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Диссиденты
Под этой обложкой объединены самые разные голоса, в свое время - с конца 1950-х до середины 1980-х - принадлежавшие в СССР общественному движению инакомыслящих, получившему имя диссидентства. Это голоса разных поколений, разных политических убеждений, разных судеб. Советское диссидентство никогда не было монолитным политическим движением - это всегда был разноголосый хор, объединенный не политическими, но этическими установками. Эта книга дает ему возможность быть услышанным.
416 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 2017
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October 4, 2018
I really wanted to write a review for this book, since it has just recently been published and needs to find its readers. This book coonsists of 20 interviews with dissidents - the people who essentially disagreed with the lies and violence propagated by the Soviet power, who refused to become yet another Homo Sovieticus and follow the herd. Many, if not all, of the interviewees were repressed by the authorities, to a various degree, and you will hear the voices of the few remaining ones in this book.
Can anyone imagine how difficult - nearly impossible - it is to have one's own opinion and to stick to it, in spite of family and friends calling you crazy, in spite of the clearly foreseeable future in a penitentiary camp, in prison, or just an untimely death? One little person against the state - it's not even David against Goliath, it's something infinitely smaller - a worm? a mosquito? These people were moved by Tolstoy / Solzhenitsyn ethics - "Don't live the lie".
In 1990s - Glasnost! Freedom! -they have not garnered any high positions or rewards, no one essentially thanked them for trying to wake up the populace. All of them indicated that they did not try to resist the Soviet empire expecting to win. Winning was not in their vocabulary. Their conscience would not allow them to remain silent - and for the rest, go read the book.
I am very thankful to Gleb Morev (the author and interviewer). To collect the interviews of dissidents is as important as collecting the storie of Shoah survivors. The dissidents survived the wort fate - they were thrown into prisons, camps, psychiatric hospitals, declared insane, persona non grata.
I gave the book only 4 starts (and really hesitated, wanted to give 5) because it badly needs some sort of introduction, summary, etc. I hope it can be added to the second edition. The future reader of this book belongs to another, much younger generation, and is not likely to know "who is who", what historical events were happening at the time, and how they triggered the start of dissident movement. The editor needs to take the reader by the hand and lead him into that world - just my opinion.
Can anyone imagine how difficult - nearly impossible - it is to have one's own opinion and to stick to it, in spite of family and friends calling you crazy, in spite of the clearly foreseeable future in a penitentiary camp, in prison, or just an untimely death? One little person against the state - it's not even David against Goliath, it's something infinitely smaller - a worm? a mosquito? These people were moved by Tolstoy / Solzhenitsyn ethics - "Don't live the lie".
In 1990s - Glasnost! Freedom! -they have not garnered any high positions or rewards, no one essentially thanked them for trying to wake up the populace. All of them indicated that they did not try to resist the Soviet empire expecting to win. Winning was not in their vocabulary. Their conscience would not allow them to remain silent - and for the rest, go read the book.
I am very thankful to Gleb Morev (the author and interviewer). To collect the interviews of dissidents is as important as collecting the storie of Shoah survivors. The dissidents survived the wort fate - they were thrown into prisons, camps, psychiatric hospitals, declared insane, persona non grata.
I gave the book only 4 starts (and really hesitated, wanted to give 5) because it badly needs some sort of introduction, summary, etc. I hope it can be added to the second edition. The future reader of this book belongs to another, much younger generation, and is not likely to know "who is who", what historical events were happening at the time, and how they triggered the start of dissident movement. The editor needs to take the reader by the hand and lead him into that world - just my opinion.
Displaying 1 of 1 review