Main characters
Sakharov was born in Moscow in 1921 into a family of intellectuals, the son of a physics teacher. In 1938 Sakharov was admitted to Moscow University, graduating four years later with honors and becoming an engineer at a military-industrial complex.
In 1945, he entered the Institute of Physics of the USSR Academy of Sciences to engage in research work. Sakharov is known in the West as the father of the Soviet hydrogen bomb because of his outstanding contribution to the Soviet Union's research on the hydrogen bomb. In 1953, at the age of 32, he became the youngest member of the USSR Academy of Sciences and soon became chief adviser to the State Atomic Energy Commission.
Sakharov was awarded the title "Hero of Socialist Labor" three times, as well as the State Prize and the Lenin Prize. From 1957 onwards, he became concerned with social and political issues, especially the social consequences of his nuclear research. He recognized that atmospheric nuclear tests contaminated the environment with radioactive elements that could cause cancer and kill thousands of people.
When he witnessed the tragic death of a young soldier during the test of a hydrogen bomb, his heart was shaken. In particular, after two nuclear accidents in 1957 and 1960, Sakharov began to openly demand that Khrushchev stop nuclear tests. In 1958, he first appealed to the highest authorities to cancel that year's atmospheric nuclear test program, but the government refused.
In 1961 and 1962, he wrote to Khrushchev twice, recommending that atmospheric nuclear tests be stopped, but without success. Khrushchev indirectly referred to this incident in his memoirs: "He thought that because he had developed the hydrogen bomb, he had the right to decide how to use it in the future, but this was too much." ”
In 1968, Sakharov began his career as a dissident with the essay "Reflections on Progress, Peaceful Coexistence and Freedom of Thought", calling on the Soviet Union and the United States to stop the arms race and practice genuine peaceful coexistence. At the end of 1970, after he and Charlize and others established the "Soviet Human Rights Commission," he repeatedly wrote to Brezhnev and continued to demand democratization.
In 1973, the Soviet government revoked his title of Hero of Socialism and other awards, and began to publicly criticize his actions in the press. In 1975, Sakharov was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for "the struggle for the defence of human rights, disarmament, and cooperation among all nations, the ultimate goal of which is peace," but the Soviet government refused to allow him to leave the country to receive the prize.
In 1980, Sakharov was exiled to the small town of Gorky due to strong protests against the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan. After Gorbachev came to power, Sakharov, who had regained his freedom, was elected as a Soviet deputy in the first people's elections of the Soviet Union.
Political thought
"Memoirs of Sakharov" (AHдpeй Caxаров BоспоминаHИЯ), as well as core records, open letters, etc. The Westerners, represented by Sakharov, actively participated in the activities of various dissidents, and their main ideas were as follows:
Sakharov believed that the development of Soviet society was far from being as rosy as advertised, bureaucracy, corruption of the privileged classes, lack of democracy in politics, and that social justice was far from being achieved, and that the Soviet Union today was in fact not a socialist system, but a typical state capitalist society.
In his book "On the State and the World", Sakharov wrote: Although there was a prosperous scene of people coming and going in front of the Soviet government building in Moscow, there were many insurmountable contradictions behind the high walls.
"Most of the inhabitants are working hard to make ends meet, a few are full of brains and are content to rest on their laurels, and the social structure is a façade with poor results. Desperate people surrounded the reception rooms of the high-level institutions, and the most disgusting of them were sent directly to psychiatric hospitals...... The more resolutely the Soviet political and economic system, which is categorically called the model of all other countries, the fairest, the most humane, the progressive, the guarantee of the highest productivity of labour, the highest standard of living, etc., the more resolutely the credence of most of these promises becomes obvious. The creed does not stand up to comparison with the advanced capitalist countries. ”
A careful analysis of the characteristics of Soviet society reveals that the Soviet Union was not a socialist country, "it should be called 'state capitalist society' in the most concise way, and it is such a society." It differs from modern capitalism of the Western type in the form of total nationalization and total monopoly of the party and the government in the economy as well as in culture, ideology and other major spheres of life. ...... The monopoly of the state as a whole, as many authors have pointed out, will inevitably turn into ilfreedom and forced obedience, because everyone is completely subordinate to the state.
In times of crisis, ilfreedom causes terror, while in times of more stability, ilfreedom leads to the domination of an incompetent bureaucracy, ignorance and insensitivity. "Nor is our economy as propaganda suggests, we do not have the highest labor productivity in the world, and we do not even have any hope of catching up with the advanced capitalist countries by such indicators in the foreseeable future. Moreover, there is a tendency towards constant militarism.
A large part of our wealth is spent on huge armaments, for covert and overt expansion in all parts of the world – from the Near East to Latin America, to guarantee a higher standard of living for the privileged social strata and to compensate for the absurdities of bureaucratic leadership.
