Soviet Human Rights: Law and Politics in Perspective

Abstract

The contemporary disposition toward the socialist approach to human rights, focused principally upon Soviet practice in the context of the 1975 Helsinki Final Act,' at the present seems to be without well-articulated meansend relationships and objectives. This is not to say that the present critique is deficient in expectations. The 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights has explicitly established the aspirational humanitarian objectives of this epoch.2 Neither does the critique of socialist practice lack its grievances. These are principally centered on socialist, cum Soviet, practice contrary to the human rights undertakings fashioned in this generation to give effect to the 1948 Declaration.3 These international standards, unlike the 1948 Declaration, are not merely aspirational, but are as legally binding as any international treaty can be.4 The enumeration of specific shortfalls from these standards, or of pointed violation of their clear requirements, are well catalogued.5 The elimination of these disparities