Frank Szmulowicz, Ph. D. Sep 3, 2021:

There is also "alternative press/media", which meets many of the requirements.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_media

Thomas Anessi (asker) Sep 3, 2021:

I agree that as an over-arching concept samizdat works -- esp. since English speakers would correctly associate drugi obieg with dissident activity in the former "eastern bloc", as well as men with mustaches and wearing caps. That's how dissidents look in all Hollywood films ;-)

Andrzej Mierzejewski Sep 3, 2021:

OK. I meant the general situation: printing with the use of technologies as available (which could vary with time and differ from country to country), off the state-controlled printing industry. I didn't mean other issues like distribution methods etc.

Thomas Anessi (asker) Sep 3, 2021:

@ Andrzej Please note that at the IPN conference second circulation is specifically contrasted against samizdat. This is indeed the key here. I would say this conference notice merely confirms the "second circulation" equiv. as the one that is functioning among historians. My author is a history professor, so this is what counts for me.

Thomas Anessi (asker) Sep 3, 2021:

Drugi obieg was a quite loose conglomeration of publishing means, ranging from "unofficial" use of company printing equipment and mimeograph machines, to proper basement presses. The Polish Wiki does a good job of explaining the difference. https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wydawnictwo_podziemne

For example, in the book I am translating, Solidarity and KOR-related newsletters are circulating more or less openly in factories and shipyards in 1980. That is not anything like so Soviet situation.

Andrzej Mierzejewski Sep 3, 2021:

I'd support geopiet's version as more informative than Frank's.

Andrzej Mierzejewski Sep 3, 2021:

@Thomas "Samizdat" is a Russian word regarding the unofficial publications in the Soviet times. That's an accurate and precise equivalent for the Polish "drugi obieg".

Pls have a look at this title: https://ipn.gov.pl/pl/nauka/konferencje-naukowe/26976,Miedzy... .

Frank Szmulowicz, Ph. D. Sep 3, 2021:

The question has mysteriously disappeared. Still, the translation should be available to those searching the answer.

geopiet Sep 3, 2021:

Polish Unofficial Publishing Network The term Drugi Obieg, meaning second circulation, refers to the underground publishers and publications that began to appear in Poland in the mid 1970s