There is a big gap between the people's living standards and those of Western capitalist society, and the living conditions of the majority of the population are still very poor. The continent used to be the breadbasket of Europe before the revolution, and now the frequent failure of agricultural harvests has become one of the most important reasons why the world's food supply problem is difficult to solve.
In the view of the dissidents in the Soviet Union, the low level of the concept of the legal system was a very important feature of Soviet society. There is a clear contradiction between the Constitution and other laws, and many important aspects of social life are not included in the laws and regulations. For example, in the early 70s, the Soviet Union did not have a law on publications, which led to violations of law and discipline and the will of the governors. In particular, Soviet society "was by no means a fair society."
Although there is no corresponding sociological survey in the country, or it is kept secret, it can be asserted that in the 20s and 30s, and finally in the post-war period, a special class of bureaucratic parties was formed on the mainland, who called themselves 'responsible cadres'...... This class has its way of life, its well-defined social status, its 'masters', its 'leaders', its language and its way of thinking. "Despite the fact that newspaper broadcasts daily reminded ordinary Soviet citizens that he was the master of the country, however, the people understood who the real masters were.
Those who "sit in black insurance cars in the morning and at night and speed along the quiet, traffic-cut streets" are the masters of the state, who hold the right to distribute the property of the state and, in fact, the people who depend on the state.
Sakharov also noted: "The monopoly of the party and the state in the cultural and ideological sphere has particularly harmful consequences.
Ideological uniformity often – from school desks to professors' pulpits – demands hypocrisy, conformity to ignorance, and foolishness. The incessant and ridiculous, ritual-like, universal pledge of allegiance has been played to the relegation of all ideas of career, sanity of mind and human dignity.
Writers, artists, actors, teachers, and scholars of literature have survived under such terrible ideological oppression that one has to wonder why the arts and humanities have completely disappeared from our country...... Ideological homogeneity, exclusion of dissent, and cold political realities have led to constant persecution of dissidents. "This persecution is not only manifested at the political and judicial levels, but also in aspects of life, such as dismissal, hindering the education of the children and finding jobs.
The idea of the Westerners
First, it is necessary to carry out social democratization, liberalization, and openness politically, strengthen the legal system, safeguard the basic rights of the people, carry out social reforms, and finally bring socialist society and capitalist society closer to each other and converge through peaceful means, so as to form a unified, open, and pluralistic society, so as to eliminate the tragic confrontation and the danger of thermonuclear war in the present era.
On the economic front, we will continue to pursue reform policies, expand the autonomy of enterprises, allow the existence of multiple economic sectors, implement a tax policy that is favorable to the peasants, and increase the enthusiasm of the laborers.
The economic reforms of 1965 were carried out in depth to expand the economic autonomy of all units of production. "Extensive organization of integrated production complexes (companies) and granting them greater autonomy in matters such as production planning, process procedures, supply and marketing, finance and personnel, extending the same powers to smaller branches of production. After an in-depth and detailed study, a scientific assessment of the form and extent of state control is made. ”
At the same time, "measures to increase agricultural production in the gardens next to their houses were introduced in favor of collective farm workers, state farm workers and individual peasants, and the expansion of cultivated land for this economic component...... Expand all forms of cooperative management in rural areas, revise tax policies, allow workers to be hired and remunerated in accordance with the interests of enterprises, and reform the rural material supply system. Expand the possibilities and benefits of private initiative in the service sector, health care, small business, education, etc. ”
In the legal aspect, it is necessary to ensure that the judicial departments independently exercise their functions and powers, speed up the pace of legislation, protect the basic rights of citizens, establish the principle of judicial openness and transparency, and stop the political persecution of dissidents. Eliminate overt and covert discrimination in judicial proceedings, including on the basis of religion and ethnicity.
As long as the basic rights of citizens are not violated, the proceedings must be truly open. "Measures to improve the work of the courts and prosecutor's offices should be taken in such a way that these institutions are free from interference by administrative and local forces, prejudices and personnel relations. Amnesty for political prisoners. A decree was issued making it mandatory to publish in full shorthand records of interrogations in cases of a political nature. "It is proposed to discuss the issue of the ratification by the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the human rights convention adopted by the twenty-first session of the General Assembly and the abridged record of its approval.
epilogue
In general, it can be seen from the above that the Western faction (the legal faction) demands democracy and freedom, strengthens the legal system, and guarantees the rights granted to citizens by the Constitution.
They believe that the assertion of rights is the main goal pursued by the various factions and various currents of thought in the dissident movement, and that it can not only provide a realistic support for those who are exhausted by rigid dogmas that do not bring people a minimum of happiness, and who are not interested in any theory or belief, but also contribute to the continuous advancement of democracy and the legal system as the idea of defending rights takes root in the hearts of the people, which also brings the socialist system and the Western capitalist system closer to each other. Convergence provides a concrete facilitator.