Democratic Movement in the Soviet Union BRUNO VOL… · leagues were sentenced, Ginsburg re-ceiving...

EASTERN EUROPE

Democratic Movement in the SovietUnion

BRUNO KALNINS

In this paper, which was presented to a recent meeting of the EastEuropean Study Group of the Socialist International in Perla, theChairman of the Latvian Social Democratic Party in exile examinesthe growing effectiveness of the democratic movement Inside theSoviet Union. Little though it is known In the West, he writes, it is Inthis movement that a new Russia In in Process of coming Into being.

SOCIALIST AFTJURII , London

2ANUAR Y 1971

In the last five years a democratic op-position movement has developed inthe Soviet Union. Small and illegalpolitical groups have sprung up inMoscow, Leningrad, Kiev, Riga andelsewhere. which are criticising thecommunist dictatorship and demand-

' ing a democratisation of the regime.' At the same time they are upholding

the national rights of the non-Russianpeoples.

A turning point in the developmentof the democratic opposition cameabout as a result of the trial of AndreiSinyavski and Yuri Daniel. which tookplace in Moscow in 1966. These twowere found guilty of publishing theirnovels abroad and were sentenced toperiods of penal servitude in a forcedlabour camp (7 and 5 years respective-ly). This sentence soon became knownand provoked numerous protests onthe part of the intelligentsia and thestudents. A journalist, Alexander Ginz-burg, made reference to the trial in hiswork The White Book of the Sinyae-ski-Daniel Case, which WU first secret-ly circulated in Russia, and finallyfound its way abroad to be publishedin 1967. In 1967 Ginzburg was arrest-ed together with several others. On22 January 1967 a group of intellec-tuals assembled on the Pushkin Squarein Moscow to proest against his arrest.Several of them wore arrested in turn,including the writer Vladimir Bukov-ski. There ensued two political trials,as a result of which Bukovski andothers were sentenced to three years inforced labour camps. In January 1968Ginzburg himself and some of his col-leagues were sentenced, Ginsburg re-ceiving five years in a forced labourcamp.

The Ukrainian journalist Vyaches-lav Tchornovil then addressed a writ-ten memorandum to the authorities,

in which he cited sixteen cases ofpolitical trials against members of theUkrainian opposition. In London theUkrainian communist, Ivan Daguba,published a book Internationalism orRussilication, in which he describedthe process of national oppression andRussitication. In March 1968 a largedelegation of Crimean Tartars went toMoscow and urged the Presidium ofthe Supreme Soviet to reconstitute theautonomous Crimean Republic.

That year the writings of Academyof Science member Andrei Zakharov,entitled Thoughts on Progress. Peace-ful Co-existence and Intelketual Free-dom. began to circulate in Moscow andthe university cities, reaching westerncountries in June 1968 and beingtranslated into several foreign lan-guages. On 24 April 1968 a mass meet-ing of Crimean Tartars took place inthe town of Tchirtchik in Uzbekistanand 300 Tartars were put under arrest.On 25 August a group of intellectualsand students demonstrated on the RedSquare in Moscow in protest againstthe occupation of Czechoslovakia.Most of the demonstrators were ar-rested, including the physicist PavelLitvinov, grand-son of the celebratedSoviet diplomatist Maxim Litvinov.They were all sentenced to deportationto Siberia or to forced labour camps.On 5 December 1968 the Ukrainianteacher, Vasili Makucha, set light tohimself in Kiev as a protest againstthe suppression of national freedomin the Ukraine.

