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— CH. 1 · ORIGINS AND EARLY RESISTANCE —

Soviet dissidents

~6 min read · Ch. 1 of 6
6 sections

  • In August 1969, the Initiating Group for Defense of Civil Rights in the USSR sent a formal appeal to the United Nations Committee on Human Rights. They demanded protection for citizens whose rights were being trampled by Soviet authorities during a series of public trials. This marked a shift from isolated complaints to organized international advocacy. Earlier that decade, poets gathered at Mayakovsky Square in downtown Moscow to read underground writings aloud. Police frequently dispersed these gatherings, yet the act itself created a visible record of dissent. The trial of poet Iosif Brodsky in 1963 became a defining moment for the movement. He faced charges of parasitism simply for lacking official employment and was sentenced to internal exile. Frida Vigdorova compiled notes from his trial, which circulated widely among dissident circles and generated sympathy across the country. Two years later, writers Andrei Sinyavsky and Yuli Daniel were arrested in 1965. They had published co-authored works abroad under pseudonyms and received sentences involving labor camps or internal exile. Thousands signed petitions demanding their release, many of whom would go on to join the broader dissident cause. On the 5th of December 1965, Alexander Yesenin-Volpin led silent demonstrations on Pushkin Square. Participants held posters urging the government to observe its own Constitution on Soviet Constitution Day. These early actions laid the groundwork for future legalist strategies.

  • In April 1968, activists launched an underground periodical called Chronicle of Current Events. It documented human rights violations and protest activities across the entire Soviet Union. By the end of its run, the newsletter covered 424 political trials where 753 people were convicted without a single acquittal. The publication also recorded that 164 individuals were declared insane and sent to compulsory psychiatric treatment. This samizdat effort became a primary tool for documenting state repression. In 1975, the signing of the Helsinki Accords provided new hope for rights campaigners. The agreement included clauses on human rights that dissidents could use to hold their government accountable. Dedicated watch groups formed in Moscow, Kiev, Vilnius, Tbilisi, and Erevan between 1976 and 1977. Members of these groups faced severe consequences when the KGB reacted with large-scale arrests from 1977 through 1982. Yuri Orlov, Vladimir Slepak, and Anatoly Shcharansky received lengthy labor camp terms in 1978 for treason and anti-Soviet agitation. Lyudmila Alexeyeva, chairwoman of the Moscow Helsinki Group, emigrated in 1977 after years of persecution. Her departure was part of a pattern where authorities offered activists the chance to leave rather than face imprisonment.

  • The Soviet Union routinely sent dissenters to psychiatrists for diagnosis as a method to avoid public criminal trials. Political opponents were labeled psychotic or deluded and locked away in psychiatric hospitals while being treated with neuroleptics. This technique became known as the medicalization of dissidence or psychiatric terror. Leonid Plyushch and Pyotr Grigorenko were among many victims subjected to this form of repression. In the opinion of Lyudmila Alexeyeva, attributing mental illness to a prominent figure who made political declarations was the most significant factor in assessing psychiatry during the 1960s and 1980s. Vladimir Bukovsky wrote A New Mental Illness in the USSR: The Opposition, which was published in French, German, Italian, Spanish, and other languages. He also coauthored A Manual on Psychiatry for Dissidents with Semyon Gluzman, releasing it in Russian, English, French, Italian, German, and Danish. These texts exposed how the state used medicine to discredit political opposition. By the early 1980s, over 164 people had been declared insane and sent to compulsory treatment facilities according to records kept by the Chronicle of Current Events.

  • Several national groups formed movements to return to their homelands after being deported under Stalin. The Crimean Tatars aimed to return to Crimea despite laws justifying their deportation having been overturned. Their first collective letter calling for restoration dates back to 1957. Led by Mustafa Dzhemilev, they founded a democratic and decentralized organization unique in Soviet history. In the early 1960s, initiative groups began forming where these populations had been forcibly resettled. Meskhetian Turks sought to return to South Georgia while ethnic Germans aimed to resettle along the Volga River near Saratov. Emigration movements included Soviet Jews seeking to move to Israel and Volga Germans aiming for West Germany. Citizens of German origin living in Baltic states before annexation in 1940 also joined this cause. An agreement between West Germany and Soviet authorities in 1972 allowed between 6,000 and 8,000 people to emigrate annually. Almost 70,000 ethnic Germans left the Soviet Union by the mid-1980s. Armenians achieved smaller-scale emigration with over 15,000 leaving by the same period.

