Preface
The dissident movement in the Soviet Union, which accompanied Brezhnev in power, reflected, to a certain extent, the dissatisfaction of the masses of the people with the government and their demands for reform, and reflected from one side that there were a large number of problems and even crises in the work of the party and the government.
Strengthen ideological propaganda and control
After Brezhnev came to power, he gradually changed the policy of the thaw during the Khrushchev period and began the process of tightening control in the ideological field. In the view of Brezhnev and others, Khrushchev's criticism of Stalin and the political and economic reforms he initiated weakened people's belief in socialism and led to the emergence of various anti-socialist currents of thought.
In November 1966, Brezhnev presided over a meeting of the Politburo of the Central Committee devoted to ideological issues. At the meeting, Brezhnev emphatically pointed out that we should be soberly aware of the shortcomings and even serious mistakes in the ideological work of the CPSU over the past decade, and that if we do not strengthen our work in this regard, we may bring insurmountable difficulties to the socialist construction of our country.
"We are all well aware that in the decade leading up to the October Plenum, no fewer mistakes have been made in this area than in other areas, if not more. And most importantly, these mistakes are not as easy to overcome as they are in other areas. We are and are well aware of the extreme complexity of this issue...... Shortcomings and mistakes in ideological work can bring us insurmountable harm.
There is one circumstance that deserves special vigilance, that is, certain means of ideological work, such as certain academic works, literary works, art, films, and newspapers and periodicals, have been used in our country to slander the history of our Party and the people of the mainland. And when some people do this, they also pretend to make all kinds of high-sounding reasoning and put on all kinds of seemingly noble starting points, which is even worse and more harmful. ”
Brezhnev pointed out that it is necessary to organize people as soon as possible to compile this history textbook, which represents the best ideas of our time, as a textbook for educating the people and revealing the bright prospects of Soviet society.
He concluded: "We must not spare money for ideological work, for propaganda work, and the same is true in those areas that we are convinced will bring benefits to us and to the Party." On these occasions, we should not be stingy with money, nor should we be stingy with time and other means. ”
In order to implement the spirit of the Politburo meeting to strengthen ideological propaganda, the Propaganda Department, the Ministry of Science and Schools, the Ministry of Culture and other functional organs of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the government took active action to draw up specific measures for strengthening propaganda and agitation in the new period, which were submitted to the Politburo for approval in March 1967.
The third edition of "History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union", edited by Ponomarev, Secretary of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the CPSU, was also published in 1970. The most striking feature of the revised and republished History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in response to Brezhnev's instruction to intensify ideological indoctrination and provide the people with an excellent history textbook was that the main content of the 1962 edition on criticism of the cult of personality was deleted, thus clearing the historical obstacle to the gradual restoration of Stalin's position as the great commander-in-chief.
The Central Committee of the CPSU, in addition to calling on the whole society to constantly strengthen the study of Marxist-Leninist theory, launched a powerful propaganda campaign after each Party Congress. The main spirit of the congress is not only quickly conveyed to every citizen, but also the official organs will formulate many articles that will be implemented in concrete work.
The political and ideological education of young people, which has always received special attention, reached its peak during the Brezhnev period. During this period, the propaganda department and all institutions concerned with research and teaching published a large number of books, which tirelessly discussed from all angles how to strengthen political and ideological work among students, and even how to carry out ideological and political work in college dormitories.
From the 70s onwards, a fixed class teacher was set up in each class of the university, a full-time political tutor was assigned to each department and each grade, and each university developed its own "comprehensive program for communist education for university students". There are detailed and clear regulations on what activities are carried out each week of the five years of university life, who organizes them, who supervises them, and the specific content of the activities.
In addition, during the Brezhnev period, in order to propagate and prove to the world the correctness of Marxism-Leninism and the policy of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, he tried to create a thriving social atmosphere throughout the country. The government is constantly building new memorials and monuments, medals and awards are flying all over the place, and celebrations and commemorations are being held one after another. The introduction of the theory of developed socialism pushed this whitewashing of peace to a climax.
The crime of "ideological subversion" and the establishment of the fifth bureau of the KGB, which was in charge of the work of intellectuals
The dissident movement was an important political issue that had been unresolved for a long time during the Brezhnev administration, and in order to resolve it, the party and the government went to great lengths to solve it, and while intensifying ideological propaganda and control, they actively launched the so-called "ideological struggle," that is, the struggle against dissidents.
