In Judgment in Moscow, Vladimir BUKOVSKY writes in passing with irony and scepticism of the Western reaction, in April 1986, to the explosion at the Chernobyl reactor and the behaviour of the Soviet leadership led by the "new Chichikov", Mikhail Gorbachev. Again and again, he notes disbelievingly, Western commentators urged that the new head of … Continue reading Secret Chernobyl
17 July 1979* (St 167/18) Coppola
Secretariat gives go-ahead for talks with director Francis Ford COPPOLA about making a joint Soviet-American feature film about disarmament. Includes 12 July memorandum from Culture and International Departments (p. 3), and letter from head of Goskino (pp. 4-5). [R 17 July 1979, St 167-18], total 5 pp. ================================== [page one of five] Workers of all … Continue reading 17 July 1979* (St 167/18) Coppola
16 May 1975* (1218-A/ov) Haddad
KGB report. ANDROPOV to BREZHNEV on transfer of arms to "trusted KGB intelligence agent W. HADDAD", head of PFLP-EO -- People's Liberation Front of Palestine-External Operations. [Russian: 16 May 1975, 1218-A-ov] ======================================= [one page] Special Importance Special File USSR Committee of State Security [KGB] of the USSR Council of Ministers 16 May 1975, No. 1218-A/ov … Continue reading 16 May 1975* (1218-A/ov) Haddad
28 April 1970* (1128-A) Black Panthers
KGB to Central Committee. Soviet support for “Black Panthers”, both in USA and through contacts in African countries, as a means of distracting the US administration (2 pp). [R 28 April 1970 – 1128-A] ================================= [page one of two] Top Secret SPECIAL FILE USSR Committee for State Security [KGB] of the USSR Council of Ministers … Continue reading 28 April 1970* (1128-A) Black Panthers
18 January 1983* (Pb 94/52) PCI funding
Politburo decision. Highly classified Politburo document illustrating financial relations between the PCI (Italian Communist Party) and the Soviet Union. The amount in dollars was added by hand. [R 18 January 1983, Pb 94-52] ================================== [one page] Workers of all Lands, Unite! Must be returned within three days to the CPSU Central Committee (General Department, Sector … Continue reading 18 January 1983* (Pb 94/52) PCI funding
The Abuse of Psychiatry
The abuse of psychiatry for political purposes was widespread in the Soviet Union. One third of political prisoners were detained, often indefinitely, in psychiatric prison hospitals. All ten documents in this archive concerning this practice may be found in the thematic section of the contents index -- https://bukovsky-archive.com/3-6-the-abuse-of-psychiatry-for-political-purposes/ They include the key 1970 report by … Continue reading The Abuse of Psychiatry
Judgment in Moscow, on sale
“The movers and shakers of today have little interest in digging for the truth. Who knows what one may come up with? You may start out with the Communists and end up with yourself.” Vladimir BUKOVSKY ♦ Paperback, hardback and e-book versions available ♦ “The most important work to appear for decades on the Soviet … Continue reading Judgment in Moscow, on sale
The Soviet Union and Afghanistan (CWIHP)
Documents from the Bulletins of the the Cold War International History (CWIHP) Project Compiled and republished November 2001 (79 pp.) http://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/e-dossier_4.pdf * BULLETIN 3 (Fall 1993) Soviet Policy in Afghanistan, 1979: A Grim Assessment 12 April 1979 -- Politburo, excerpt 149 from minutes, including 1 April 1979 report by A. Gromyko, Yu. Andropov, D. Ustinov … Continue reading The Soviet Union and Afghanistan (CWIHP)
July 1992* [RF Presidential Archive] Poland
RF Presidential Archive. List of eight documents reflecting Politburo discussion and action in relation to Poland, between August 1980 and September 1982. [R Jul 92] For translations of these documents see this website and section 9.4 The USSR and Poland. ========================== LIST Of documents from the Archive of the President of the Russian Federation 25 … Continue reading July 1992* [RF Presidential Archive] Poland
The Past on Trial (1992)
Russia one year later Richard Pipes «The Washington Post» (16 August 1992) IN THE MORNING hours of July 7, 1992 an unusual spectacle unfolded in the center of Moscow, off Staraya Ploshchad, where until recently the all-powerful Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) had had its headquarters: In a small … Continue reading The Past on Trial (1992)