On 13 April the Jewish student IlyaRips attempted to set himself on firein Riga on the square in front of theFreedom Monument as a protest a-gainst the Soviet invasion of Czechos-lovakia. Rips was also locked awayin a hospital for the mentally unba-lanced. In July 1969, in Tashkent, ten

leaders of the Crimean Tartars weresentenced to hard labour in the camps.The worker Anatoli Martchenko, whohad written a book called My Revela-tions on conditions in forced labourcamps in the post-Stalin era, receiveda further sentence of two years in alabour camp. In May 1969 a numberof Soviet naval officers belonging tothe Baltic fleet were arrested in theport of Paldiski (Esthonia) for settingup a group of democratic activists. On1 December 1969 Fritz Menders, 85years old and former Chairman ofthe Latvian Social Democratic Party,was sentenced to deportation for fiveyears for having maintained connec-tions with people abroad. On 4 Nov-ember 1969 the celebrated Russianwriter Alexander Solzhenitsyn was ex-pelled from the Union of SovietWriters for his numerous protestsagainst the wave of reprisals.

Numerous trials also took place in1970. The Ukrainian nationalist S.Karavanski received a five-year sen-tence; the Russian schoolmaster I.Pimenov of Kaluga five years; the his-torian Andrei Amakik, author of Willthe Soviet Union Survive Until 1984.received three years in a forced labourcamp; and Major-General P. Grigo-renko and the worker V. Gershuniwere both committed to a hospitalfor the mentally deranged for an in-determinate period. In addition, anumber of arrests and trials took placein Riga, Tallinn, Kharkhov. Tashkent,Gorky. Sverdlovsk, Saratov, Rostov,Dnepropetrovsk and other cities.

The Role of SamisdatSamisdat, the Russian name given toclandestine or underground literature,has a significant part to play in theunderground movement. It is producedand distributed in secret. The onlyduplicating machines available aretypewriters. A piece of opposition lite-rature is typed in five or six copiesand then distributed to five or sixpeople. These persons in turn have thetask of making a further half-dozencopies or so and distributing them inthe same way. This is how illegal lite-rature is kept in circulation not onlyin Moscow and Leningrad, but inmany other towns and in the non-Russian republics. By this means notonly political literature but forbiddenworks of literary merit amounting tohundreds of pages are put into circula-tion. A typescript of Solzhenitsyn'sCancer Word today costs BO roubleson the Moscow black market, theequivalent of a month's pay for a

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workman. Samisdat mean 'self-pub-lished'. Political Samisdat is mainlycomposed of protests against oppres-sion, national discrimination and per-secution.

A Samisdat newspaper has also beenappearing in Moscow since 30 April1968 and has become famous. It iscalled Chronicle of Present-Day Hap-penings. It has achieved a reputationfor precision, for its objective andserious tone, and for regularity ofappearance. It comes out bi-monthly,alwdys on the last day of the month.The 'present-day happenings' reportedin the Chronicle are on the one handarrests, house-searches, interrogationsconducted by the KGB, political trialsand other forms of reprisals, and onthe other short notes on recent Sam-isdat publications with reviews of theircontents. The Chronicle also has the •sub-title 'Organ of the Movement forthe Defence of Human Rights in theSoviet Union'.

The Chronicle comes out in anissue of 35 to 40 typewritten pages.The political direction of the paper isdemocratic and socialist, but it is anx-ious to receive information about everyopposition group in the Soviet Unionand its activity. The Chronicle exer-cises considerable political influenceon opposition circles and encouragesthem to step up their activity. In thispublication the democratic movementhas a common focus. The publishersof the Chronicle arc anonymous, butthey arc probably Soviet intellectualsand scientists who ;lave at their dis-posal reliable and important sourcesof information. Since 1968 the publi-cation has regularly been reachingpeople abroad through devious chan-nels, though with some delay. Manycontributors to the Chronicle andmany of its distributors have been ar-rested and sentenced. But not in suffi-cient numbers to put an end to theundertaking. A similar periodical inthe Ukrainian language has been corn-ing out in Kiev since January 1970,with the mune Vestnik Ukraini (*Uk-rainian Messenger).

