Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Current trends in Russia include downplaying the crimes of Stalin and human rights abuses in the Soviet Union after his death, celebrating the role of the security services in the Soviet Union and post-Soviet Russia, and increasing restrictions on civil liberties.The term "dissident" in present-day Russia thus rarely refers to Soviet dissidents, but rather to individuals such as the late Alexei Navalny or others harassed, and often arrested and imprisoned, because of their criticism of, or opposition to, the political regime headed by President Vladimir Putin and his associates.It is not surprising that memories of the Soviet dissident phenomenon have faded in Russia.The dissidents of Soviet Russia have passed away or are elderly, and their modest legacy is of little interest to Western students of present-day Russia or, for that matter, to most of its population.Few dissidents from the Soviet period had a significant impact on political developments in post-Soviet Russia, and if they are remembered it is often as eccentric figures somewhat detached from reality.As a result, the theme of dissent in the Soviet Union is not currently a popular one in Russia or the West, and few interesting and insightful books or articles about dissent in Soviet Russia have been published in the last few years.Recent publications on this topic tend to focus on specific aspects of dissent or individual dissidents, or they are highly descriptive.1 No meaningful efforts have been made to provide new, original treatments of the dissident phenomenon in Soviet Russia.This neglect is unfortunate, since the Soviet dissidents included a great variety of fascinating individuals.Their activities represented a partial rebirth of civil society and of public opposition (even if it was limited) to the powers that be, and the Soviet dissidents became a significant focus of Cold War politics.A work such as the one under review is thus very welcome.Benjamin Nathans's book provides a detailed and comprehensive overview of the backgrounds, activities, and significance of the Soviet dissidents, with a heavy emphasis on Soviet Russia and Moscow in particular.No one has studied and analyzed the Moscow dissident milieu in as much detail as Nathans, and he provides important insights into the origins of this milieu (with a focus on the somewhat eccentric figure of Alexander Volpin), the motivations and strategies of its major actors as well as their successes and failures, and their complicated interrelationships.For example, he devotes considerable attention to controversial figures such as Victor Krasin and Petr Yakir, how they were 1 Recent examples include Barbara Martin, Roy and Zhores Medvedev: Loyal Dissent in the Soviet Union (Boston, 2023); Peter Reddaway, The Dissidents: A Memoir of Working with the Resistance in Russia, 1960-1990 (Washington, 2020); and an important work published too late to be used by Nathans, A. Iu.
Source: The Russian Review
DOI: 10.1111/russ.70031
Author: Ivan Jaworsky
Institution: University of Waterloo
Language: English
Topic: Soviet and Russian History
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $2,900
OpenAlex ID: W4409204445