Thanks to a request from a student in HCA the Library has trial access to Krokodil Digital Archive from East View. The complete archive of what was once the leading satirical publication of the Soviet Era.

You can access Krokodil Digital Archive via the E-resources trials page.
Access is available on and off-campus.

Trial access ends 4th March 2022.

Krokodil (Crocodile) was a satirical magazine published in the Soviet Union. It was first published as the illustrated Sunday supplement for Rabochii (The Worker) newspaper on June 4, 1922. As circulation increased, the editors became convinced of the need for a regular independently numbered journal, and Krokodil No.1 (13) was published for the first time on August 27, 1922.

Published continuously until 2008, circulation of Krokodil peaked at around 5.8 million (in 1980) and it was firmly established as one of the leading publications in the Soviet Union. Krokodil lampooned religion, alcoholism, foreign political figures and events. It ridiculed bureaucracy and excessive centralised control. The caricatures found in Krokodil can be studied as a gauge of the ‘correct party line’ of the time. During the height of the Cold War, cartoons criticizing Uncle Sam, the Pentagon, Western colonialism and German militarism were common in the pages of Krokodil.

You can access Krokodil Digital Archive via the E-resources trials page.
Access is available on and off-campus.
Trial access ends 4th March 2022.
Feedback welcome.

Please note, trial access to a resource is an opportunity for our staff and students to try a resource out and give feedback on its quality and usefulness. However, if we trial a resource this is not an indication that we plan to or will be able to purchase or subscribe to the resource in the near future.

Caroline Stirling – Academic Support Librarian for History, Classics and Archaeology