Tire Democratic ProgrammeUntil 1969 the Soviet democratic op-position had no clear and concreteprogramme. But now such a pro-gramme has been worked out andmade known. This programme hasbeen mertioned on three occasions inihe Chronicle as an outstandingly im-portant political document. It bearsthe title 'Programme of the Democra-tic Movement of the Soviet Union'

and is signed 'Democrats of Russia,the Ukraine and the Baltic States.' Itcovers 76 printed pages, and consists'of six different parts, each headed bya general analysis and then listing con-crete demands.

The most important political de-mands formulated in the programmeare: the transformation of the SovietUnion into a democratic state — a'Union of Democratic Republics'; apolitical amnesty and compensation;the introduction of every political free-dom; free elections; a multi-party sys--tern with guaranteed freedom for op-

' position parties; the government ofthe Union and the governments of thevarious republics to be constituted bythose parties who obtain a majorityin the elections. In the cultural fieldthe demands include the suspension ofthe principle of party-Interest, non-in-tervention by the state in cultural life.freedom of research and literature.

Of particular importance are the de-mands concerning the national ques-tion, since the population of the SovietUnion is made up today of non-Rus-sian peoples to the extent of 45 percent of the total. This section of theprogramme is devoted to a review ofRussian expansion and Russian im-periarsm over the last 400 years. Therethen follows a critical analysis of thepresent-day situation, describing thelimitation and restriction of rights inthe non-Russian republics, the massivecolonisation of these republics by Rus-sians, and the policy pursued by Rus-sian chauvinism.

The following demands are formu-lated: the right to full self-determina-ticin for all non-Russian peoples onthe basis of a national referendumunder the supervision of the UnitedNations, including the right to separa-tion from Russia; non-intervention inthe affairs of nations who chose tosecede; real cultural and economic au-tonomy for those nations which donot wish to leave the Union; the rightof every non-Russian nation to limitthe number of Russians resident inits territory; compensation for lossesincurred by the non-Russian nationa-lities as a result of the hegemony exer-cised by the Russians. The chapterends with the resounding declaration:'There is no real democracy* withoutfreedom for the nations.'

In the field of foreign policy thefollowing demands are made: peaceand co-operation with the West, dint'.mament, evacuation of Russian troopsfrom all East European states, non-intervention in the internal, develop-

ment of Eastern states, and the re-uni-fication of Germany into a democraticstate.

As regards the economy, the de-mand is raised for a three-tier system.Heavy and medium industry shouldremain nationalised. light industryshould be placed under the control offreely elected workers councils in eachenterprise, and local industry shouldbe mado open to private enterprise. Asimilar distribution is envisaged foragriculture. The sovkhoz farms shouldremain as state farms, but the kolkho-zes should be handed over partly tofree agricultural co-operatives andpartly to peasants as private peasantfarms.

The programme closes with a callto action, the last words of which runas follows: 'Democrats of the SovietUnion! Unite! Fight! Conquer!'

Significance of the MovementThis programme has considerable si-nificance. It is the first comprehensiveprogramme to contain concrete de-mends. The democratic opposition hasinaugurated a new phase of activitywith this programme: instead of theprotests and criticisms made hitherto,the movement has now gone over toa struggle for a clear political, econo-mic and national programme. A demo-cratic ideology of opposition has beenformulated which till now was want-ing. It is particularly important that acommon programme of struggle hasbeen drawn up both for Russians andnon-Russians. For the programmerightly declares: 'National freedomcan only be achieved in a commonstruggle for political freedom.'

It must be further emphasised thatthe programme of the democraticmovement is a programme of theillegal movement. In a document pub-lished in 1970 alter the appearance ofthe programme, dealing with the tac-tical principles of she movement, thefollowing point is made, amongstothers: 'The legal forms of the move-ment have fulfilled their historic role,and they must be linked in future toillegal methods'. It is apparent fromthis that illegal methods are now con-sidered the most important. Further-more, the demands of the programmeare directed by their very content a-gainst the present-day Soviet dictator-ship with the aim of destroying itcompletely: that is to say, replacingit by complete democracy.

