Russian entrepreneur Ivan Nikolaievich Kushnerev founded the Kushnerev & Company Printing Shop in 1869 in Moscow. Initially, he opened a small shop “with a dozen workers, one hand press, and a single printing machine.” In 1903, Kushnerev acquired Moscow’s first Linotype press. As his business grew, he brought-in partners, and when he died in 1896, Kushnerev's printing firm was one of the largest in Imperial Russia. In 1919, Kushnerev & Company was nationalized by the Soviets and consigned to the printing section of MSNKh (Moscow Economic Council). The printer was thereafter placed under the Poligrafkiniga (Book and Magazine Printing) Trust and renamed the 3rd State Typolithography Workshop. By 1921, the printer was named the 20th State Typolithography Workshop. Subsequently, it became the 3rd Krasnii Proletarii Book Printing Plant when its location (on Pimenovskaia Street) was re-named Krasnoproletarskaia (Red Proletarian Street). By late 1924, the 3rd Krasnii Proletarii came under the management of Gosizdat (State Publishing House).