  • Protestant groups including Baptists, Seventh-day Adventists, and Pentecostals opposed anti-religious state directives. Many within the independent Pentecostal movement pursued emigration alongside Jewish and German dissident efforts. The Catholic movement in Lithuania was part of the larger Lithuanian national movement. Russian Orthodox activities remained relatively small but still faced interference from the state. Literary figures played a significant role in the wider dissident movement through persecution and publication. Osip Mandelshtam, Boris Pasternak, Mikhail Bulgakov, and Joseph Brodsky all suffered state persecution. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn published The Gulag Archipelago, which became a landmark work exposing camp life. Dozens of literati participated in the movement including Vasily Aksyonov, Yury Aikhenvald, Arkadiy Belinkov, and Leonid Borodin. Other names include Joseph Brodsky, Yuli Daniel, David Dar, Aleksandr Galich, Anatoly Gladilin, and Yuliy Kim. Cultural theorists like Grigori Pomerants were active dissidents who had been exiled via Philosophers' ships earlier in Soviet history. Underground poetry and art flourished despite official suppression, with painters from the Lianozovo group creating works outside sanctioned channels.

  • In 1974, the United States Congress passed the Jackson-Vanik amendment to affect trade relations with countries restricting freedom of emigration. This federal law targeted Communist bloc nations that limited human rights alongside migration policies. When Jimmy Carter entered office in 1976, he broadened his advisory circle to include critics of US-Soviet détente. He publicly expressed concern about Soviet treatment of dissidents Aleksandr Ginzburg and Andrei Sakharov. In 1977, Carter received Vladimir Bukovsky in the White House, asserting he did not intend to be timid in supporting human rights. The US Helsinki Watch Committee was established in 1979 and funded by the Ford Foundation. It monitored compliance with human rights provisions of the Helsinki Accords while providing moral support inside the Soviet bloc. Ronald Reagan held a meeting with Andrei Sakharov at the White House on the 14th of November 1988. He stated that Soviet human rights abuses were impeding progress until completely eliminated. Reagan addressed over one hundred dissidents during broadcasts to the Soviet people and meetings at the U.S. Embassy. His agenda focused on freedom to travel, speech, and religion as core principles for engagement.

Common questions

When did the Initiating Group for Defense of Civil Rights in the USSR send a formal appeal to the United Nations Committee on Human Rights?

The group sent its formal appeal in August 1969. This action marked a shift from isolated complaints to organized international advocacy regarding citizens whose rights were being trampled by Soviet authorities.

What happened during the trial of poet Iosif Brodsky in 1963?

Iosif Brodsky faced charges of parasitism simply for lacking official employment and was sentenced to internal exile. Frida Vigdorova compiled notes from his trial which circulated widely among dissident circles and generated sympathy across the country.

How many people were declared insane and sent to compulsory psychiatric treatment according to the Chronicle of Current Events?

Records kept by the Chronicle of Current Events show that over 164 individuals were declared insane and sent to compulsory psychiatric treatment facilities. This technique became known as the medicalization of dissidence or psychiatric terror used to avoid public criminal trials.

Why did ethnic Germans leave the Soviet Union between 1972 and the mid-1980s?

An agreement between West Germany and Soviet authorities in 1972 allowed between 6,000 and 8,000 people to emigrate annually. Almost 70,000 ethnic Germans left the Soviet Union by the mid-1980s under this arrangement.

When did Ronald Reagan hold a meeting with Andrei Sakharov at the White House?

Ronald Reagan held a meeting with Andrei Sakharov at the White House on the 14th of November 1988. He stated that Soviet human rights abuses were impeding progress until completely eliminated during this engagement.

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All sources

68 references cited across the entry

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