Dissent

A remarkable phenomenon surfaced in the Soviet Union in the 1960s and 1970s, when a small but growing number of individuals commonly called dissidents, began to criticize government policies openly and to demand greater civil, religious, and national rights. After decades of terror and in view of the tight controls and relentless indoctrination the regime has had at its disposal, how could this surprising challenge to it emerge? To a great extent, dissent was an outgrowth of de-Stalinization, of the loosening of the "paralysis of fear" that Khrushchev had initiated. The limited revelations of the horrendous crimes of the Stalin era aroused widespread disenchantment and skepticism about other aspects of the regime. Consequently, when Brezh­nev attempted to impose limits on liberalization, he evoked protest and dis­sent, especially among the intelligentsia.

Dissent in the USSR flowed into three frequently overlapping currents. Be­cause of its access to the Western media, the best known was the Moscow-based civil rights or democratic movement, which consisted mostly of Rus­sian intelligentsia and counted among its leaders such luminaries as the nov­elist Aleksander Solzhenitsyn and the nuclear physicist Andrei Sakharov. Re­ligious militancy was another form of "deviant" behavior. In Ukraine and other non-Russian regions, dissent crystallized around nationality-oriented as well as civil rights and religious issues.

Initially, the core of the Ukrainian dissidents consisted largely of the "six-tiers," the new and creative literary generation that was just coming into prominence. It included Lina Kostenko, Vasyl Symonenko, Ivan Drach, Ivan Svitlychny, Ievhen Sverstiuk, Mykola Vinhranovsky, Alia Horska, and Ivan Dziuba. Later they were joined by Vasyl Stus, Mykhailo Osadchy, Ihor and Iryna Kalynets, Mykola Horbal, Ivan Gel, and the Horyn brothers. A strik­ing characteristic of this group was that its members were generally model products of the Soviet educational system and well on the way to promising careers. Some were committed communists. Although concentrated mostly in Kyiv and Lviv, they stemmed from various parts of Ukraine. While the majority were East Ukrainians, many of them had a West Ukrainian con­nection, having either studied or worked in the region. Another noteworthy feature was that a large proportion of the dissidents were the first generation in their families to leave the village and to enter the ranks of the urban intelligentsia. Hence the naive idealism and sophisticated argumentation that often characterized their statements. By and large, they were a very loose, unorganized conglomeration of people. There were not more than 1000 active dissidents in Ukraine. However, supporters and sympathizers probably numbered in the many thousands.

What grievances did the Ukrainian dissidents have? And what goals did they want to achieve? As with any group of intellectuals, there was great variety and fluidity in their views. Ivan Dziuba, a literary critic and one of the most prominent of the dissidents, apparently desired civil liberties as much as national rights. His goal was clearly stated: "I propose ... one thing only: freedom - freedom for the honest, public discussion of national affairs, freedom of national choice, freedom for national self-knowledge, self-awareness, and self-development. But first and foremost, comes freedom for discussions and disagreement." A national communist, Dziuba was disturbed by the great gap between Soviet theory and reality, especially in the area of nationality rights, and urged the authorities to repair it for the good of the Soviet system as well as the Ukrainian nation. The historian Valentyn Moroz, in contrast, reflected the intellectual traditions of Ukrainian integral nationalism and made no secret of his disgust with the Soviet system and hope for its demise. In general, however, the Ukrainian dissidents called for reforms in the USSR, not revolution or separation. They were against national repression in Ukraine and for civil rights in the USSR.

The earliest manifestations of Ukrainian dissent ap­peared in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s when several small, secret groups in Western Ukraine were organized. The most noteworthy of these was the so-called "Jurists' Group," led by the jurist Levko Lukianenko. It called for Ukraine to use its legal right to secede from the Soviet Union. After discovering these groups, the authorities imposed harsh sentences on their members in a series of closed trials.

But the momentum of de-Stalinization continued to produce unrest among the intelligentsia. In 1963, an official Conference on Culture and Language, held at Kyiv University and attended by over 1000 people, turned into an open demonstration against Russification. At about this time, students and intelligentsia began to gather regularly at the statue of Shevchenko in Kyiv, ostensibly to hold public readings of the poet’s works, but also to criticize the regime's cultural policies. The suspicious fire in 1964 that destroyed the Ukrainian manuscript collection at the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences library elicited a storm of protest by leading literary figures. Fearful that matters were getting out of hand, the Kremlin decided to crack down on dissent throughout the USSR. In Ukraine this policy resulted in the arrest in late 1965 of about two dozen of the most vocal protesters. Hoping to intimidate the dissidents' colleagues, the authorities put the latter on open trial. However, the tactic backfired and led to even greater protest and dissent.

