Both at the level of the individual publishing-house and at that of national administration, Soviet publishing has a more complex involvement with the printing industry which serves it than the customer–supplier relationship which is usual in Western publishing. This chapter studies the organisation and economics of Soviet printing as they affect book publishing, and the administrative and contractual relations between printer and publisher. This is followed by an examination of the very direct significance to Soviet publishers of the supply of printers' materials, especially paper.

Printing: administrative and economic position

The State Committee for Publishing, Printing and the Book Trade is the government organ responsible for the printing industry. It plans and regulates the activity of printing enterprises through the same hierarchy of republic and local administrations which supervise publishing-houses. Most of the printers not subordinated directly to one of the State Committee's organs remain subject to its instructions on many operational matters. The only exceptions are printers serving scientific and technical information services (controlled by the State Committee for Science and Technology) and those administered by the Party itself, which include the enterprises printing most newspapers and some journals.

The State Committee for Publishing and its subordinate committees in the republics plan the printing industry's development and yearly performance in conjunction with Gosplan on the lines described in 4.4, working from the range and capacity of available printing establishments, newly commissioned plant, anticipated supply of paper and other materials, and the stated requirements of publishers and others ordering printed matter of all descriptions.