31 October 1975* (2743-A) KGB Warnings
KGB report. The results of preventative and prophylactic work by the KGB since 1959, reducing the need for imprisonment, even for the most serious crimes. Statistical information for 1959-1974 on p. 2. [R 31 October 1975, Volkogonov] total 2 pp. ================================= [page one of two] Top Secret Special Folder Committee for State Security [KGB] at … Continue reading 31 October 1975* (2743-A) KGB Warnings
20 January 1977* (123-A) Helsinki Groups
KGB report. Measures to halt the anti-Soviet activities of the “Helsinki Watch Committee in the USSR": Yury ORLOV, Alexander GINZBURG, N.D. RUDENKO, Tomas VENCLOVA. Includes Secretariat Resolution, St 1/15 (25 January 1977), p. 1. [R 20 January 1977, St 1-15] Total 6 pp. ================================== Top Secret Special File Proposal to the Central Committee of the … Continue reading 20 January 1977* (123-A) Helsinki Groups
18 February 1977* (Pb 46/X) Cyrus Vance
Instructions to Anatoly DOBRYNIN, Soviet ambassador to the USA, concerning a discussion with Secretary of State Cyrus VANCE about human rights. [R 18 February 1977, Pb 46-X] total 7 pp (excerpt). ================================== Proletariats of the World unite! COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE SOVIET UNION. THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE Top Secret No P46/X To: comrades Brezhnev, Podgomy, Kosygin, … Continue reading 18 February 1977* (Pb 46/X) Cyrus Vance
16 December 1980* (St 241/108) Kalevi Sorsa
Secretariat Resolution. Ambassador to visit Kalevi SORSA, chairman of Finnish Social Democratic Party and "confidential contact", and congratulate him on his 50th birthday. Includes message to ambassador and preceding note (11 December 1980, 18‑S‑21) from CHERNYAEV, p. 3. [R 16 Dec 80, St 241-108] total 8 pp. ==================================== [page one of eight] Workers of all … Continue reading 16 December 1980* (St 241/108) Kalevi Sorsa
Support the Nicaraguan Resistance (1985)
New York Times, 18 April 1985 (display advertisement) An Urgent Message from Europeans to Congress: Support the Nicaraguan Resistance Democracy itself is at stake in Nicaragua. After four years of dictatorship, the FSLN, the totalitarian ruling party, has not succeeded in breaking the resistance of the Nicaraguan people. After the relative liberalization represented by the … Continue reading Support the Nicaraguan Resistance (1985)
Chernyaev diary (3 January 1976)
A brief passage from Anatoly CHERNYAEV's unpublished "Diary", in which he responds to a report to the Central Committee by ANDROPOV (29 December 1975*, 3213-A) about the statements of foreign communist parties concerning "political prisoners" in the USSR (NSA, document and translation). ==================================== 3 January 1976 From interesting things at the Central Committee, in the … Continue reading Chernyaev diary (3 January 1976)
22 June 1978* (Pb) Shcharansky
Yury Andropov briefs Politburo on forthcoming trial of Anatoly SHCHARANSKY, arrested in mid-March the previous year. (MHG 30th anniversary) total 2 pp. ======================================= V-118 Top secret The only copy Working paper SESSION OF THE POLITBURO OF THE CC CPSU June 22, 1978 Chaired by Comrade Brezhnev, L.I. In attendance: Comrades Andropov, U.V.; Grishin, V.V.; Gromyko, … Continue reading 22 June 1978* (Pb) Shcharansky
1 March 1977* (St 46/15) Bukovsky
Resolution of Secretariat. Proposal for Soviet press release concerning BUKOVSKY's meeting with US President JIMMY CARTER [R 1 March 1977, St 46-15], total 7 pp. ============================================= [page one of seven] No. St 46/15 of 1 March 1977 TOP SECRET RESOLUTION Central Committee Secretariat of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Draft of a press … Continue reading 1 March 1977* (St 46/15) Bukovsky
5 January 1977* (22-A) Helsinki Groups
KGB memorandum. Measures to stop the proliferation of anti-Soviet activities by the "Helsinki Watch Committee in USSR", and its sub-committees set up in Ukraine and Lithuania. [R 5 January 1977, 22-A] total 2 pp. ================================================= Top Secret CC CPSU About measures to end the hostile activity Of members of the so-called “Group For Assistance in … Continue reading 5 January 1977* (22-A) Helsinki Groups
15 November 1976* (2577-A) Helsinki Groups
