The Soviet human rights movement: A memoir

64 Pages·1984·3.198 MB·English

by  Valerii Chalidze

THE SOVIET
HUMAN RIGHTS
MOVE .«NT
'A Memoir
VALERY CHALIDZE
THE JACOB BLAUSTEIN INSTITUTE
FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF HUMAN RIGHTS
Copyright © 1984 by The American Jewish Committee
AI! rights reserved
Library of Congress catalog card number 84-72146
ISBN O-87495-064-3
Printed in the United States of America
CONTENTS
Foreword by Richard Maass y
Preface by Edward Kline vii
Dissent itt the USSR
L
Betraya L From W i t h i n 6
Refòrm or Revolutioi i 10
Revolutionaries and Human Rights Activists 13
Is Dialogue Possible? 18
The Movement and the West 27
Help From the West 30
Is There a Future? 35
Appendix I 38
A Note on the Legal Status of t he l-1 u ma n
Rights Committee
Appendix Il 46
Andrei Sakharov and the Russian intelligentsia
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ii-IL SPRING OF 1983 I moved to a Vermont
JNvillage in order to pui'stie my interest in science. I
sI iali cor) ti He Io publish R ussian-langtiage hooks
L ¡
and lie journal I cd it. InternalConEm dictions ¡n the USSR,
L
hut will not he so ad ively involved iii the public affairs of
Soviel dissent as L have been over die past 15 years.
I am grateful t o the Jacob B lau sieh i Institute for the
Advancement of Human Rights for the Andrei
Sakharov Fel li >wslì ip t h at ci iahled me i o mark Ins
change iii mv lift willi a backward glance at the experi-
erice of my nilleagires and iiiyself in the Soviet Hunian
Rights Movement. Reflecting on those years of public
activity, I feel bitter for those who paid for their involve-
ment with their ïreedoii i. hut at t he same ti me I rejoice
at t lic privilege of haviti g niet and worked wit h so many
remarkable people.
Special thanks are due Sidney Liskofsky, the Blaustein
Institute's Program Director and, of course, my good
friend Edward Kline.
V.G.
FOREWORD
LS FLTTIN(; that the American Jewish Commit-
ITtee's Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement
of Human Rights should publish Valery Chalidze's
ii ici n oir oit lie I IU lìta ii Rig] its Movemet it in the USSR.
Ii deed. il ic Committee was among the first Western
mstitutioiìs tO publish his thoughts on this issue - a
translation of a 1970 article in thesamizdat journal, Social
Problems, ou "Important Aspects of Human Rights in the
Soviet U mori."
Valery Chalidze is the second recipient of the Blaus-
tern Institute's Sakharov Fellowship. established in 1981
t t) I i( ) ti or the great Soviet sc:ient ist and littman ist. The
first was Vratislav Pechota, whose important study, The
Right to Know Onec Human Rightc, outlines the ituderpin-
flings of this cnt(ial freedom iii classic aiid lilolluflI
philosoph. a ud ii international law.
Ehe three co-founders of the Soviet Human Rights
Coni in ittee - Chalidze, Andrei Sakharov and Andrei
'l'verdokhlebov - epitomize the courageous leadership
of the newly formed movement in the late i 960s and
early I 970s. Other lnave Soviet citizens joined them, hut
it was their voices we heard iii the West, calling on all of
us who share their values to speak jit every public
0111
forum on behalf of freedoni and justice fòr all people in
the USSR.
V
(IìaIü lie iemmcls US in these pages that revolution
does i lot automatically or necessarily result in [114 >re
freedom and justice, or iii greater respect for }itiilìari
rights cit her by govei-i iii ictUs or t heir peopks. lic be-
lieves that before res i fr humai i rig] Its cami he
achieved in the USSR. knowledge and tmiìderstamìding of
the importance of tite rule of law must spread among
the leadership and the people.
Advancing iHLI)] u awareness o liii mman tiglits t hit)u gli
research, Pt] blislni ig and editcat 11)11 proglamns is t lie
principal aim of the Blaustein InstiL tite. There are those
who dou ht that this a pproac h is a j) pl icahie to a closed
society like the Soviet U niomi hut ( Iialidze is conviiicecl
that patient assertion of the [acts abotmt domestic amid
nitermiational law, and stubborn insistence that the goy-
erilinemmt of the USSR obey its own laws, oiler the best
hope for refòriti.