After observing the trials in Lviv, Viacheslav Chornovil, a young journalist and committed Communist, produced his revelatory "Chornovil Papers," a collection of documents that exposed the arbitrary, illegal, and cynical manipulation of the judicial system by the authorities. Dziuba denounced the arrests in a fiery speech before a large audience in Kyiv. He also submitted to Shelest and Shcherbytsky his "Internationalism or Russification?" a perceptive, erudite, and damning analysis of the theory and mechanics of Russification in Ukraine. In 1970, after his arrest for anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda, Valentin Moroz wrote his "Report from the Beria Reserve," an emotional and power­ful denunciation of the cruelty of Soviet officialdom and its degradation of individuals as well as nations. To prevent the authorities from isolating the dissidents from each other and society and to inform the world about the details of Soviet repression, in 1970 the Ukrainian dissidents began the surreptitious distribution of the Ukrainian Herald. Although the KGB was able to restrict the circulation of these materials in Ukraine, it could not prevent them from being smuggled to the West. There, with the aid of Ukrainian émigrés, these works were published and publicized, to the consternation and embar­rassment of Soviet authorities.

After the fall of Shelest in 1972, Shcherbytsky, in cooperation with the Ukrainian KGB chief Fedorchuk and ideologist Malanchuk, launched a mas­sive "pogrom" of the dissenting intelligentsia that led to hundreds of arrests and far harsher sentences than in 1965-66. Outspoken dissidents and those members of research institutes, editorial staffs, and university faculties who were suspected of "unreliable" views were removed from their positions. This wave of persecution recalled the days of Stalin, traumatized a whole generation of Ukrainian intelligentsia, and led many, including Dziuba, to recant or to give up their dissident activities.

Reduced in number but still determined, dissidents received fresh impetus in 1975 when the USSR signed the Helsinki Accords and formally agreed to respect the civil rights of its people. Taking the Kremlin at its word, dissidents organized open and, in their view, legally sanctioned groups whose task was to monitor the Kremlin's observance of civil rights. The first Helsinki Committee was established in Moscow in May 1976. Soon afterward, in November 1976, a Ukrainian Helsinki Group emerged in Kyiv. Similar groups also sprang up in Lithuania, Georgia, and Armenia.

Task 2. Pronounce the words and learn their meanings:

disturb [dis’tә:b]

urge [ә:d ]

authority [o:’θoriti]

secede [si’si:d]

denounce [di’nauns]

fiery [‘faiәri]

audience [‘o:djәns]

Task 3. Give Ukrainian equivalents for the following word combinations and find the sentences with them in the text:

By and large; but first and foremost; to impose harsh sentences on smb; to get out of hand; to take smb/smth at his/its word.

Task 4. Give English equivalents for the following word combinations and find the sentences with them in the text:

Переконаний комуніст; для блага як радянської системи, так і українського народу; закликати (до реформ); проводити (конференцію, публічні читання); палка промова.

Task 5. Explain word-building of the following words:

Outgrowth; disenchantment; overlapping; noteworthy; unorganized.

Task 6. Write the plural of the following nouns:

Phenomenon; paralysis; medium; nucleus; momentum; analysis.

Task 7. Find in the text antonyms for the following words:

Finally; servitude; slavery; image; birth.

Task 8. Find in the text synonyms for the following words:

To disagree; to require; stream; motion; declaration

Task 9. Write down whether each of the following statements is true or false. If false re-state it in correct form.

1. A dissident demands only freedom of speech, the press and assembly.

2. The best known was the Moscow-based democratic movement.

3. The majority of the Ukrainian dissidents were West Ukrainians.

4. Students and intelligentsia gather regularly at the statue of Shevchenko in Kyiv only to hold public readings of the poet’s works.

5. The KGB was able to restrict the circulation of the dissidents’ materials not only in the Soviet Union but in the whole world.

Task 10. Answer the following questions in written form:

1. An outgrowth of what was dissent?

2. When did the earliest manifestations of Ukrainian dissent appear?

3. What kind of dissent was in Ukraine and where was it mostly concentrated?

4. What grievances did the Ukrainian dissidents have and what goals did they want to achieve?

5. What do you know about the Helsinki Accords?

Література

1. Orest Subtelny. Ukraine. A History. Second Edition, University of Toronto Press, Toronto, Buffalo, London, 1994

2. Орест Субтельний. Україна. Історія. “Либідь”, Київ, 1991