KGB report. About the anti-Soviet activities of the so-called Helsinki Groups in USSR, and measures to counter their activities. [R 15 November 1976, 2577-A] total 3 pp. ============================================ [page one of three] Secret USSR COMMITTEE For State Security At the USSR Council of Ministers 15 November 1976 No. 2577-A Moscow To CPSU Central Committee About … Continue reading 15 November 1976* (2577-A) Helsinki Groups
The Status of these Archives (2018)
In 1992, for a period of five months, Vladimir Bukovsky was given access to the archives of the CPSU Central Committee in Moscow. The new Russian government of Boris Yeltsin asked him to speak as a witness on its behalf at the forthcoming "trial of the Communist Party" (the CPSU or Communist Party of the … Continue reading The Status of these Archives (2018)
Only a Trial will do This Time (2013)
On Sunday, 18 March 2018, Vladimir Putin ran for the Russian presidency for a fourth time and won easily in the first round, claiming 77% of votes cast (by 68% of the electorate), in a contest that was neither free nor fair. Following the murder of Boris Nemtsov, early in 2015, his most prominent opponent … Continue reading Only a Trial will do This Time (2013)
Is Glasnost a Game of Mirrors? (1987)
«The New York Times» (22 March 1987) Are Mikhail S. Gorbachev's new policies the historical turning point we have been praying for, signaling the end of oppression and misery in the Soviet Union? Or are we witnessing only a short-lived ''thaw,'' a tactical retreat before the next offensive, as Lenin put it in 1921? True, … Continue reading Is Glasnost a Game of Mirrors? (1987)
The Peace Movement and the Soviet Union (1982)
Commentary, 5 January 1982 "Peace will be preserved and strengthened if the people take the cause of peace into their own hands and defend it to the end" Joseph Stalin, 1952 The “struggle for peace” has always been a cornerstone of Soviet foreign policy. Indeed, the Soviet Union itself rose out of the ashes of … Continue reading The Peace Movement and the Soviet Union (1982)
Punitive Psychiatry (1977)
Bloch and Reddaway, Russia’s political hospitals (1977), Foreword The peculiar features of the Soviet political system, the Communist ideology, the uncertainties and difficulties of the science of psychiatry, the labyrinths of the human conscience – all these have weirdly woven themselves together to create a monstrous phenomenon, the use of medicine against man. Paradoxical though … Continue reading Punitive Psychiatry (1977)
6 February 1990* (St 10/1) Soviet Red Cross
Secretariat. Subsidies from the Soviet Red Cross for Moscow-based correspondents of Party and "fraternal" newspapers in capitalist and developing countries (4 pp). [R 6 Nov 90, St 10-1] total 4 pp (excerpt). ======================================================== The “living expenses” of Moscow-based correspondents for these fraternal publications also formed part of the bill. From the late 1950s, to disguise … Continue reading 6 February 1990* (St 10/1) Soviet Red Cross
Alternative sources (1968-1991)
The 63 published issues of the bi-monthly CHRONICLE OF CURRENT EVENTS (April 1968 to June 1982) can all be accessed in English translation. The Russian original ХРОНИКА ТЕКУЩИХ СОБЫТИЙ has been available online since 2008. For example -- A contemporary account of the events leading up to Alexander Solzhenitsyn's expulsion on 13 February from the USSR, … Continue reading Alternative sources (1968-1991)
31 January 1938* (Pb 57/48) Great Terror
Dealing with “Anti-Soviet Elements”. Politburo accepts NKVD request to increase quotas for 1st category arrests (executions) and 2nd category arrests in 22 Republics and Regions across the USSR. [Russian: 31 January 1938, Pb 57-48] total 2 pp. ==================================== [page one of two] Return within 24 hours to the Central Committee Special Sector STRICTLY SECRET (From Special … Continue reading 31 January 1938* (Pb 57/48) Great Terror
29 December 1980* (Pb 230/34) International Fund
Politburo decision. Financial assistance in 1981 (US $) to Communist Parties and movements (USA, 2 million; France, 2 million; Finland, 1.4 million; Portugal, 700,000), in total 57 recipients. [Russian: 1980, 29 December] total 5 pp. =================================== [page one of three] Workers of all Lands, Unite! [Text in top left hand corner of page] Must be … Continue reading 29 December 1980* (Pb 230/34) International Fund
