Joshua Rubenstein. Soviet Dissidents: Their Struggle for Human Rights. Boston: Becaon Press. 1985. 368 pp. $10.95.

1987 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-152
Author(s):  
Michael Futrell
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Soviet Dissidents

Adam Michnik’s Understanding of Totalitarianism and the West European Left

2011 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 197-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Brier
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
The West ◽  
Social Democrats ◽  
Central European ◽  
Human Rights Advocacy ◽  
History Of ◽  
Soviet Dissidents

There is a supreme irony concerning the history of the concept of “totalitarianism”: during the 1970s, many Western social scientists and intellectuals abandoned this concept, arguing that it was too rigid to account for the changes that were occurring in Eastern Europe at the time; one of the developments they cited was the rise of Central European and Soviet dissidents. At precisely this time, however, the dissidents themselves started to apply the adjective totalitarian to the Communist regimes they rebelled against. Focusing on Adam Michnik’s writings, the article assesses this seeming paradox by adopting a transnational perspective. The article’s main thesis is that, for Michnik, the value of “totalitarianism” did not lie in its analytical precision but in the discursive force the term acquired in transnational exchanges in which Michnik tried to mobilize the support of the Western left for the cause of the Polish opposition. The article substantiates this thesis with two case studies. Addressing West German Social Democrats, the concept of totalitarianism seems to have served as a means of convincing them that support for the Polish opposition was not detrimental to reforms in Eastern Europe and to international détente but a necessary precondition for any authentic peace. In addressing French audiences, Michnik seems to have used the adjective totalitarian to convince his interlocutors that human rights advocacy was not any kind of issue but that French and Polish democratic socialists faced a common threat.

The Sakharov-Medvedev Debate on Détente and Human Rights

2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 138-174
Author(s):  
Barbara Martin
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Soviet System ◽  
The West ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Andrei Sakharov ◽  
Soviet Dissidents ◽  
East West

Abstract This article examines the debate between Soviet dissidents Andrei Sakharov and Roy Medvedev in the 1970s concerning the Jackson-Vanik Amendment and détente. Although both dissidents stood for East-West détente and democratization of the Soviet system and believed in the possibility of a dialogue with Soviet leaders until 1970, they later diverged in their views about methods of action. As Sakharov lost faith in the possibility of influencing the Soviet regime headed by Leonid Brezhnev, he shifted to a more radical position, adopting the language of human rights and turning to Western politicians and public opinion as an audience for his calls. Sakharov's public embrace of the Jackson-Vanik Amendment was in line with his advocacy of freedom of emigration and his belief that the West should extract concessions in the field of human rights before granting trade benefits to the Soviet Union. Medvedev, by contrast, argued that the amendment was counterproductive insofar as it risked alienating Soviet leaders and triggering adverse results. He considered that détente should be encouraged for its own sake, with the hope that over time it would spur democratization in the country. Medvedev's argument had much in common with the West German leader Willy Brandt's notion of “change through rapprochement,” a concept invoked as a rationale for Brandt's Ostpolitik. Although Sakharov's position earned him the Nobel Peace Prize, the Helsinki Accords showed how détente could serve the cause of human rights even with the Cold War under way.

Two Approaches to the Solution of Nationalities Problems in the USSR in the Writings of Soviet Dissidents

1983 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 244-247
Author(s):  
Sviatoslav Karavansky
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Human Right ◽  
The Right ◽  
Soviet Dissidents

The colonial dependence of nations and their arbitrary de-nationalization in our time can neither be approved nor tolerated by democratic countries. It is also impossible to speak of human rights in countries where basic freedoms do not exist, and one basic human right is the right of every nationality to independence. Nevertheless, colonial-imperialistic relations continue to exist in today's world, and a glaring example is in the USSR.

Forming a Transnational Moral Community between Soviet Dissidents and Ex-Communist Western Supporters: The Case of Pavel Litvinov, Karel van het Reve and Stephen Spender

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-89
Author(s):  
Yasuhiro Matsui
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Close Relationships ◽  
Moral Community ◽  
Foreign Correspondents ◽  
Human Rights Movement ◽  
Stephen Spender ◽  
Soviet Dissidents

AbstractThe Soviet dissident and human rights movement, emerging publicly in the mid-1960s, became known globally through various supportive actions of Moscow foreign correspondents and Western intellectuals. For instance, Pavel Litvinov, a well-known dissident, had close relationships with foreigners, especially Karel van het Reve, a Dutch correspondent in Moscow, and Stephen Spender, a British poet, both formerly communists. This article attempts to elucidate aspects of the personal and ethical interactions among these three figures, focusing on van het Reve's and Spender's support activities and projects, particularly the Alexander Herzen Foundation and Writers and Scholars International, founded in 1969 and 1971, respectively, to understand how a transnational moral community was formed.

Human Rights Ideas, the Demise of Communism, and the End of the Cold War

2005 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 110-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel C. Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Political Legitimacy ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Human Rights Norms ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Soviet Dissidents ◽  
Instrumental Reasons

This article analyzes the role of human-rights ideas in the collapse of Communism. The demise of Communist rule in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union was significantly influenced by the transnational diffusion of humanrights ideas. The analysis focuses on how human-rights norms were transmitted to Soviet dissidents and policymakers. The article also considers precisely how, and how much, these norms affected policy. The two primary causal mechanisms were the transmission of these ideas by a transnational Eastern European social movement for human rights, which expanded the roster of available political concepts and the terms of political legitimacy, and the mechanism of “rhetorical entrapment” whereby Soviet leaders became “trapped” or constrained to uphold their rhetorical commitment to the Helsinki Accords by the expanding discourse of human rights. Subsequently, Soviet leaders accepted human rights ideas for both substantive and instrumental reasons. Western power played some role, but the ideas themselves were salient, legitimate, and resonant for Soviet leaders seeking a new identity and destiny for the Soviet Union.

Human Rights and Law

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ramesh Kumar Tiwari
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights
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