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Alarm and Hope
The nuclear physicist and leader of the Soviet dissident movement presents his correspondence with President Carter as well as his impassioned views on disarmament, detent, minority repression, and freedom.
224 pages, Hardcover
Published March 29, 1979
About the author
Andrei Sakharov
66 books38 followersSoviet physicist and dissident Andrei Dimitrievich Sakharov helped to develop the first Soviet hydrogen bomb and as an outspoken advocate of human rights and nuclear disarmament won the Nobel Prize of 1975 for peace; people banished him to Gorky (now Nizhniy Novgorod) from 1980 to 1986.
Russian activist
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrei_...
Russian activist
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrei_...
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 7, 2019
This is a collection of various materials written by Андрей Сахаров over dozens of years (articles, essays, letters, Nobel Prize speech, interviews, a draft new Constitution of the USSR, etc.). The book provides an opportunity to look at his key opinions and ideas (which are more or less repeated/developed from material to material).
I personally felt a lack of context for all these materials, and they do not compose a comprehensive portrait of this personality in general. So if you do not know much about Андрей Сахаров, it’s probably not the best book to start. (However, who doesn’t know Андрей Сахаров?)
Anyway, what was new/interesting for me here:
— He was an incredibly intelligent and responsible person, with a very wide scope of attention. When you read materials of various dissidents, you can see that most of them focus on some narrow range of problems, according to his/her personal area of knowledge and interests. Some talk mostly about the GULAG, some — about the psychiatric system of dissident oppression, some — about human rights and lack of freedoms in the USSR, some — about falsifications of history, some — about international aggression of the USSR, some — about miserable life of regular people in the USSR and its lies about “the rotten capitalist world,” some — about persecutions of a particular group of people (Crimean Tatars, Ukrainians, religious people, etc.). Very often, people do not have time and energy for following other areas that are not so relevant to them personally. Андрей Сахаров writes ABOUT EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE. He knows everything and he repeats again and again that everything, absolutely everything is wrong here. He notices every small and large problem, including those ones that are difficult to comprehend for many people even today.
— Despite all this Андрей Сахаров is a rare example of a positivist activist. He believed in a better future through reforms, internal and international agreements, and public consensus, and he absolutely rejected violence. That’s why most of his materials include long lists with his propositions about necessary reforms and reconstructive actions. All are very practical and consistent things, and the only impractical idea was his belief that this system can ever be reformed. He understood everything about this system, with the exception that it is principally indestructable through reforms.
— This wide scope of attention was definitely used against him. When a person talks about a complete inadequacy of all those things that are officially described as the one and only paradise on the planet, it is easy to declare this person a lunatic, because it is impossible that EVERYTHING IS WRONG AND EVIL here, right? right?!!! I suppose Андрей Сахаров was not even especially persecuted exactly because the Soviet government was able to represent him as a complete cookoo before regular people and just isolated him and limited his contacts with Soviet citizens and the world overall. You read how he again and again talks about this and that, repeating it from material to material, — and how all this apparently raised only an echo in an empty space. I need to read more about his life and his real influence/resonance of his words and ideas in the society, but I can say even now that he was isolated and ignored perfectly, first of all by the government. It is obvious even from his position on the I Съезд народных депутатов СССР (1989) where he was seemingly “rehabilitated” but effectively isolated and ignored as before.
— I was impressed by his Nobel Prize speech (1975). (By the way, I didn’t know that it was Nobel Peace Prize, «За бесстрашную поддержку фундаментальных принципов мира между людьми и мужественную борьбу со злоупотреблением властью и любыми формами подавления человеческого достоинства» — i.e., for his human rights activism and peace advocacy. I naively thought that he received a Nobel Prize as a physicist, even before he started his “dissident” life. However, it was after the beginning of, and because of, his dissident activity, and now I wonder how this even happened… Андрей Сахаров was not allowed to come to Oslo, but his wife, Елена Боннэр, did it for him, and she read his Nobel Prize speech there.)
