The Krasnii Proletarii Workshop originated under the ownership of Ivan Kushnerev, a Russian entrepreneur who founded the Kushnerev & Company Printing Shop in 1869 in Moscow. When Kushnerev died in 1896, his printing operation was one of the largest in Imperial Russia. In 1919, the printer was nationalized by the Soviets and consigned to the Printing Section of the Moscow Economic Council (MSNKh). Around 1920, it was placed under the Poligrafkiniga (Book and Magazine Printing) Trust and was given the name 3rd State Typolithography Workshop. By 1921, it became the 20th State Typolithography Workshop, and later it was named the 3rd Krasnii Proletarii Book Printing Plant when its location (at 16 Pimenovskaia Street) was changed to Krasnoproletarskaia (Red Proletarian) Street. In 1924, the 3rd Krasnii Proletarii was placed under the State Publishing House, Gosizdat. In the 1930s and into the 1950s; the printer served Partizdat / Gospolitizdat (State Publishing House of Political Literature), a foremost publisher of political literature and propaganda materials. The printer retained the Krasnii Proletarii moniker over the following decades even though its management varied under a series of state-owned trusts.