Chapter 8: Pressures For Change and the Reaction of the Regime Flashcards
when can the emergence of dissidence be traced back to in the USSR and why do you think dissidence began then?
- living conidtions improved in many aspects such as consumerism however this picture was not universal and conditions in some areas of the USSR were better than other
-“The Thaw” was a period of liberlaisation and reform wihtin USSR society and led the freedom of speech of many intellectuals - the period of de-stalanisation under khrushchev where many prisioner were let out of the gulags gave a reason for radical activity
why do you think that the soviet regime could not tolerate a complete open society ?
- soviet union could’nt let society for be entirly free as it might threaten socialism and its future plus lead to rebellion once again
what did citizen grumbl about everyday ?
food shortages and finding a good hospital
how commo was political dissidence in the USSR and how can we account for this ?
- not very common becasue theres was lots of pressure from the KGB
- even when they had the freedom to express their ideas dissidents often disagreed with each other and couldnt set out a clear form of politcial opposition
-not many artist seeked to express politcial ideas
how do you think the Helsinki Accords affected the treatment of political dissidents ?
- it put more strains on dissidents as the KGB monitored more closely the soviets
when did the KGB crackdown began and reach its peak ?
-began in 1977
-reached its peak in 1983
who was Andrei Sinyavksy and Yuri Daniel ?
- sinyavksy and daniel was a trial against them for begin convicted of the offense of anti-soviet agitation and propaganda in a Moscow court for publishing their satirical writting of soviet life aboard
why is the Sinyavksy-Daniel trial significant ?
- the sinyvaksy-daniel trial was the first soviet trial where writers were openly convicted soley for their literacy work, provoking appeals from many soviet intellectuals and other public figures outside the soviet union
what did the sinvyasky-daniel trial led to in terms of meeting ?
- led to the glasnost meeting , the first spontaneous public demonstation in the soviet union after world war ii
how many year were sinyvasky and daniel sentenced for in labour camps ?
-sentenced to seven and fiver years
in what ways did their trial back fire on the regime ?
highlighted the absurdity of the regime
what does the sinyvasky-daniel trial tell us about the political dissidence under brezhnev and soviet society more broadly ?
-shows the repression towards politcial dissidents and the regime attitudes towards intellectuality
- highlighs the limits on freedom of speech
- terrible conditions dissidents condemed for speaking up
who was Andrei Sakharov ? what did he later support after war?
-he was a reowned scientist prominent in developing soviet nuclear weapons after the war however later he opposed nuclear testing and supportted East-West cooperation of human rights
what did andrei sakharov do in 1960 ? what did this led to ?
-he became involved in nuclear disarment campagins and spoke out against the war in afghanistan in his work of Samizdat
-this led to sakharov not begin allowed to coutinue with his research
what did Andrei Sakharov won in 1975?
noble peace prize
what happened to Andrei Sakharov five years later ?
he was forced to live in internal exile in the province of Gorky
why did Andrei Sakharov went on a hunger strike ?
an attempt to put pressure on the goverment to let his wife travel to the US for heart surgery
when was Andrei Sakharov allowed to return to Moscow ?
1986
what does the andrei sakharov case tell us about political dissidence under brezhnev ?
- faced lots of oppression
- freedom of speech wasnt allowed weather it was a political case or non-political
who was alexander solzhenitsyn ?
-he published One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich during khrushhev thaw period and became a bestseller across the world
who is the book One Day in the life of Ivan Denisovich based on ?
the story is set in a soviet labor camp in the early 1950s and described a single day in the life of a ordinary prisioner called Ivan Denisovich
what did Alexander Solzhentisyn won and why did he not attend to accept the award ?
- he won the noble prize for literature but decided not to travel to collect it for fear of arrest on his return
what other books did Alexander Soltzhenitsyn write ?
-gulag archipelago
-cancer ward
where did alexander soltzhenitsyn other two book got pbulsihed ?
his book got smuggled out and published in the West
who did alexander soltzhenitsyn work critsised ?-
- highly critical of lenin in gulag system
what happened to alexander soltzhenitsyn after his dissident works got published ?
he was tried for treason and stripped of his soviet citzenship in 1974 and deported to germany in an attempt to end the widespread of international protest and unwelcome publicity
where did alexander soltzhenitsyn later settled in ?
USA
what does alexander soltzhentisyn case tell as about political dissdience under brezhnev ?
