5 September 1968* (2102-A) 25 August Red Square demonstrators

KGB MEMORANDUM to Politburo describing the 25 August Red Square demonstrators. Signed by Andropov, KGB head; Shcholokov, Minister of Internal Affairs; and Malyarov, USSR Procurator’s Office [R: 5 Sept 1968, 2102-A]. 2 pp.

============================

[page one of two]

Secret

To the CPSU Central Committee

Recently, especially in connection with events in Czechoslovakia, Litvinov, Bogoraz-Brukhman and certain like-minded acquaintances have resumed their hostile activities.

On 25 August this year, in accordance with a pre-arranged plan, they attempted to hold a demonstration on Red Square at about 12 noon [1]. They were carrying placards (in Russian) that read “Hands off the CSSR!” [the Czecho-Slovak Socialist Republic], “For Your Freedom and For Ours!” “Down with the Occupiers!” and (in Czech) “Long Live Free and Independent Czechoslovakia!” This hostile protest was halted in good time with the help of the public.

Among the participants of this provocative outrage on Red Square were:

  • Litvinov, no known occupation;
  • Bogoraz-Brukhman, senior research associate, All-Union Research Institute for Technical Information (Classification & Coding of the Committee for Standards);
  • Fainberg, tour guide, Pavlovsky Palace (Leningrad);
  • Gorbanevskaya, engineer, State Institute for Stage Design at Theatres & Spectacles;
  • Babitsky, junior research associate, Institute for Russian Language & Literature (USSR Academy of Sciences);
  • Bayeva, student, Historical-Archival Institute;
  • Korkhova, junior research associate, Institute of the Global Economy & International Relations;
  • Rusakovskaya, expert, All-Union Research Institute for Patent Assessment; and
  • Dremlyuga and Delaunay, of no known occupations.

—————————————————————

[page two]

— 2 –

Eleven people were detained in connection with the said anti-Soviet display, five of whom were released after being questioned by the police.

Litvinov, Bogoraz-Brukhman, Fainberg, Dremlyuga, Delaunay and Babitsky are still in detention and are being charged by the Moscow City Procurator’s Office under Article 190-3 (RSFSR Criminal Code: “the organisation, or active participation in, group activities that disturb public order”).

It is suggested that in view of the inexpediency of imprisoning Bogoraz-Brukhman and Litvinov the court sentence be limited to exile to remote areas of the country.

The Committee for State Security, the Ministry for the Preservation of Public Order [2] and the USSR Procurator’s Office are taking additional measures to prevent possible hostile protests by anti-social elements.

[signed]                                [signed]                                [signed]

Andropov                            Shcholokov                         Malyarov

5 September 1968, No 2102-A

================================

NOTES

  1. For a contemporary, uncensored account of the demonstration and its aftermath see the third issue of A Chronicle of Current Events (CCE 3.3, 30 August 1968) and subsequent reports in that bimonthly / quarterly bulletin: October 1968 trial, CCE 4.1; Gorbanevskaya trial CCE 15.1; Fainberg internment, CCE 18.1 [4]; and so on.
    ↩︎
  2. In 1962 the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) was renamed the Ministry for the Preservation of Public Order (MOOP), a title it retained until November 1968.
    ↩︎

*

GENERAL

  • 1. Notes and additions by translator and editor are bracketed, thus [ ]
  • 2. Text written by hand is indicated in italic script, and
  • 3. by underlined italic script when a handwritten phrase, figure or word has been inserted in a previously typed document.

Translation and annotation, John Crowfoot

==================================