Criminalization of self-publishing
Samvydav (self-publishing) was one of the main ways to distribute unauthorized texts in the USSR. Handwritten or typewritten books, newspapers, and brochures were passed from hand to hand and copied again and again to bypass the censorship restrictions of state publishing houses. That was the only way for readers to access various forbidden works, including those against the current state system.
In the Soviet Union, samvydav became extensive and widespread by the late 1950s. People who distributed and produced books by this method were subject to Article 54 of the Criminal Code of the Ukrainian SSR on “counterrevolutionary activity.” In 1961, the next version of the code, Article 62, became enacted. Article 62 dealt with anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda, under which activists of samvydav could receive up to seven years in prison. For instance, Mykhailo Osadchy, Yaroslav Hevrych, Mykhailo Horyn, Myroslava Zvarychevska, Yaroslava Menkush, and other representatives of the Ukrainian intelligentsia were convicted of anti-Soviet propaganda.