-the idea that thinking and suggesting something different wasnt allowed highlgiht the limitation of freedom
-humuliation from not begin able to come back to his own country and seeing his family again
what poltical critisism was Sakharov stating in his works >
-he argued that without intellectual writing and idea the soviet union will collapse because theres a lack of participation and freedom of pseech that had put their beloved russia behind in so many prespectives
- they are living in a different era therefore putting them behind and not begin able to enjoy from the advantages of a second industrial revolution and techonology
define the term dissident ?
a radical/intellectual writer who opposes to political order ?
how did the KGB attempt to deal with dissidents ?
-punish them
-exile to different country
-stripe away their citizenship
-imprisonment
account for the difference in treatment of Alexander Solzhenitsyn under khrushchev and brezhnev ?
-under khrushchev he got liberalistion and freedom of thought
-under brezhnev he got punished for his books and limited on freedom of though and speech
what politcial factors contribted to the serve stains on the soviet system in the late 1970s and early 1980s ?
-genetocracy many people in goverment was older and dominated by the belifes of tradition and conservatism
-facing international condemnation for not respecting human rights
-aghan war
-detente had failed
-political stagantion and corruption
what economic facotr contributed to the serve strain on the soviet system in the late 1970s and ealry 1980s
-economically stagnated
-dependence on forgein grain led to agriculture problems
-economy was dominated by military industry
-second cold war/afghan war put strains on the economy
what other factors contributed to the serve strains on the soviet system ?
-brezhnev poor health led to military having greater influence on foregin policy
-social dilema
what fullled the dissident movement ?
-lack of politcal freedom and human rights
-harsh repression from the KGB and the fear of punishement
how widespread was dissident activity and why?
number of dissident was vey small indeed the moscow helsinki watch group had only 20 memebrs this was because there was lots of crackdown and brezhnev give better living standards
what is the differnce between the dissident movement and popular unrest ?
-popular unrest involved ordinary soviet people who primarily contemplated on economic, social and national issues
-on the other hand dissident movement involved more political nature and intellectuallity
what factor led to demonstrations ?
-demonstrations related to issues connected to natinalism in the non-russia republic or protest for not allowing visa to emigree
what factors led to strikes ?
strikes were related to work grivenaces
what facotrs led to riots ?
riots was due to cancellation or discontent of the people such as the cancelation of rock concerts in lennigard and a riot against corruption officials
what factores led to politcial violence ?
included extrem actions like people setting fire to themselves or assansiantion of soviet soilders in response to Afghan
what factores led to politcial violence ?
included extrem actions like people setting fire to themselves or assansiantion of soviet soilders in response to Afghan
what was the impacr of the helsinki final act of 1975 on the dissident movement ?
the helsinki accords have the dissident movement a significant boost
what were the helsinki watch groups ?
-this group reuqired the USSR to respect human right and watch if it as begin set up
what were the origins of the Moscow Helsinki Watch Groups ?
-it was set up in 1976 by 11 peoples with initial spokesperson begin Yuri Orlov
what infringment of human rights were often reported ?
-freedom to leave, to choose one place of residency, fair trial, rights of politcial prisioner, ethnic minorities
what actions did the moscow helsinki watch group take both collecting the reports and circulating them ?
-reports were sent to the communist party, forgein embassies and journalist
what happend in 1978 ?
-Yuri Orlov leader of the helsinki watch group was sentenced to seven years in a prision camp and fiv years of internal exile
by what year was the group disbanded ?
1982
how many memebers out of 80 were jailed or deported ?
60 memeber
what was the nationalities unrest centred around ?
-cultural rights
-laungage
-russians comming to live in other SSR
-economic/social
-enviromental
-discrimination
make a list of the wyas that brezhnev dealt with the nationalities probelm ?
-arrested people
-allowed jews to emigrate
-religious percussion
-give the SSR freedom to elect the member in charge to be from their own nationality
-investment
why did many jews were increasingly demanding to emigrate ?
-due to religious reasons and living conditions
what was the periodic anti semitism that remerged under khrushchev ?
many jewish instituions closed and jewish cemeteries descrated
who were the refuseniky ?
jewish who would demonstrate in the Red Square and various Russian cities
this reuslting jewish unrest led to the regime doing what ?
resulted in authorsing jews to emigrate but had to pay a emigration tax
how many jews left the USSR in the 1970s ?
250,000
how many jews emigrated in 1979 its peak year ?
