During the 1970s, dissidents like Sakharov and Solzhenitsyn dominated Western perceptions of the USSR, but were then quickly forgotten, as Gorbachev's reformers monopolised the spotlight. This book restores the dissidents to their rightful place in Russian history. Using a vast array of samizdat and published sources, it shows how ideas formulated in the dissident milieu clashed with the original programme of perestroika, and shaped the course of democratisation in post-Soviet Russia. Some of these ideas - such the dissidents' preoccupation with glasnost and legality, and their critique of revolutionary violence - became part of the agenda of Russia's democratic movement. But this book also demonstrates that dissidents played a crucial role in the rise of the new Russian radical nationalism. Both the friends and foes of Russian democracy have a dissident lineage.
Author(s): Robert Horvath
Edition: 1
Year: 2005
Language: English
Pages: 304
Book Cover......Page 1
Half-Title......Page 2
Title......Page 6
Copyright......Page 7
Contents......Page 8
Acknowledgements......Page 9
Introduction......Page 10
1 Children of Terror......Page 16
2 'Honest and Total Glasnost'......Page 51
3 The Rights-Defenders......Page 79
4 The Invention of Russophobia......Page 139
5 The Politics of Russophobia......Page 169
Conclusion......Page 214
Notes......Page 216
Bibliography......Page 256
Index......Page 263
