1.3 Andropov's Suppression of Dissidents 1967-82 Flashcards
Who were the dissidents that the KGB arrested? (5)
- intellectuals
- political dissidents
- nationalists
- religious dissidents
- refuseniks, soviet jews
intellectual dissidents (3)
- their high status in society encouraged them to develop independant ways of thinking
- because the exchange of ideas with foreign colleagues, reading foreign research papers and using foreing equipment were restricted, many scientists were frustrated and (Sakharov) wrote Brezhnev a letter.
- he was banned from further military research
Political dissidents (2)
- people who tried to hold the government to the account of its own laws
- they were usually concerned with the abuses of human rights that broke soviet law and internationsl agreements signed by the USSR
Nationalist Dissidents (5)
- often very vocal dissidents
- groups of ukrainian, latvian, lithuanian and georgians called for greater status for their own national languages and cultures
- some called for independance from the USSR
- authorities tried to ban celebrations of the 150th anniversary of the ukranian poet Taras Shevchenko
- these nationalist groups often received encouragement from their compatriots abroad
Religious dissidents
baptists and catholics who faced restrictions on their worship and religious practices
Soviet Jew Dissidents (3)
- known as refuseniks
- soviet jews who had been denied their wish to emigrate to Israel
- had strong support from the US congress and continued to be a difficult issue at international summits between the leaders of the USA and the USSR
samizdat
illegal, selfpublished material sharing the dissidents concerns and criticisms of the Soviet system, which were popular in the late 1960s
what were some actions taken against the dissidents?
- secret police conducted surveillance and harassment of suspected dissidents
- intellectuals often threatened with expulsion from their professional organisations, denied permission to publish or dismissed from their post
- houses were searched
- the label of dissidents marked them out in civilian life, including discrimination at work, failure to gain a place at university and surveillance
what was an important development in the treatment of dissidents? (3)
- the use of psychiatric hospitals, which discredited the dissidents in the eyes of the public
- these hospitals were led by the NKVD and patients were held there until ‘cured’, meaning they changed their views and opinions of the soviet state
- those who refused were treated with electric shocks and drugs
what was another method of used to limit the impact of dissidents? (4)
- send them into internal exile
- troublesome academics were sent to far off places
- this severely restricted their communication with supporters
- for those who continued with their critical work of regime etc, still had te option of being expelled from the USSR
What was the ultimate impact of the dissidents? (5)
- records of court cases were smuggled out of the USSR and used by human rights groups in the West, this caused bad publicity
- human rights groups abroad highlighted the treatment of dissidents as a violation of the Helsinki Accords
- within the USSR the dissidents had limited support from the public and never threatened the social or political stability of the country
- they were never a coherent group and struggled to organise public demonstrations
- by the end of the 1970s, Andropov’s measures had succeeded in keeping the dissident groups small and divided
what did the Helsinki accords expect?
‘freedom of thought, conscience and belief’
in what way did Andropov’s dealings with dissidents differ from those of past years? (3)
- andropov’s methods were more subtle than Stalin’s
- more sophisticated with the developments in surbeillance technology such as electronic bugging devices
- the proffesionalism, reputation and status of the KGB grew considerably under Andropov