We are pleased Lo publish Chalidze's analysis of i lic
philosophic and strategic assumptions oU the Soviet Flit-
i nail Rights Moveiiieiit. The repressions of recent years
iìiay seem to have broken it, kit we take heart in his
conviction hat its spimit is still alive in the miiìdsaiid
hearts of t he Soviet intelligentsia, as well as ot hei'
gm'otmps, aiid that its voice will he heard again.
l-'inallv, the Institute must express its special gratitticle
to Fldward Kline, author of' the Prcthce to t h is booklet,
who has assisted Chalidze, Sakharov and other Russian
IlLminan rights advocates in pttblisllillg their works.
Richard Maass, Chair
i'he Jacob Rlaustein msi it ate
foi- tite Advanc:ememit 4)1 II tmnlilil Rights.
PREFACE
BECAME FAMILIAR with Valery Cha-
11(1/c's ideas when I translated for the I iiternational
JFIRST
League for [Juman Rights several documents of the
Moscow Il uiiiai i Rights Committee. On I hanksgivixig
rnorni ng in I 972, 1 was at K emit cdy all-pn rl t o ti cet h lin
after he had unexpectedly received permission to visit
the United States for one month to deliver a lecture on
human rights at Georgetown U nivcrsitv. - I hat was t lie
lxtgiuinixig of a ten-year collahorauon wh mcli absorbed a
great deal of my time; but I have no regrets, for Cha-
lidie is one of those rare iuid iv cl nais who have made a
difference in lie world.
Valery Chalidze was born on Novenilx-r 25, 1938, in
Moscow. Fus mother, ail architect and cliv planner. was
responsible for his u phrim igitig after his fat lier. au engi-
neer, was killed at ti e Iront in 1 942. ( :halidze stud led
physics at Moscow and Tbitisi Universities, and then
became head of a Moscow laboratory grou p t hat investi-
gateci the physical proeti tes oF polyimiers.
In 1968 he began samizdat publication of a journal,
Social That/ems, which focused on huimmaim rights issues.
In a itt rther efFort to promote respect I nr law. lie he-
cauile the moving force iii loumidimig. with Andrei
Sakharov and Andrei Iverdoklilebov, the Moscow Flu-
man Rights Committee in Novettiber 1970. As Sakhaiov
Vit
noted,' the Committee "attracted great altention in the
USSR and abroad. 1'his was t lie first titile t liai such an
. .
association made its appearance in our country;
and... the very existence of' the Cornuiiitee, as a free
group of associates independent of the authorities, has a
till ique and very great moral significance.''
Chalicize's statements on t lie misuse of psychiatry, on
Jewish emigration, on t he rights of defendants a ud t heir
cou usci, ori the riglì t of association, and on man o; her
topics were origina!, ironic, coiìsic!cred induct nueì its of
Soviet malpractice. l-le had become a major irritant to
t he authorities, hut his respect kw facts and the law, his
habit ti tiderstat emeiìt and his international contacts
I I
made it inconvenient to arrest juin. He was permitted IC)
visit America, but then, on dic morning of 1)eceinber
13, 1972, two of icials froiti the Soviet Embassy arrived
at his New York hold, confiscated his passport and
inlormeci h im t hat lie baci been deprived of Soviet
citizenship for actMnls discrediting the state.
iwenty-cight Soviet citizens issued a statement on his
exile, w h ich co 11(1 uded
Ike traces which Chalidze's activity left bcluuuìcl iii our
country are indisputable and extensive. We hope that
even in his present situation. hur 1mm his honiehuiid,
Chalicize will con t inne to be useful bot h to it and to the
prOni otion o f' tlu e i-tu I e t I la w throughout t lie wo rid
(:haiidze has fulfIlled these hopes. 1-le founded
Khroiiika Press. now the principal Russian-language
piiblisi ter of h ti man rights materials from t he USSR. lt
has published Sakharov's works, as well as the Chronicle
ofCurrent Events and other books and documents [rotti
and about the Human Rights Movement. l-Le conti ines
to edit the ournal Vn nireny /irotivn ceñía (' interi ial Con-
Sakhann .Speak (Knopf, New York, 1974, p. 46).