General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU Leonid Brezhnev specifically noted on the issue of dissidents: "It is not forbidden to have different views on the mainland, nor to criticize all spheres of public society. We regard all those who criticize in good faith and with practical reasons as sincere critics, and we thank them.
We see those who criticize the wrong as part of the people who have made the mistakes. But the situation is completely different for the handful of people who have turned their backs on our society and vigorously opposed the socialist system. They were unable to gain support at home for their anti-Soviet activities, in violation of the law, and turned to foreign support, begging for help from the imperialist subversive centres, the incitement and intelligence centres.
The people of the mainland demand that such activists – if they can be called that word – as anti-socialists, as enemies against their homeland, as accomplices of imperialism, even if they are not real agents. Naturally, we have and will continue to fight them by all means in accordance with the law. ”
In practice, however, the Party and the government have always regarded the criticism of dissidents who are fighting for the perfection of socialism as anti-socialist activities.
From the top-secret documents of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU, we can see the following: "The 'criticism' of socialism by the 'dissidents' is in essence a negation of socialism and a way of waging struggle against the Soviet socialist system and against the Communists. This 'criticism' is turning into an organised and manipulated anti-Soviet activity in action. ”
At the same time, the top-secret document further argues: "The close interconnectedness of the activities of 'dissidents' and the development of the international class struggle can also be confirmed by the following facts. Some of these people declared themselves enemies of the Soviet system in the mid-60s, that is, during the period of détente with the slogans of 'softening' socialism introduced by imperialism.
The accusations they made against the Soviet Union and other socialist countries at that time (and now) are exactly the same accusations that the bourgeois propagandists had made and were making. Their demands are similar to those of Western countries to 'soften' socialism.
It is no accident that many facts show that in most cases these so-called fighters for the perfection of socialism receive material with defamatory statements from abroad (from the bourgeois spy agencies, from the People's Labour League, as you know, from the radio stations "Liberty" and "Free Europe", which are generously financed by imperialism), and then distribute them in their own name and send them back to the West as 'credible material from Russia'. ”
Political pressure, fragmentation, arrests and detentions
Since many of the activities of the dissidents did not legally contradict the requirements of the Soviet Constitution, this made it more difficult for the law enforcement agencies to deal with the issue of dissidents, especially after the signing of the Helsinki Accords in the mid-70s, and the pressure from the international community to protect human rights.
Political pressure and fragmentation are the methods often used by governments against dissidents. Dissidents are in danger of being expelled from the party, expelled from various professional associations, and expelled from work. "All those who signed various petitions demanding compliance with the law at the trial of Garanskov and Ginzberg were dismissed from the unit within a month, and all CPSU members were expelled from the party. ”
Prominent children's writer Lydia has publicly voiced her opposition to the government's trial of Siniawski and Danielle and signed an open letter calling for a commutation of the writers' sentences, and since then, the publication of her work has been restricted, and even her name has been difficult to appear in publications.
In 1967, the Leningrad Press and Book Publishing House decided to publish Akhmatova's anthology "Poetry and Prose" and invited Lydia to annotate it, but when the book was about to be printed after the completion of the third proofreading, the publisher suddenly informed Lydia that "the book has been discontinued, and the date of printing has not yet been determined." The manuscript has not yet been approved," Lydia understands that this is due to hers. The fact that a work cannot be read by a reader means the end of a writer's career and life.
Psychiatric hospitals and deportations
The use of mental illness to persecute dissidents is one of the ugliest chapters in the history of the Soviet KGB.
It is well known that in the Stalin era there was a practice of using psychiatric therapy to persecute healthy people, and in 1956 the Central Committee of the CPSU formed a specialized committee to investigate the situation, the final result of which is unknown, but the political use of psychosis stopped.
However, the Criminal Code of the Russian Soviet Socialist Federation, adopted in 1961, abolished the provisions of the previous Code that "psychiatrists are criminally liable if they inappropriately and unjustifiably admit a person to a psychiatric hospital", and the competence of victims to complain was transferred from the legal system to the health department.
In this way, the illegal detention of a person by a psychiatrist in a psychiatric hospital can be dismissed by the judiciary and can only be dealt with within the health administration, which opens the door to the use of mental illness to persecute healthy people.