RF Presidential Archive. List of eight documents reflecting Politburo discussion and action in relation to Poland, between August 1980 and September 1982. [Russian: 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) CPSU
-- Russia one year later -- Richard PIPES «The Washington Post» (16 August 1992) In the morning hours of 7 July 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 … Continue reading The Past on Trial (1992) CPSU
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. [Russian: 31 October 1975, Volkogonov] total 2 pp. ================= [page one of two] Top SecretSpecial Folder Committee for State Security [KGB]at the USSR … 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 … 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 [Russian 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. [Russian 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
(July 2018; revised November 2019) 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 … Continue reading The Status of these Archives
Only a Trial will do This Time
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. His most prominent opponent, following the murder of Boris Nemtsov, was Alexei NAVALNY, … Continue reading Only a Trial will do This Time
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)
