Human rights in the Soviet Union

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The Soviet Union was a single-party state where the Communist Party officially ruled the country according to the Soviet constitution [1]. Most key positions in the institutions of the state were occupied by members of the Communist Party. The state proclaimed its adherence to Marxism-Leninism ideology that restricts rights of citizens on the private property. The entire population was mobilized in support of the state ideology and policies. Independent political activities were not tolerated, including the involvement of people with free labour unions, private corporations, non-sanctioned churches or opposition political parties. The regime maintained itself in political power by means of secret police, propaganda disseminated through the state-controlled mass media, personality cult, restriction of free discussion and criticism, the use of mass surveillance, and widespread use of terror tactics, such as political purges and persecution of specific groups of people. Therefore, the Soviet Union was regarded as a totalitarian state by prominent historians, such as Robert Conquest, Richard Pipes, Karl Popper, Hannah Arendt, Carl Friedrich, Zbigniew Brzezinski, and Juan Linz.

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[edit] Loss of life

The Soviet authorities caused the deaths of millions of their own citizens in order to eliminate domestic opposition to the Soviet Union. It includes the persecution of members of nations incorporated into the USSR which since the fall of the USSR live in states independent of Russia. The number of people killed under Joseph Stalin's regime in the Soviet Union has been estimated as between 3.5 and 8 million by G. Ponton [2], 6.6 million by V. V. Tsaplin [3], 9.5 million by Alec Nove[4], 20 million by The Black Book of Communism [5], 50 million by Norman Davies[6], and 61 million by R. J. Rummel[7]. The numbers of victims are inconsistent because they are determined using different criteria and methods and counted during different periods of time. Most recent publications are probably more reliable.

[edit] Political repression

Main article: Gulag

Soviet political repression was a de facto and de jure system of prosecution of people who were or perceived to be enemies of the Soviet system. Its theoretical basis were the theory of Marxism about the class struggle and the resulting notion of the dictatorship of the proletariat. Its legal basis was formalized into the Article 58 in the code of RSFSR and similar articles for other Soviet republics. Aggravation of class struggle under socialism was proclaimed. An extensive network of civilian informants - either volunteers, or those forcibly recruited - was used to collect intelligence for the government and report cases of suspected dissent.[8]

The term "repression", "terror", and other strong words were normal working terms, since the dictatorship of the proletariat was supposed to suppress the resistance of other social classes which Marxism considered antagonistic to the class of proletariat. The entire "ruling classes" have been exterminated, including "rich people", and a significant part of intelligentsia and peasantry labeled as kulaks. The numerous victims of extrajudicial punishment were called the enemies of the people. The punishment by the state included summary executions, torture, sending innocent people to Gulag, involunatry settlement, and stripping of citizen's rights. Usually, all members of a family, including children, were punished simultaneously as "traitor of Motherland family members". The repressions have been conducted by Cheka, OGPU and NKVD in several consequitive waves known as Red Terror, Collectivisation, Great Purge, Doctor's Plot, and others. The secret police forces counducted massacres of prisoners at numerous occasions. The repressions against "ruling classes" and general population were practiced in Soviet republics and at the territories "liberated" by Soviet Army during World War II, including Baltic States, Eastern Europe, China, and North Korea.

State repression led to uprisings, which were brutally suppressed by military force, like the Tambov rebellion, Kronstadt rebellion, or Vorkuta Uprising. During Tambov rebellion, Soviet military forces widely used chemical weapons against civilians. [9] Most prominent citizens of villages were often taken as hostages and executed if the resistance fighters did not surrender.

After Stalin's death, the suppression of dissent was dramatically reduced and took new forms. The internal critics of the system were convicted for anti-Soviet agitation or as "social parasites". Others were labeled as mentally ill, having sluggishly progressing schizophrenia and incarcerated in "Psikhushkas", i.e. mental hospitals used by the Soviet authorities as prisons[10]. A few notable dissidents were sent to internal or external exile, as Aleksander Solzhenitsyn, Vladimir Bukovsky, and Andrei Sakharov.

[edit] Genocide

Entire nations have been collectively punished by the Soviet Government for alleged collaboration with the enemy during World War II. In legal terms, the word "genocide" may be appropriate because specific ethnic groups were targeted. At least nine of distinct ethnic- linguistic sub-nations, including ethnic Germans, ethnic Greeks, ethnic Poles, Crimean Tatars, Balkars, Chechens, and Kalmyks, have been deported to remote unpopulated areas of Siberia and Kazakhstan and left to die. It is commonly accepted that the ethnicity-targeted population transfers in the Soviet Union led to millions of deaths due to inflicted hardships. Koreans and Romanians were also deported. Mass operations of the NKVD were needed to deport hundreds of thousands of people.

The deaths of millions of people in Ukraine during the Holodomor famines of 1932—1933 was caused intentionally by confiscating all food and blocking the migration of starving population by the Soviet government. The reported number of victims varies up to 10 million, while 5 million is the lowest commonly accepted number [11] This is now officially recognized as genocide by the Ukrainian Parliament. More than a million of people died during other famines in Russia and USSR.

[edit] Freedom of expression, literature, and science

Main article: Suppressed research in the Soviet Union
Main article: Socialist Realism

Censorship in the Soviet Union was pervasive and strictly enforced [12]. This gave rise to Samizdat, a clandestine copying and distribution of government-suppressed literature.

