The birth of Soviet workers-dissidents

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article deals with the birth of workers-dissidents in the USSR in the late 1970s, through materials of the Radio Free Europe-Radio Liberty (RFE-RL) Research Institute held at the Budapest Open Society Archive. Soviet dissidents are usually regarded as intellectuals. However, beginning from the late 1970s, a small phenomenon of labour dissent arose within the Soviet Union, which also tried to found independent trade unions. These workers-dissidents had similarities as well as differences from intellectual dissidents. While intellectuals focused more on individual, civil and political rights, labour dissidents focused on socioeconomic rights. Contrary to what one may believe, the birth of this phenomenon was reported in relative detail by the British and American press. Soviet labour dissent was an important discursive field in the late Cold War. Anti-Communist Western trade unions and political parties mentioned Soviet repression against workers-dissident to emphasise one basic contradiction of the Soviet system. However, many leftist political parties and trade unions also showed solidarity with Soviet labour dissidents, criticizing the same contradiction. With hindsight, these widespread reactions show that the USSR was becoming ideologically isolated, because even many Western Communists and Socialists were no longer prone to justify its antidemocratic and repressive methods.