The State Publishing House had its origins in Imperial Russia as the Royal Print Yard of St. Petersburg. In 1917, the Soviets nationalized the print yard and requisitioned its presses. From requisitioning emerged the Publishing House of the Petrograd Soviet that was formed in the winter of 1917 by the Literary and Publishing Department of People's Commissariat for Education. In 1919, the State Publishing House in St. Petersburg changed its name to Petrogosizdat (Petrograd State Publishing) and in 1924, to Lengosizdat (Leningrad State Publishing, a.k.a., Lengiz) when St. Petersburg changed to Leningrad in honor of Vladimir Lenin. As the Red Army controlled more provinces and cities within Russia, the State Publishing House developed auxiliary offices outside St. Petersburg. In May 1919, VTsIK (All-Russian Central Executive Committee) established in Moscow the State Publishing House of the RSFSR (Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic), a.k.a. Gosizdat, to manage all publishing activity. Over time, additional publishing departments for the state were created around Soviet Russia and in the outlying Soviet republics.