Vokrug Sveta

(Around the World; a journal of voyages and journeys, adventures, and fantasy), science-fiction monthly published by the Central Committee of the All-Union Lenin Communist Youth League (VLKSM). The predecessor of Vokrug sveta was a journal of the same name, founded in 1861 by the St. Petersburg publisher M. O. Vol’f as a journal of physical geography, natural sciences, inventions, and observations. In 1869 its publication ceased, but it was resumed in 1885 in Moscow under the editorship of M. Verner. From 1891 through 1917 this journal was published by I. D. Sytin. The prerevolutionary journal was characterized by a democratic tendency. Its pages told of the voyages and journeys of N. M. Przheval’skii, N. N. Miklukho-Maklai, and V. A. Ob ruche v; this journal was the first to acquaint Russian readers with the works of such writers as J. Verne and E. Poe. In 1927, Vokrug sveta was revived, and since 1931 it has been the journal of the Central Committee of the VLKSM. Prior to 1938 (up to no. 5) it was published in Leningrad; since 1938, starting with no. 6, (during the years 1942—45 it was not issued) it has been published in Moscow by the Molodaia Gvardiia Publishing House.

Vokrug sveta pays special attention to the younger generation, its creative striving, and its active participation in various fields of communist construction and in the defense of the socialist fatherland. Vokrug sveta tells about journeys, about the life of people from different countries, present-day and ancient civilizations, and archaeological and ethnological expeditions; it publishes works dealing with adventure and fantasy. As of 1971, the circulation of Vokrug sveta was 2.3 million.