The Great Soviet Encyclopedia? (BSE) - the most grandiose publishing project of the Soviet era . Over the course of fifty years, three editions were published. All fundamental decisions related to the work on the BSE - from the definition of policy on its content to the organization of printing performance, have always been taken at the highest state and party level. Volumes of the second edition began to be published in 1950. By 1958, 50 main volumes and one additional . were published. Here is a two-volume alphabetical index to the BSE, combined for convenience in one file (especially since two volumes have a continuous numbering).