What is a dissident? Dissident movement in the USSR

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:43

During the Soviet Union, not all of the population was satisfied with the current government. Dissidents were called people who did not support the political views of others, as well as the Soviet government. They were ardent opponents of communism and treated badly everyone who had anything to do with it. In turn, the government of the Soviet Union could not ignore the dissidents. Dissidents in the USSR openly declared their political point of view. Sometimes they united in whole underground organizations. In turn, the authorities prosecuted dissidents under the law.

Political dissident

Dissidents in the USSR were under the strictest ban. Anyone who belonged to them could easily be sent into exile and often even shot. However, the dissident underground lasted only until the end of the 1950s. From the 1960s until the 1980s, the dissident movement had a significant preponderance on the public stage. The term "political dissident" gave the government a lot of trouble. And this is not surprising, since theybrought their opinions to the public almost openly.

In the mid-1960s, almost every citizen knew what a "dissident" was, not only in the USSR, but also abroad. Dissidents distributed leaflets, secret and open letters to many enterprises, newspapers and even government agencies. They also tried as much as possible to send leaflets and announce their existence to other countries of the world.

Government attitude towards dissidents

So, what is a "dissident", and where did this term come from? It was introduced in the early 60s to refer to anti-government movements. The term "political dissident" was also often used, but it was originally used in other countries of the world. Over time, the dissidents themselves in the Soviet Union began to call themselves.

Sometimes the government portrayed dissidents as real gangsters involved in terrorist attacks, such as the Moscow bombing in '77. However, this was far from the case. Like any organization, the dissidents had their own rules, one might say, laws. The main ones can be distinguished: “Do not use violence”, “Publicity of actions”, “Protection of fundamental human rights and freedoms”, as well as “Compliance with laws”.

The main task of the dissident movement

The main task of the dissidents was to inform citizens that the communist system had outlived its usefulness and that it should be replaced by standards from the Western world. They performed their task in various forms, butoften it was a publication of literature, leaflets. Dissidents sometimes gathered in groups and held demonstrations.

What is a "dissident" was already known almost all over the world, and only in the Soviet Union they were equated with terrorists. They were often referred to not as dissidents, but simply as "anti-Soviet" or "anti-Soviet elements". In fact, many dissidents referred to themselves as such and often renounced the definition of "dissident".

Alexander Isaevich Solzhenitsyn

One of the most active participants in this movement was Alexander Isaevich Solzhenitsyn. The dissident was born in 1918. Alexander Isaevich was in the society of dissidents for more than one decade. He was one of the most ardent opponents of the Soviet system and Soviet power. It can be said that Solzhenitsyn was one of the instigators of the dissident movement.

Dissident conclusion

During the Second World War, he went to the front and rose to the rank of captain. However, he began to disapprove of many of Stalin's actions. Even during the war, he corresponded with a friend, in which he harshly criticized Joseph Vissarionovich. In his documents, the dissident kept papers in which he compared the Stalinist regime with serfdom. Employees of Smersh became interested in these documents. After that, an investigation began, as a result of which Solzhenitsyn was arrested. He was stripped of his captain's rank, and at the end of 1945 he received a term.

In conclusion, Alexander Isaevich spentalmost 8 years. In 1953 he was released. However, even after the conclusion, he did not change his opinion and attitude towards the Soviet government. Most likely, Solzhenitsyn only became convinced that dissident people in the Soviet Union had a hard time.

Deprivation of the right to legal publication

Alexander Isaevich published many articles and works on the topic of Soviet power. However, with the coming to power of Brezhnev, he was deprived of the right to legally publish his notes. Later, KGB officers confiscated all of Solzhenitsyn's documents, which contained anti-Soviet propaganda, but even after that, Solzhenitsyn was not going to stop his activities. He became actively involved in social movements, as well as performances. Alexander Isaevich tried to convey to everyone what a "dissident" is. In connection with these events, the Soviet government began to perceive Solzhenitsyn as a serious enemy of the state.

After Alexander's books were released in the US without his permission, he was expelled from the USSR Writers' Society. A real information war was unleashed against Solzhenitsyn in the Soviet Union. The anti-Soviet movements in the USSR were more and more disliked by the authorities. Thus, in the mid-1970s, the issue of Solzhenitsyn's activities was submitted to the council of the Central Committee of the CPSU. At the end of the congress, it was decided to arrest him. After that, on February 12, 1974, Solzhenitsyn was arrested and deprived of Soviet citizenship, and later he was expelled from the USSR to Germany. The KGB officers personally delivered him by plane. Two days later, a decree was issuedconfiscation and destruction of all documents, articles and any anti-Soviet materials. All internal affairs of the USSR were now classified as "secret".