Underground press

The phrase underground press, especially underground newspapers (or simply underground papers) is, these days, most often used in reference to the alternative print media, independently published and distributed, associated with the countercultural movements of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Related Topics:
Alternative print media - Countercultural - 1960s - 1970s

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This movement borrowed the name from previous underground presses such as the Dutch underground press during the Nazi occupations of the 1940s. The French resistance also published an underground press and prisoners of war (POWs) published an underground newspaper called Pow wow. Those predecessors were truly "underground," meaning they were illegal, thus published and distributed covertly. While the countercultural "underground" papers frequently battled with governmental authorities, for the most part they were distributed openly through a network of street vendors, newsstands and "head shops," and thus reached a wide audience.

Related Topics:
Dutch underground press - Nazi - 1940s - French resistance - POW

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The underground press in the 60s and 70s existed in most countries with advanced economies and freedom of the press; similar publications existed in some developing countries and as part of the samizdat movement in the communist states, notably Czechoslovakia. Published as weeklies, monthlies, or even "occasionals", and usually associated with left-wing politics, they evolved on the one hand into today's alternative weeklies and on the other into zines.

Related Topics:
Freedom of the press - Samizdat - Communist state - Czechoslovakia - Left-wing politics - Alternative weeklies - Zine

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