The co-founder of Phalanster called on book market participants to unite in response to increasing pressure from the security forces

Participants in the book market must show “more attention and support” to each other, only in this way can the industry survive, Boris Kupriyanov, co-founder of the Moscow bookstore Phalanster, said on Facebook. This store became one of the main targets of an unprecedented attack on the publishing market by security forces in the spring of this year. The day before, the court fined the store 80 thousand rubles under the article on participation in the activities of an “undesirable” organization (Article 20.33 of the Administrative Code). Kupriyanov himself was fined 40 thousand rubles under the same article.

Quote. “These are difficult times for bookstores and publishers. Now it is very important to understand that we are all in the same boat. If you don’t like this metaphor, then let it be in one very choppy sea. Of course, some are on a huge liner like the Titanic, and some are on a fragile boat, but the storm is so strong that it is difficult for everyone to get to land unharmed. Let's understand that we are all about books and we need to swim out together. Separately it’s more difficult,” Kupriyanov wrote .

• ️"I am not calling for a riot, it is impossible. We will all (or we will have to) comply with the demands of the state and its bodies as far as possible, but shifting the “blame” onto another will not help us all and will not save each of us. Right now we need to clearly understand that we can survive only by showing more attention and support to all “market participants”, regardless of volume and turnover,” Kupriyanov clarified.

• ️Kuprianov also urged not to blame market participants for what is happening: “No one is to blame. Everyone needs to learn to live in our time. And only those who can retain the concept of responsibility to contractors, readers and culture will survive.”

• ️Court decisions on fines will be challenged, the owner of Phalanster emphasized. He described the essence of the claims from law enforcement agencies against the store as follows: “According to the investigation and the court, the sale of a book published in 2013, costing 156 rubles, is considered participation in the activities of an undesirable organization.”

Context. On March 13, a prosecutor's inspection took place at the bookstore. Then the security forces seized books by Hannah Arendt, Susan Sontag, Walter Benjamin and Michel Foucault, said poet and publicist Ivan Davydov.

• ️And on April 14, the court received protocols against “Phalanster” and Kupriyanov about involvement in an “undesirable” organization. The reason for this was the sale of the book “On My Way to Magadan” by the Belarusian anarchist Igor Olinevich. It was allegedly published with the support of the Anarchist Black Cross Federation, which was declared “undesirable” in January last year, writes Mediazona. This book was purchased by one of the visitors on December 26, 2024.

• ️ "Phalanster" was not the only participant in the book market that has come under pressure recently. In mid-May, the court placed under house arrest one of the heads of Popcorn Books and Individuum (both editorial offices are part of Eksmo) Dmitry Protopopov, the head of the sales department of these editions Artem Vakhlyaev and the former sales director of "Individual Print" Pavel Ivanov. The reason was a criminal case that was opened in parts 1, 2, 3 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (organization of the activities of an extremist organization). Investigators saw signs of this activity in the publication and sale of books about queer people.

• ️Before this, security forces came to the Novosibirsk “Map of the World” store and to the St. Petersburg “Subscription Editions”. The latter was fined 800 thousand rubles under the administrative article on “LGBT propaganda”. Equipment was seized from Map of the World; according to an NGS source, the searches were related “to the work of new publishing houses.”