The article examines the emigrant journalism of the Russian Abroad in the 1920s–1940s as one of the key institutions of transnational civil society. It is argued that the first wave of Russian emigration formed not only a cultural and political environment beyond the borders of the Soviet state, but also a stable system of public self-organization, which included the press, religious, academic, professional, charitable and representative structures. Special attention is paid to the role of emigrant periodicals in maintaining public communication, collective identity, social representation and critical reflection on the Soviet political project. The conclusion is made that the journalism of the Russian Abroad functioned not as an auxiliary information channel, but as an independent mechanism of civic participation that ensured the existence of an alternative public sphere outside the national territory.