He starts slowly with some general, global problems and challenges, including quite abstract ones… I listened to it and was angry — how can he talk about all this and be silent about the outrageous situation inside the USSR?! He wrote about all this in other materials before the Nobel Prize but wasn’t able to say it out loud in the face of the whole world?
And then he continues with exactly what I wanted to hear from him — and even more. He really exceeded my expectations, not only talking about general problems but also naming every political prisoner he knew about.
It is also symbolic that on the day the prize was awarded and this speech was read by Елена Боннэр in Oslo, Андрей Сахаров himself was in Vilnius, where human rights activist Сергей Ковалев was being tried, in support of him.
It’s no wonder that although the Soviets allowed him to receive the Nobel Prize, albeit not personally, they had not published the speech until 1990. Anyway, you should understand now what a pain in the ass he was for the USSR.
The most interesting thing for me is that he underwent apparent repressions not even after this speech. They still tried to pursue the tactic of “isolation and ignoring.” The final straw was his protest against the Soviet war in Afghanistan — he was sent to Gorky only after this, in 1980.
— I also would like to distinguish specifically his article “О ПИСЬМЕ АЛЕКСАНДРА СОЛЖЕНИЦЫНА «ВОЖДЯМ СОВЕТСКОГО СОЮЗА»” (3 апреля 1974 г.), which provides excellent material to the portraits of both “great dissidents” — and Андрей Сахаров looks much, much better for me. It’s a very relevant and thought-provoking reflection that represents two kinds of Soviet dissidents: a chauvinistic, Russian nationalistic, pro-emperial, anti-Western one and a liberal, pro-civilization, global-citizen one.
— Another important material that I would recommend to read: a large article “О СТРАНЕ И МИРЕ” (июнь 1975 г.). It contains not only a comprehensive overview of all the problems of the Soviet system, but also a lot of very acute observations (which are, again, not obvious for many people even today).
You can see from these materials that the personality was colossal.
I now wonder what would be Russia today if Андрей Сахаров became one of the leaders of the country, similarly to Nelson Mandela or Václav Havel (for example, the first President of the Russian Federation after the USSR destruction)? Would it be an absolutely new, better, promising society now — or the KGB would overcome all this eventually and return to the “good old” course of a totalitarian empire?
I personally felt a lack of context for all these materials, and they do not compose a comprehensive portrait of this personality in general. So if you do not know much about Андрей Сахаров, it’s probably not the best book to start. (However, who doesn’t know Андрей Сахаров?)
Anyway, what was new/interesting for me here:
— He was an incredibly intelligent and responsible person, with a very wide scope of attention. When you read materials of various dissidents, you can see that most of them focus on some narrow range of problems, according to his/her personal area of knowledge and interests. Some talk mostly about the GULAG, some — about the psychiatric system of dissident oppression, some — about human rights and lack of freedoms in the USSR, some — about falsifications of history, some — about international aggression of the USSR, some — about miserable life of regular people in the USSR and its lies about “the rotten capitalist world,” some — about persecutions of a particular group of people (Crimean Tatars, Ukrainians, religious people, etc.). Very often, people do not have time and energy for following other areas that are not so relevant to them personally. Андрей Сахаров writes ABOUT EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE. He knows everything and he repeats again and again that everything, absolutely everything is wrong here. He notices every small and large problem, including those ones that are difficult to comprehend for many people even today.
— Despite all this Андрей Сахаров is a rare example of a positivist activist. He believed in a better future through reforms, internal and international agreements, and public consensus, and he absolutely rejected violence. That’s why most of his materials include long lists with his propositions about necessary reforms and reconstructive actions. All are very practical and consistent things, and the only impractical idea was his belief that this system can ever be reformed. He understood everything about this system, with the exception that it is principally indestructable through reforms.
