The role of computer users associations in the development of software in the USSR Vasiliy Burov National Research University Higher School of Economics Moscow, Russia vasiliy.burov@gmail.com Sergei Prokhorov Vavilov Institute for the History of Science and Technology of Russian Academy of Sciences Moscow, Russia sergei.prokhorov@gmail.com Abstract— The appearance of serial computers of the Ural and M-20 series in the Soviet Union reduced the level of secrecy around computers. But there was a problem of lack of the necessary literature, training courses and teachers. The barrier in the form of censorship and strict planning for the publication of literature and conferences for years to come greatly hampered the spread of system software. A simple way out in the form of creating a public organization of computer users, which would train specialists and disseminate technical literature, was impossible in the USSR. This paper explores the emergence of a structure that to some extent weakened the tight grip of censorship and strict planning - the Commission for the Operation of Computers M-20 at the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences. Having become a very influential organization, it had a significant impact on the creation and development of subsequent associations (commissions), which made it possible to solve the problems of dissemination of knowledge and accessibility of information at least partially in the field of computers. Keywords—software, user associations, computer, M-20, censorship, Academy of Sciences. I. INTRODUCTION In the Soviet Union, to publish even recordings of a chess game (without the grandmasters' comments!), the permission of the censorship committee was required. But even obtaining such permission did not solve all the problems. It was necessary to find a publishing house that published literature on the topic of your publication and enter into the publishing plans for the following year. The same was valid for conferences. They should have been planned a year in advance. If it was intended to publish an article in a journal, then the time frame could be reduced, but the volume of the journal article did not allow to present the topic in detail. In the Soviet Union, all works related to computers were strictly classified. For many years in the Soviet Union, all works related to computers were strictly classified. With the advent of computers of the Ural and M-20 series, work on computer topics was declassified. But another problem arose. Due to strict censorship and planning, there was no computer literature, no training courses, and no teachers. In a situation where the serial production of computers began, such a barrier in the form of censorship and strict planning for publishing literature and conferences for the years ahead greatly impeded the spread of system software. Considering that the most powerful computers were used in organizations involved in developing dual-use projects in the defense complex and scientific organizations carrying out important government assignments, this situation was highly unacceptable. A simple way out as creating a public computer user organization that would undertake the training of specialists and the distribution of technical literature was impossible in the USSR. The party leadership was suspicious of all forms of social self-organization, seeing them as a threat to the existing system. Much effort has gone into creating a structure that, to some extent, has eased the tight grip of censorship and strict planning. II. THE FIRST MASS-PRODUCED COMPUTERS In December 1951, the first two Soviet computers M1 and MESM were put into operation. The USSR entered the top three countries as the first to enter the computer technology era. By the end of 1952, projects and prototypes of three computers were presented for serial production. These were computers BESM (the project was presented by the Institute of Precise Mechanics and Computer Engineering of the Academy of Sciences), Strela (the project was presented by the Special Design Bureau 245 (SKB 245) of the Ministry of Instrumentation), and M- 2 (the project of the Power Engineering Institute of the Academy of Sciences). Strela was preferred as the SKB- 245 was closely associated with the Ministry of Instrumentation. It was assumed that this would make it possible to establish the serial production of reliable computers quickly. As it turned out later, the choice was unsuccessful. For four years, from 1953 to 1956, only 7 Strela computers were produced. Then they were discontinued because their technical characteristics and reliability in operation were too low and did not satisfy computer users. The Strela was to be replaced by the M-20 and Ural computers, ready for serial production. These computers have had a profound impact on the development of the computer industry and system programming. They were more reliable and easier to use than the Strela computers. The first generation of computer users in the USSR gained experience of working with computers precisely thanks to these computers. These were computers of different classes for different end-users. The speed of the Ural-1 was 100 operations per second. It was designed for engineering calculations.[1] The speed of the M-20 was 20,000 operations per second. It was designed to carry out complex scientific calculations and tasks of the defense complex.[2] For comparison, Strela's performance was 2,000 operations per second. XXX-X-XXXX-XXXX-X/XX/$XX.00 ©20XX IEEE