51,000
by 1982 what did the regime do with the situation of jews emigrating ?
-the authorities were begin much more restricive and fewer than 3000 jews were allowed to emigrate in that year
failures in the nationalites problem ?
-jewish unrest demanding to emigrate
-USSR was much restircter in 1982 only 3000 jews could leave
-non-russian leader were not allowed in Polituburo
-religious percussion
-disparities of wealth widened in 1980s
-long term failures
-brezhnev by givign autonomy to the repbulics he is losing control of the centre e.g Moscow
successes in the nationalites problem ?
-1970 250,000 jews left the USSR
-allowed repbulics to be led by their own nationalties
-more investment was put to slower economic repbulics such as kazhanistan
-putting end in the church state interfernce
-short term succes in the reduction of disparities of wealth
define gerentocracy ?
when a country is led by a group of elderly people
define absenteeism ?
regularly staying away from work
define perestroika ?
restructuring
when did brezhnev die
10 novermebr 1982 at age 75
when does Andropov become leader
12th november 1982
when does cherneko become leader ?
13th feburary 1984
support the idea of stagnation ?
-his conservatism was evidence from the start of his leadership, which drifted into inaction and lack of willihness to reform the economy or administration
-gerenotcracy by 1982 half the polituburo had been there for 15 years or more
-major abuse of the system such as corruption and patornage continued and even increased during these years
-brezhnev was unimaginative and complacent
-military soending was also a buren on the economy
-decline in industrial growth due to increase investment in agriculture
challenges the idea of stagantaion?
-his stability gave peope what they needd after the unpredicatbility of khrushchev
-the regime oversaw a period of increased popular consumption, major house-building, education, health-care programmes and other welfare improvements
-it was difficult to predict that nationalist issues would esclate as rapidly as they did
give me five key facts of Andropov ?
-he was the son of a railway man from North Caucasus
-he has a successful diplomatic career in Hungary 1954 and 1957
-he became head of the KGB in 1967 a role within which oversaw the suppression of dissidence
-however he did emphasis the idea that he would perfer to persuade dissidence rather than using repression
-despite this he still recognised the need for the USSR to maintain its ideological confrontation with the western world
how successful was andropov poltically ?
-andropov promoted his own proteges
-lack of reform
-corruption
-politcial dissidence
how successful was andropov economic reforms ?
-launched a drive to increase efficiency in the workplace
-the KGB would round up absense workers
-enterprise managers ere encouraged to be more flexiable
-competition was by breaking up large monoploies
-factory manager were given more power
-lack of incetives for producers
-central planning
how successful were andropov forgein problems ?
-failed to improve relations with the USA
-progress with usa unlikely due to regans star wars policy
-august 1983- soviets war plane shot down korean aireline passanger plane killing 269
-detente had failed
-forgein tension still continued
failures of Andropov reforms ?
-andropov was in power for too short time and too seriuosly ill to make an impact
-andropov countinued to face resistance to propsed changes from those entrecnhed in the old ways
-there was still harassment of dissidents, jewish emigrayion was halted and telephone lines to the oustide world were stopped
-andropov has not made a positive impact on soviet forgein policy
success of andropov reforms ?
-there were improvement in industrial prodctuion in 1983
-he did atleast encourage some discussion of future reforms
-did not create a cult of personality
five key facts of cherneko ?
-served in the KGB at the time of stalin’s terror and had later ran brezhnev private office
-cherneko faction was deeply conservative to rehabilates stalin reputation and condem khrushchev
-suggested agriculture reforms should be based off increasing the amount of land under cultivation
-by early 1985 his health was failing and died on 10 March 1985
cherneko politcial reform ?
-dropped andropov anti-corruption system
-party was reassured that its privelages would not be eroded
-emphasised the importance of educational advances tightened censorship and hard line dissidents repression
-held on the view that peaceful competition would eventually lead to triumph of socicalism over capitalism
-his speeches were often inaudiable
cherneko economic reforms ?
-in agriculture cherneko wante to improve it by irrigation and drainage system which involved redirecting the flow of some siberian rivers towards the cacuses and central asia
-continued andropov industrial reform programmes including the scheme whereby workers were paid by result
-no much fundamental reform
chernekos forgein reform ?
-worked to resurrect detente but was hard to achieve due to amercias star war scheme and previous afghan invasion
- strong disagreement within soviet establishment about detente
-1981-1982 cherneko denied the possibility to win a nuclear war which angered the military
