We're told Samuel's girlfriend abridged dissident literature (8)
I believe the answer is:
samizdat
'literature' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are singular nouns.
Maybe you can see an association between them that I don't see?
I don't understand the rest of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for samizdat that I've seen before include "Distribution of illegal documents (in Soviet Union)" , "Russian's clandestine printing" , "In the former Soviet Union, the secret distribution of banned writings" , "Circulation of underground literature in Soviet Union" , "System of clandestine printing and distribution in the former Soviet Union" .)