In this respect the democratic move-ment differentiates itself from the ac-tions of other_ opposition elements

6kNusW

WASHINTION POST27 APRIL 1971

74",

Russians in SpaceJoseph Kraft

, MOSCOW—The latestset of Soviet space shotsmay be mysterious In'them-selves. But they provide agood guide to the crazymixed-up relations that pre-

. veils between the leadershipof this country and the un-derlyIng population.

To the leadership, thespace operations have beenof vast importance. Large.amounts of money and ta-lent were invested in both

•the stationary platform ofSalyut and the manned shotof Soyus 10. The efforts •seemed to be timed to coin-cide with the big Com-munist fete on May Day.

Intense publicity, recall-ing past triumphs in space,was given the recent opera-Hone on television and In,the papers. The news wasmanaged, and the nomenCia-

! lure so arranged that fail-ure, if it occurred as seemslikely, could never beproved. Each stage in Useoperation could be hailed asyet another success.

National prestige is al-most certainly a main mo-tive for the continuing inter-est of the Soviet leadershipin the space effort. PartySecretary Leonid Brezhnevand • company apparentlyfeel obliged to take thesting out of the Americanvictory in the race to themoon.

ADDITIONALLY, theremay be some more serious,

who do not wish to forsake the ground1 of legality. This is particularly so in1 the case of the group of outstanding: Soviet scientists who have gathered1 round the atomic scientist Andrei Za-i kharov. In his letter of March 1970.i addressed to Dreamy, Kosygin and1 Potigorny, Zakharov attempted to con-vince the party leaders of the necessity

I for a general stagc-by .stage democrat-! isation of the country, which could beI carried out with the help of the party1 leadership. It must be said that heI also attempted to set up (together withj the physicists Tchalidse and Tverdo-1 khlcbov) a legal committee for human

1

rights in Moscow. It is noteworthythat the KGB has only exceptionallyengaged in reprisals against the men

, of this legal opposition, whereas the1 fighters in the illegal movement have1 been ceaselessly persecuted and harsh-1 ly punished.i So we must recognise that there are1 two different parts of the opposition

movement: there is a legal and an il-

Ilegal movement, and the latter hasrecently become the stronger. People

Ihave evidently been convinced that; with legal methods alone no biggerI successes can be achieved.; If the question is put as to how

strong the democratic movement reallyis, it must be emphasised that it onlyembraces as yet a part of the intelli-gentsia. It is not apparent that theprogramme represents all groups of

. the democratic movement, and it is1 clear that on some questions there! are different points of view. But one1 thing is clear: there is an active group1 which stands four-square behind the1 programme and engages in propa-

ganda for its fulfilment. The weaknessof Soviet democrats is the passivity ofthe great mass of intellectuals and the

I absence of an effective and compre-hensive link with the workers. Their

!strength lies in thc links now effectedIwith the non-Russian peoples. It would! also seem that the movement hasI found in Samisdat a highly suitable' means of struggle and agitation, bear-' ing in mind Soviet conditions. In spiteof innumerable arrests and trials overthe last five years, the KGB has sue-

, ceedcd in suppressin g neither Semis-dat nor the democratic movement.

. We are not able to give an exactforecast of the prospects of the demo-cratic movement in the Soviet Union.But we should nevertheless closelywatch its development, little known

' though it is in the West; for it is herethat a new Russia is in process ofceming into being.-

not to say sinister, motives. from the top, not on the11. Soviet scientists have motion of the editors.111 : pointed out that front a . A Soviet economist whom, space platform it would be ; talked to about space alsopossible to make transconti- acknowledged that public in-'. motel missiles accurate to terest had waned. "Peoplewithin tens of centimeters. used• Such accuracy would make arere ule t° space now," hethe huge 554 missiles which 'laid. "It is considered ordi-the Soviets are now deploy- Miry and everyday. Nobodylog a truly serious punt , gets very enthusiastic aboutto the land based missile

what "happensforce the United States. : ppen° u° there.Soviet military men have THE REASON for the

also pointed out the &than- public boredom with spacetallca of launching a missile is not much in doubt Afterfrom space. Such weaponswould be .almost Impossible .years of denial and sacrifice,to take out, to defend Soviet citizens are now gore-against or even to monitor, log themselves on consumer

