The State Publishing House had its origins in Imperial Russia as the Royal Print Yard in St. Petersburg. As the Red Army increased its control over the provinces and cities in former Imperial Russia, the State Publishing House developed offices outside St. Petersburg. The Belorussian SSR bordered Poland to the west, the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) to the east, the Lithuanian SSR and Latvian SSR to the north, and the Ukrainian SSR to the south. Its forerunner was the Socialist Soviet Republic of Belorussia (SSRB) that was formed in 1919. In 1922, it became the Belorussian SSR and one of the founding members of the Soviet Union, with the Ukrainian SSR, the Transcaucasian SFSR, and the RSFSR.