Accounting for typewriters
Typewriters were relied on to create unauthorized self-published books, brochures, leaflets, and magazines. As a result, Soviet authorities began imposing strict controls on typewriter distribution. Every typewriter had its own registration number, which allowed the KGB and other repressive organizations to determine the source of unauthorized documents. Each typewriter’s unique imprint made it possible to find out who wrote the paper and where it could be printed. In “Diaries: Uncensored,” Les Taniuk mentioned that there were typewriters for checks on which nothing “like that” could be typed, and two more – carefully hidden. Ukrainian writer and translator Halyna Kyrpa had to destroy her typewriter after a reprint of “Internationalism or Russification” by Ukrainian literary critic, social activist, and dissident Ivan Dziuba was typed on it. (In her interview with Chytomo, she said that she smashed the machine with hammers and threw it into a lake.)