I
v'il
tradictions iii the USSR"). Ratidoin I-louse in New York
has pi ¡hi ished English t t'a isiations of two @1 his hooks -
To Dc/end The,ce Rights ii 1 975, atici &iznwa/ Russia in
1977. His articles have appeared in (Jomrnenta.ty, 'l'ue New
York i'iines, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Jour-
nal. Iii t he spring of 1983, Chalidze moved to Benson,
Verni i u. where he c n ì i ¡unes io w rite and pi thu sh . and
to coni ribtire to our utiderstancli ig of Soviet society.
'I 'h is booklet is a memoir, not a i u.story 1)1 t he Hm tian
Rights Nioveriient. For readers who want more back-
ground i iiou'tììai ion, Chandzc's To Defend l'liese Rights is
a useful introduction to tite ideas and issues that in-
spired the nioveiiieiìt, and Joshua Ruheuistein's Soviet
Dissidents offers a concise history.?
The Human Rights Movement made its first public
appearance on December 5, 1965, Constitution Day,
'luen Alexatidet- Esert i n-Volpin led a stinti I hand of
intellectuals i n i o Push kin Square and clisplavec 1 banners
bea ri ng the slogans "Respect tue ( onst it u Lion'' and
"Tite Sinyavsky-Daniel Trial Should Be Open to the
Pu hhc.'' (Andrei Siuìyavskv and Y 111v Daniel had been
arrested for publisliung their writings iii clic West.) The
t iiinng of ibis demonstrac ion, one year al ter Leonid
Bretliiìev liad taken pover. was no accident. Nikita
liiruslichev had sliakeit tip the Staiitiist order uid
raised expectations of change, and tite Rrethnev regime
was iustaliecl to protect the status quo. Frustrated in
their hopes For refòrm from above, a few brave intellec-
2 (Beacon Press, Bosion, 1980). More detailed iniorutai ion is -available in
English in A C/ironic/c o/ Current Eie;,t. translated and published by
Anitnesi y I meritai oliai since ¡97 I , and in t he quarterly Chronicle of
1Junio?? Rig/itc ¿n the USSR, published by Chalidze in New York rem 1973
mo 1983. L udniu illa Alexeyeva's definitive study oF post-Stalir i dissident
itioveijietits in the USSR is avaiiabie in Russian iront Khronika Press; ari
Etiglisli translation is scheduled litt pithitation In Weskyan titivetsit
Press in jattuary 1985.
ix
tuais decided they wou Id experiment with i tulependent
initiatives.
There have always been dissidents ir the USSR. even
cit ¡iii ig the St alui era. Most of il ciii have cotii C into
cotillict with tite regime because the tried to pctice
their religion, preserve their national identity or pursue
their own economic or career interest. I luman tights
advocates become dissidents by cleí'ending the rights of
others. They prom ot e Freedom ni ni oit tat X) t), I reedotn
of expression and the rule of law rather than specific
political objectives. The believe in reform rather than
revolution. As i hey see it. their role is to exert pressure
From outside the establislittient in order io Force change
trout above. Many intellectuals sympathize vithi the
uiic)vement's goal bitt refrain from any overt act that
challenges the narrow limits of tolerated clissent.
The litiuiian rights movement has been faulted lòr
lacking a program io secu re change; but t he liberals (IC)
ha ve a rata mal strategy, albeit rarely explicit, which
depends oit several propositions:
The spread of uncensored itifoiniation and ideas will
undermine tite regimes ability to iiìatnpulate public
opinion, and lotte it to acknowledge lite Soviet Uiìions
prollc'iuis and to seek a tiew basis for legitimacy.
l'he Human Rights Movement can help disaffected
groups express t heir compiai uts and teach them that
redress of their grievances requires changes in the sys-
Win. lt works to advance knowledge of arid respect for
the ru e of law ¿utn mg the rulers a tul t he ru led.
The movement cati generate additional stimuli for
change by mobili /.i ng Western i nubi ¡ t opinion; Western
radio broadcasts, (Iij)Ioniacy and public opinion can ef
lec:t.ively supplement. but riot replace, internal piessures.
Marty people in the establishment recognize that the
X