But all of this is lost on goods that are becomingthe Soviet population. Pub- steadily more available inlie interest in the space' this country. Rarely in his-shots here has been remarks. t°rY have so many people'

been so Intent on gettingbly slight Many educated and spending as Is the easeRussians seemed not even now In Russia. And with em-to know that a pew effort Phasis on private

way even afteraccumula-

under lion, the last thing the So-wasthe news had spread all viet public wants to bother

its head about is politics—around town, ordinary Rug- the more so since In the

in the hotel lobbies for late

sians were not moved to past anyhow political in-turn on the telelvision sets •volvement h toes tended

have all kinds of unpleasantcontteeuences-reports. in these conditions, It is

One foreign diplomat here fnie .to talk about reachingtells of meeting a peasant in Soviet public opinionthe Ukraine who complained through trade and exchangethat' he was only making program, Cot 1 tpurroal uacct ivve. •

..sixty rubles, which is about even to think about the con-. 360 at official exchange vergence of Soviet and; i rates, per month, while mil- American interests and out;lions were being wasted inthe sky. Another diploma

! reports that he asked a S, viet journalist why so mac

rattention was being .paid,.. space when there was so lit. tie public interest The 1nalist allowed that the space ship from Russian opinion iscoverage came on • orders somehow bridged—that is- ...... for years to come. And

•while that difference per-sists, probably the best thatcan be worked out betweenMoscow and Washingtonare limited, tactical accordsdesigned to avoid the worst.

•

•

look.The basic conditions of

political life in the twocountries are totally differ-ent. They will be differentuntil the divorce that nowseparates the Soviet leader.

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR27 APRIL 1971

Two-party tryout in Hungary

BudapestHungary staged its one-party general elec.

lions Sunday for members of Parliament andlocal councils.

Communist Party leader Janos Radar anda4 other leaders were unopposed in contests• for the national Parliament. In a break with• • the traditional Communist pattern, however,there were genuine contests, with two ormore candidates running for 49 of the 352parliamenta ryiy seats, and 3,016 of 70,000 local

7 council places.

lcnown. The Bonn DefenceMinistry says that the numberhas been heavily reduced sinceHerr Brandt's Social Democratscame to office.

What has brought the stibiertto the fore is last iveeles out-break of a forest fire in Bavaria.which destroyed 18 acres ofwoodland. This was blamedon an East German propagandarocket

Dozen fires'The previous month no fewer

than a dozen other local fireswere started by rockets, WestGerman guards said.

Unconfirmed reports say thatthe matter may be raised attoday's Bonn . Cabinet meeting,although It is not formally onthe agenda-

WareirkEttrotieTHE NEW YORK TIMES, THURSDAY, APRIL 29,1971'

Pro-China Reds in Italy Start Newspaper,.Plan New Movement

'lwriter on Communist affairswho is based in Paris and sym-pathetic to Peking. The article

! reported on conversations withChinese peasants.

Libel Action StartedII Manifesto said that 100,000

copies of its first issue hadbeen printed and that it wasexpecting to break even at anaverage daily circulation of35,000 copies.

The new daily has four pages,lacking pictures, and carriesnews on local and sportsevents and features. An austerepolitical bulletin, as far as canbe judged by its first issue, IIManifesto sells at 8 cents acopy. All other Italian news-papers, which have eight to 32pages. sell for 13 cents.

II Manifesto announced thatit had brought libel • actionsagainst those who had allegedthat it was being financed withsecret funds. Such chargeswere published recently byL'Unita, the principal Commu-nist party organ.

In today's issue, It Manifesto'published a breakdown of Itsbudget and a list of contrib-utors in a fund drive that hasbeen going,on since last fall.

