Młodzieżowa Agencja Wydawnicza (1974–1990)

Abstrakt

Młodzieżowa Agencja Wydawnicza [Youth Publishing Agency] (1974–1990)

Młodzieżowa Agencja Wydawnicza MAW was established by an ordinance of the chairman of the “Prasa-Książka-Ruch” Workers’ Publishing Cooperative of 31 December 1973 as an entity which was part of the “Prasa-Książka-Ruch” “Press-Book-Movement” media group. The foundation documents mentioned the takeover of the property and plans of the “Prasa Młodzieżowa i Sportowa” “Youth and Sports Press” publishing house. The aim was to establish a monopoly on the market for books and periodicals addressed to children and young people by taking over the “Horyzonty” “Horizons” Publishing House, “Iskry” “Sparks” State Publishing House and later also the Publishing Institute “Nasza Księgarnia” “Our Bookshop”. These plans were implemented only with regard to the first of the companies in question. The MAW headquarters were located in Warsaw successively at 46 Wilcza Street, 6a Koszykowa Street, 53 Aleja Stanów Zjednoczonych. In the early 1980s two regional branches were set up in Szczecin and Katowice. In late 1984 the MWA was expanded to include the “Glob” press cuttings office, the role of which was to gather and catalogue press documentation and make it available. The publishing house also had its own bookshop in Warsaw, at 62 Wilcza Street. An important role was played by a department conducting large-scale readership surveys. In 1985, a Record Club was founded, providing mainly pop music records, in editions about 5 thousand copies. Books and periodicals were printed mainly by a printing house which formed part of the “Prasa-Książka-Ruch” group. The Agency also began to cooperate with similar publishing companies in neighbouring countries. Over the dozen or so years of its operations, the MAW placed nearly 1200 titles to the market with a total of about 55 million copies, a significant number of which were part of various series. Series that enjoyed great popularity included the “Tytus, Romek and A’Tomek” comic series by Henryk Jerzy Chmielewski. The MAW also published several dozen youth and sports newspapers and magazines including the dailies “Sztandar Młodych”, “Przegląd Sportowy” and “Świat Młodych” of which a total of over 200 million copies were published annually. In January 1990, the Polish United Workers’ Party was dissolved and two months later began the winding up of the “Prasa-Książka-Ruch” group and Młodzieżowa Agencja Wydawnicza associated with it.