Art, literature, education, and science were placed under a strict ideological scrutiny, since they were supposed to serve the interests of the victorious proletariat. Socialist realism is an example of such teleologically-oriented art that promoted socialism and communism. All humanities and social sciences were tested for strict accordance with historical materialism.

All natural sciences have to be founded on the philosophical base of dialectical materialism. Many scientific disciplines, such as genetics, cybernetics, and comparative linguistics, were suppressed in the Soviet Union, condemned as "bourgeois pseudoscience", and replaced by real pseudoscience, such as Lysenkoism. Many prominent scientists were declared to be "wrecklers" or enemy of the people and imprisoned. Some scientists worked as prisoners in "Sharashkas", i.e. research and development laboratories within the Gulag labor camp system.

Every large enterprise or institution of the Soviet Union had First Department run by KGB people responsible for secrecy and political security of the workplace.

[edit] Right to vote

Main article: Soviet democracy

Free and fair elections existed only in theory, as a part of the Soviet democracy. All candidates had been selected by local Communist party or affiliated organizations, at least before the June 1987 elections.

[edit] Property rights

Personal property was allowed, with certain limitations. All real property belonged to the state. Possession of foreign currency was strictly forbidden and prosecuted as criminal offense.

[edit] Freedoms of assembly and association

Freedoms of assembly and association did not exist. Workers were not allowed to organize free trade unions. All existing trade unions were organized and controlled by the state[13]. All political youth organizations, such as Pioneer movement and Komsomol served to enforce the policies of the Communist Party.

[edit] Freedom of religion

Main article: Religion in the Soviet Union

The Soviet Union was an officially atheistic state. The stated goal was control, suppression, and, ultimately, the elimination of religious beliefs. Atheism was propagated through schools, communist organizations, and the media. The Society of the Godless was created. All religious movements were either prosecuted or controlled by the state and KGB.

[edit] Freedom of movement

Main article: Passport system in the Soviet Union

Emigration and any travel abroad were not allowed without an explicit permission from the government and KGB. People who were not allowed to leave the country are known as "refuseniks". Passport system in the Soviet Union restricted movement of citizens within the country through "Propiska" and use of internal passports. Workers of Soviet collective farms and individual peasants did not have internal passports and could not move into towns without permission. Many former inmates received "wolf ticket" and were allowed to live only at 101 km away from city borders. Travel to closed cities and to the regions near USSR state borders was strongly restricted.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Constitution of the Soviet Union. Preamble
  2. ^ Ponton, G. (1994) The Soviet Era.
  3. ^ Tsaplin, V.V. (1989) Statistika zherty naseleniya v 30e gody.
  4. ^ Nove, Alec. Victims of Stalinism: How Many?, in Stalinist Terror: New Perspectives (edited by J. Arch Getty and Roberta T. Manning), Cambridge University Press, 1993. ISBN 0-521-44670-8.
  5. ^ Bibliography: Courtois et al. The Black Book of Communism
  6. ^ Davies, Norman. Europe: A History, Harper Perennial, 1998. ISBN 0-06-097468-0.
  7. ^ Bibliography: Rummel.
  8. ^ Koehler, John O. Stasi: The Untold Story of the East German Secret Police. Westview Press. 2000. ISBN 0-8133-3744-5
  9. ^ Fragments from Tambov rebellion by B.V. Sennikov (Russian)
  10. ^ The Soviet Case: Prelude to a Global Consensus on Psychiatry and Human Rights. Human Rights Watch. 2005
  11. ^ Bibliography: Conquest. The Harvest of Sorrow: Soviet Collectivization and the Terror-Famine.
  12. ^ A Country Study: Soviet Union (Former). Chapter 9 - Mass Media and the Arts. The Library of Congress. Country Studies
  13. ^ A Country Study: Soviet Union (Former). Chapter 5. Trade Unions. The Library of Congress. Country Studies. 2005.

[edit] Bibliography

  • Applebaum, Anne (2003) Gulag: A History. Broadway Books. ISBN 0-7679-0056-1
  • Conquest, Robert (1991) The Great Terror: A Reassessment. Oxford University Press ISBN 0-19-507132-8.
  • Conquest, Robert (1986) The Harvest of Sorrow: Soviet Collectivization and the Terror-Famine. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-505180-7.
  • Courtois, Stephane; Werth, Nicolas; Panne, Jean-Louis; Paczkowski, Andrzej; Bartosek, Karel; Margolin, Jean-Louis & Kramer, Mark (1999). The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression. Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-07608-7.
  • Khlevniuk, Oleg & Kozlov, Vladimir (2004) The History of the Gulag : From Collectivization to the Great Terror (Annals of Communism Series) Yale University Pres. ISBN 0-300-09284-9.
  • Pipes, Richard (2001) Communism Weidenfled and Nicoloson. ISBN 0-297-64688-5
  • Pipes, Richard (1994) Russia Under the Bolshevik Regime. Vintage. ISBN 0-679-76184-5.
  • Rummel, R.J. (1996) Lethal Politics: Soviet Genocide and Mass Murder Since 1917. Transaction Publishers. ISBN 1-56000-887-3.
  • Yakovlev, Alexander (2004). A Century of Violence in Soviet Russia. Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-10322-0.

[edit] External links

[edit] See also

[edit] For other articles on the topic see:

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