Of more than 860,000 raisedin the drive, according to thelist, $6,400 came from "com-rades and friends abroad." Thefive members of the Chamberof Deputies who joined theManifesto group were said tohave contributed nearly 65.000.

All five deputies were electedIn 1068 on the Communistparty ticket Their defection to-ward the end of 1868 reduerdithe number of Communsparty deputies in the 630-seatChamber to 166-

Local leaders and rank-and-,file members of the Communist'party in Flom°, Naples, Ber-gamo and • other places have'joined the Manifesto group in'recent months. The ,numerical

'strength of the movement ialuncertain, however, because itthas not yet participated in an,election.

By PAUL HOFMANNYoec1st Is Tly• New rat raw.

ROME, April 28—A pro.Peking group that split fromthe Italian Communist partymore than a, year ago startedpublishing a daily newspapertoday and announced plans fororganizing a new politicalmovement.

In effect. Italy now has twoCommunist parties, the 50-year-old Italian Communist party—the country's second politicalforce next to the dominantChristian Democratic party andthe strongest Communist ma-chine in the West—and theyoung dissident movement, ofunknown strength

The official Communist partykept silent today on the birthof the newspaper, but It isknown to be deeply worriedthat pro-Chinese ideology maymake further inroads on itsrank and file, particularly itsintellect als

For lack of a better label,the dissident group is known brthe name of its daily, II Mani,:festo, until now a monthly that'has appeared irregularly sincethe summer of I969.

'Grassroots Organization'The group proclaims Commu-

nist China as its "point of ref-erence." hut is not reg a rded asoutright Maoist. The first issueof its daily reported allegedpcdice repression of Maoist andother far-left fringe groups inItalian cities, in an Apparenteffort to win the support ofleft-wing extremists. •

Luigi Pinto. a member of theChamber of Deputies and editorof II Manifesto, pledged in aifrontpage article that his group!would build a grassroots organ,Iization. The editorial praised'the Chinese revolution andCharged the power structuresin the Communist states of!Eastern Europe with "counter,'revolutionary action."

In an unsigned report on"United States and China,'Printed under a New York date-line, II Manifesto said that theChinese Ping-Fong initiative'wets increasingly clearly de -

fined as an offensive aimed athe American people and itsprotesting masses with the pur-!pose of isolating the Nixon!Administration."

II Manifesto also published aifrontpage dispatch from Shang,Mal by "Our envoy in China."1K. S. Karol, stating that it!shared the copyright to thearticle with Le Native! Observe-Item' of Paris. Mr. Karol is .

The subject will be raised byHerr Bahr, State Secretary Inthe Bonn federal chancellery,when he meets his East Germanopposite number in Bonn tomor-row week.

Both countries have been en-gaged for many years in acurious

involving leaflet ex-change balloons, roc.kers, projectiles and floatingcanisters.

Last year East Germany shot650.000 propaganda leaflets west-ward across the border, carriedIn 2,700 rockets not much largerthan fireworks. It also usespapiermache "cannonballs"fired from primitive mortars.

How many leaflets the WcstGermans. Beat eastward, con-tained in drawstring bags hungfrom weather balloons, is not

The Daily Telegraph22 April 1971

Bonn angered by EastGerman leaflet rockets

By DAVID SHEARS in Bonn'VEST GERMANY is expected to protest to East" Germany against fire damage caused by East

German rockets in the propaganda war betwce.n thetwo countries.

8

Nordic States Eye

North Sea PollutionReuter

STOCKHOLM, April 27—The foreign ministers of theNordic countries said todaythey would call on the other10 nations in the Nbrtheast At-lantic Fisheries Convention to

' take measures to end pollulion of the North Sea.

The ministers said in a cornmunIgue issued here aftertheir annual meeting to dis-cuss world affairs that jointgovernment notes would besent to the countries In theconvention urging them to banthe dumping of Industrial andchemical waste In interne-Urinal waters. .

WASHINGTON POST28 APRIL 1971