— This wide scope of attention was definitely used against him. When a person talks about a complete inadequacy of all those things that are officially described as the one and only paradise on the planet, it is easy to declare this person a lunatic, because it is impossible that EVERYTHING IS WRONG AND EVIL here, right? right?!!! I suppose Андрей Сахаров was not even especially persecuted exactly because the Soviet government was able to represent him as a complete cookoo before regular people and just isolated him and limited his contacts with Soviet citizens and the world overall. You read how he again and again talks about this and that, repeating it from material to material, — and how all this apparently raised only an echo in an empty space. I need to read more about his life and his real influence/resonance of his words and ideas in the society, but I can say even now that he was isolated and ignored perfectly, first of all by the government. It is obvious even from his position on the I Съезд народных депутатов СССР (1989) where he was seemingly “rehabilitated” but effectively isolated and ignored as before.
— I was impressed by his Nobel Prize speech (1975). (By the way, I didn’t know that it was Nobel Peace Prize, «За бесстрашную поддержку фундаментальных принципов мира между людьми и мужественную борьбу со злоупотреблением властью и любыми формами подавления человеческого достоинства» — i.e., for his human rights activism and peace advocacy. I naively thought that he received a Nobel Prize as a physicist, even before he started his “dissident” life. However, it was after the beginning of, and because of, his dissident activity, and now I wonder how this even happened… Андрей Сахаров was not allowed to come to Oslo, but his wife, Елена Боннэр, did it for him, and she read his Nobel Prize speech there.)
He starts slowly with some general, global problems and challenges, including quite abstract ones… I listened to it and was angry — how can he talk about all this and be silent about the outrageous situation inside the USSR?! He wrote about all this in other materials before the Nobel Prize but wasn’t able to say it out loud in the face of the whole world?
And then he continues with exactly what I wanted to hear from him — and even more. He really exceeded my expectations, not only talking about general problems but also naming every political prisoner he knew about.
It is also symbolic that on the day the prize was awarded and this speech was read by Елена Боннэр in Oslo, Андрей Сахаров himself was in Vilnius, where human rights activist Сергей Ковалев was being tried, in support of him.
It’s no wonder that although the Soviets allowed him to receive the Nobel Prize, albeit not personally, they had not published the speech until 1990. Anyway, you should understand now what a pain in the ass he was for the USSR.
The most interesting thing for me is that he underwent apparent repressions not even after this speech. They still tried to pursue the tactic of “isolation and ignoring.” The final straw was his protest against the Soviet war in Afghanistan — he was sent to Gorky only after this, in 1980.
— I also would like to distinguish specifically his article “О ПИСЬМЕ АЛЕКСАНДРА СОЛЖЕНИЦЫНА «ВОЖДЯМ СОВЕТСКОГО СОЮЗА»” (3 апреля 1974 г.), which provides excellent material to the portraits of both “great dissidents” — and Андрей Сахаров looks much, much better for me. It’s a very relevant and thought-provoking reflection that represents two kinds of Soviet dissidents: a chauvinistic, Russian nationalistic, pro-emperial, anti-Western one and a liberal, pro-civilization, global-citizen one.
— Another important material that I would recommend to read: a large article “О СТРАНЕ И МИРЕ” (июнь 1975 г.). It contains not only a comprehensive overview of all the problems of the Soviet system, but also a lot of very acute observations (which are, again, not obvious for many people even today).
You can see from these materials that the personality was colossal.
I now wonder what would be Russia today if Андрей Сахаров became one of the leaders of the country, similarly to Nelson Mandela or Václav Havel (for example, the first President of the Russian Federation after the USSR destruction)? Would it be an absolutely new, better, promising society now — or the KGB would overcome all this eventually and return to the “good old” course of a totalitarian empire?
April 11, 2015
За полстолетия в России по сути мало что изменилось, и книга, увы, не потеряет своей актуальности надолго. Тем сильнее притягивает дар мудрого и прозорливого мыслителя, который видит мир полнокровно и цельно. Рада, что, наконец, добралась до Сахарова.
February 16, 2022
"Тревога и надежда", по поему мнению, показывает каким был Сахаров даже лучше чем
"Воспоминания".
PS: Среди прочего он тут рассказывает чем пахнет термоядерный взрыв. Никогда об этом не задумывался.
"Воспоминания".
PS: Среди прочего он тут рассказывает чем пахнет термоядерный взрыв. Никогда об этом не задумывался.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews