to be valid initially. But the nationalizations in all areas of the economy soon considerably restricted the avenues through which an author could publish her or his work, even if her or his copyright remained initially untouched. All publishing activities were placed under the supervision of the State Publishing house by a decree of May 21, 1919. On July 29, 1919, the government declared a state monopoly on unpublished works of deceased authors; and on April 20, 1920, all books (including those in private possession) were nationalized, except those in public libraries. Theatres and film studios as well as the photographic industry were nationalized in August 1919. Private publishing houses were eventually liquidated as well. The right to translate foreign publications into Russian was also monopolized by the government. Nationalizations of works In the interest of public education, the new Communist regime wanted to widely (and inexpensively) disseminate classic Russian literature to the masses. Toward this end, a decree was issued December 29, 1917 (Gregorian date) enabling the People's Commissariat for Education to nationalize works of deceased authors (including composers). On February 14, 1918, the works of 58 deceased authors were nationalized—including, among others, Chekhov, Chernyshevsky, Dostoyevsky, Gogol, Herzen, Lermontov, Pushkin, Tolstoy, and Turgenev. The government established a state monopoly on the publication of these authors' works for a period of five years, which was later extended by another five years. A second nationalization decree of November 26, 1918 extended the powers of the People's Commissariat for Education to nationalize also works of living authors. The decree granted the commissariat a perpetual monopoly to the publication rights of such nationalized works; living authors were to receive royalties based on the standard remuneration schedules established by the government, while the royalties on works by deceased authors went to the state. Based upon this second decree, a number of nationalizations occurred in the following years. On August 16, 1919, the works of the seventeen composers Arensky, Borodin, Tchaikovsky, Balakirev, Cui, Kalinnikov, Laroche, Lyadov, Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Rubinstein, Sakketi, Scriabin, Serov, Smolensky, Stasov, and Taneyev were nationalized. On January 18, 1923, the works of Mikhail Bakunin and 46 further authors were nationalized. A third decree on May 14, 1925 nationalized the works of Georgi Plekhanov and also the Russian translations of the works of Upton Sinclair, and finally, on June 28, 1927, the Marx-Engels Institute was granted a publication monopoly on the works of