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Liberty Press

Liberty Press in
Museum of Underground Printing-House
Moscow, Russia

This Liberty was -- both literally and figuratively -- an underground press, used by revolutionaries in Moscow, Russia. In 1905 and 1906, the Social Democratic Party used it to publish illegal newspapers and leaflets.

The 1905-1906 Underground Printing Office museum, opened in 1923, uses the actual site to show how the press was hidden from authorities in a tiny basement of a fruit wholesale shop.

Unfortunately, those who reassembled the press for the exhibit apparently did not know how a Liberty press goes together. The platen and bed hang out over the end of the press, and the counter-weight that should be below the bed seems to be missing.

You can take an online tour of the building, including the print shop,


Back to the main Liberty Platen Press page