In the history of Soviet political posters, Nikolai Mikhailovich Kochergin is considered one of its pioneers. In 1918, Kochergin graduated from the Stroganov Central Industrial Art College where he later ventured into the professional world of graphic design. During the Russian Civil War, he supervised a poster publishing house and workshop in Kharkov, Ukraine. He was also one of the primary organizers of the Baku, Azerbaijan ROSTA (Russian Telegraph Agency) artist group that circulated posters throughout the Caucus region.

MGSNKh (Moscow City Council of National Economy) was formed in 1918. It municipalized hundreds of local printing enterprises during the Russian Civil War when hoarding of ink, paper and production equipment was prevalent. For its own printing needs, the MGSNKh took over several printing houses such as the 2nd Typography Workshop, the 3rd State Typolithography Workshop (formerly owned by Ivan Kushnerev) and the 15th Lithographic Workshop formerly under the ownership of Ivan Mashistov.

Litizdat (Literaturno-izdatel'skii otdel politicheskogo upravleniia RVSR) was established in June 1919 by order of the Department of the Political Directorate (PUR) of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic (RVSR). A formal decree approved its existence in October that year. Due to the hierarchy of Litizdat's formation, its title is often abbreviated as Litizdat PUR RVSR on publications it issued. As the main publishing arm for the Red Army and the Red Navy, Litizdat distributed a total of 7.5 million posters and postcards between 1919 and 1922. After the Russian Civil War, Litizdat PUR was dissolved and its functions were divided into a succession of state publishing entities. In 1921, the key functions of Litizdat were assigned to the Department of Military Literature (Litrevsor) and by 1924, Litrevsor gave-way to the State Military Publishing House (Gosudarstvennoe voennoe izdatel'stvo), Voenizdat-Voengiz.