Soviet Dissidents

Dissent in the Soviet Union could only emerge following the death of the dictator Joseph Stalin in 1953. [Page 1327]His successors, led by Nikita Khrushchev, initiated significant reforms. They released millions of political prisoners and gradually permitted greater freedom of expression for writers and artists. The writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn began his career under Khrushchev when the Soviet leader authorized the publication of his short novel, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, in November 1962. Solzhenitsyn based his story on his own experiences as a prisoner in a labor camp. The country seemed determined to confront the bitter legacy of Stalin's dictatorship.

But Khrushchev was removed from power in October 1964 and within a year, his successors, led by Leonid Brezhnev and Alexei Kosygin, began to reverse the process of de-Stalinization. The arrest of two writers in Moscow in September 1965 signaled the new leaders' determination.

Andrei Sinyavsky was a well-known literary critic; his friend, Yuli Daniel, wrote short stories. Working together, they had challenged the regime's censorship controls by sending essays and stories to the West where they were published under pseudonyms. Their arrest did not go unnoticed. Friends and relatives organized a petition campaign on their behalf and decided to hold a peaceful demonstration in Moscow's Pushkin Square on December 5, 1965, Soviet Constitution Day, appealing to the government to hold an open trial for the two defendants. This was the first public demonstration in defense of individual rights since Stalin's death. In February 1966, after a 4-day trial, Sinyavsky and Daniel were convicted of “anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda.” Their stories were the principal evidence against them and they were sentenced to many years of confinement in the labor camps of Mordovia, east of Moscow.

Their case led to the emergence of the Soviet human rights movement. During the trial, their wives had been permitted to sit in the courtroom. Intently following the proceedings, they openly took notes and were able to create an unofficial transcript of the trial. Another activist, Alexander Ginzburg, compiled a history of the case and was able to send it to the West, where it generated consternation among liberal intellectuals. Ginzburg, in turn, was arrested in January 1967; his trial was held a year later. Soon, other activists, such as Vladimir Bukovsky, were detained for protesting against censorship and other arrests. He too was brought to trial.

Between 1966 and 1968, more than a thousand people responded to this cycle of arrest and trial by signing petitions calling for the release of imprisoned activists. Gradually, the human rights movement developed its fundamental strategy: to embarrass the regime by exposing how it violated its own laws. The regime responded with further arrests, dismissal from work, “chats” with the KGB, and other reprisals. The “Prague Spring” in 1968, when Czech communist officials permitted dramatic reforms, also inspired Soviet citizens to hope that their government would tolerate liberal changes. This hope was crushed in August when Warsaw Pact forces invaded Czechoslovakia and put an end to this experiment. Eight courageous Soviet citizens held a demonstration in Red Square to protest the invasion. Their arrest and trial led to further protests.

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