Supression of dissidents

Andropov's supression of dissidents

Who?

• Intellectuals 
  • previously been encouraged to develop independent ways of thinking
  • were also expected to participate in policitics if they wanted a promotion
  • Sakharov a nuclear scientists wrote a letter to Brezhnev in 1970 expressing fustration with the restricted access in his field.
  • Authorities banned him from further research
  • Lots of complaints about the restrictions on their freedom as professionals 
• Political dissidents
  • Concerned with the abuses of human rights
  • As well as the breaking of the UN Declaration on Human rights (1948) and the Helsinki accords (1975) -basic agreements to respect human rights
• Nationalists 
  • Called for a greater status for their own languages and cultures
  • 1964- gov banned celebrations of the 150th anniversary of the Ukrainian poet Shevchenko when growing awarness of nationalist sympathies suddenly grew
  • 1974 - Lituanian groups set up the National Popular Fronts calling for Lituanian to be the recognised language of their republic
  • Often received encouragement from their compatriots abroad
• Religious dissidents
  • Included Baptists and Catholics who both faced restrictions on their worship and religious practices
  • Soviet Jews (Refuseniks) had been denied their wish to emigrate to Israel -had strong support in the US congress

What did they do?

• Pubished Samizdat- illegal self published material containing poems, handwritten newsletter and transcripts of the voice of America
• One of the most well known was the 'Chronical of Current Events' -highlighted human rights abuses and the treatment of dissidents
• By…