents additional and updated reference data about the publications featured in the scheme.