Bloody 1981 Soviet Suppressions of Solidarity

You need to remember that dictatorship, as far as access to information is concerned, effectively ended circa 1985.

I don't want to be adding to any of the bad feeling on this thread but really, the USSR had a free press from 1985? As a UK resident I had the privilege of playing a small part (as a member of the Association for a Free Russia) in the support of the underground press & libraries in the late 1980's when very brave people risked being tortued in mental 'hospitals' for daring to question the rule of the CCCP & present a viewpoint other than the party line.
 
late 1980's when very brave people risked being tortued in mental 'hospitals' for daring to question the rule of the CCCP & present a viewpoint other than the party line.
This is very typical (and errorneous) assessment of situation, as far as late 1980s are concerned. Would you say "1980-1985", I wouldn't question your statement a bit. Yes, you could get your hams seriously fried for questioning party line (it would still take some doing to get to GULAG, as late USSR preferred to use less bloody methods of oppression before one gets too troublesome, like professional restrictions, revoking one's right to live in big cities, that sort of things) back then. However, situation started to change incredibly fast in 1985. I would say that spring of 1986 was more liberal than anything USSR had after Stalin's death (including most liberal periods of Khruchev's thaw). It flew (not merely "went") downhill from that, so by 1987 there were very few (if any) retrictions left. USSR allowed Zionist magazine at this point, ferchrisssake! However, pretence of "Party control of media" had been kept until at least 1990. It was very convenient for everyone involved. Communist "conservatives" could pretend that nothing major is happening. Communist reformers kept the pretence in order not to rile "conservatives". People who drove this wave of liberalization just loved the thought of being fearless fighters against Communist beasts (although most of them deep down knew that they were not in any great danger). And foreigners like you loved this feeling of being new incarnation of Dragon-slaying St. George too.
 
However, your blatant disregard of rules of common courtesy and minimal civility was ignored by both admin(s) of this forum and general public (who, I believe, should be interested in maintaining civility and prosecuting violators). I might be wrong, but itn't ideology-based justice the easiest explanation of this selective blindness?

The admin wasn't there to read it, which is why my dare still stands: Just report me and see who crossed the line first. And the other members didn't have anything to say because they saw your provocation clearly enough. I'll be damned if I'm just gonna sit there and be respectful while some jackass insults my country!

That's just brilliant, bud. I never said that "cannibals" in question were "Africans" (you might want to look at traditions of some mountain tribes Americans recruited in Indochina, for example). It is just your prejustices screaming inside your brain and making you to spit "Africans are cannibals" mantra out.

I see, so it's not just Africans you're prejudiced against, it's Southeast Asians as well.

Do you think those are punishable offences or do you want to try to get even with me? Snitch.

Excuse me, but what the Georgia-invading fuck are you talking about? Those are all things which you and you alone said. Are you naturally or willingly obtuse?
 
I don't want to be adding to any of the bad feeling on this thread but really, the USSR had a free press from 1985? As a UK resident I had the privilege of playing a small part (as a member of the Association for a Free Russia) in the support of the underground press & libraries in the late 1980's when very brave people risked being tortued in mental 'hospitals' for daring to question the rule of the CCCP & present a viewpoint other than the party line.

I like how all those government funded *ahem* NGO’s all have ''free'' or ''freedom'' in their name kinda like how Stalin talked about ‘’peace’’ all the time.:rolleyes:

The Russians were freed all right free from their jobs, savings, public services, and any kind of control on crime...But hey they can vote one self-serving bloodsucker over the other so it’s all ok

Hell, even in Brezhnev's time the CCCP was repressive in a kind of bloodless bureaucratic way, but aside from killing a few defectors the U.S.S.R never practiced mass-terror/death after Stalin died. So to judge the whole Soviet goverment by the actions of one leader is dishonest.

Sure they cracked down on dissidents, every government does that to some degree wither by outright repression, or social occasion or media witch-hunts.

Lastly there's also no such thing as a ''free-press'', wither state or private the is media always controlled by bosses who have an agenda.
 
Lastly there's also no such thing as a ''free-press'', wither state or private the is media always controlled by bosses who have an agenda.

A free press has nothing to do with being "un-biased". The premise is that if you want to set up a paper/media source to say something you have the freedom to do it. You might go bankrupt 10 days in because no one else is interested in your line about how a conspiracy of cheese graters are infact controlling the world, but that doesn't mean the government will crack down on you for saying it.
 
A free press has nothing to do with being "un-biased". The premise is that if you want to set up a paper/media source to say something you have the freedom to do it. You might go bankrupt 10 days in because no one else is interested in your line about how a conspiracy of cheese graters are infact controlling the world, but that doesn't mean the government will crack down on you for saying it.

Well they do say truth and freedom go hand in hand.;)

Even in the most repressive countries I doubt you'd get locked up for that cheese graters-thing. Hell they might even give you a job at the ministry of information.:p
 
I like how all those government funded *ahem* NGO’s all have ''free'' or ''freedom'' in their name kinda like how Stalin talked about ‘’peace’’ all the time.:rolleyes:

As I gave out the title of the organisation I belonged to I had hoped people might actually care to gain a little bit of knowledge before attacking it. The Association for a Free Russia was a pressure group which received no government funding. If you had bothered to look you could have discovered the president of the organisation lost a libel case brought by a Conservative (UK governing party at the time) peer, hardly something one might expect from a government front organisation as you are insinuating the AFR was.
 
This is very typical (and errorneous) assessment of situation, as far as late 1980s are concerned. Would you say "1980-1985", I wouldn't question your statement a bit. Yes, you could get your hams seriously fried for questioning party line (it would still take some doing to get to GULAG, as late USSR preferred to use less bloody methods of oppression before one gets too troublesome, like professional restrictions, revoking one's right to live in big cities, that sort of things) back then. However, situation started to change incredibly fast in 1985. I would say that spring of 1986 was more liberal than anything USSR had after Stalin's death (including most liberal periods of Khruchev's thaw). It flew (not merely "went") downhill from that, so by 1987 there were very few (if any) retrictions left. USSR allowed Zionist magazine at this point, ferchrisssake! However, pretence of "Party control of media" had been kept until at least 1990. It was very convenient for everyone involved. Communist "conservatives" could pretend that nothing major is happening. Communist reformers kept the pretence in order not to rile "conservatives". People who drove this wave of liberalization just loved the thought of being fearless fighters against Communist beasts (although most of them deep down knew that they were not in any great danger). And foreigners like you loved this feeling of being new incarnation of Dragon-slaying St. George too.

Are you telling me that he Soviet Union wasn't expelled from the International Association of Physciatrists (with apologies for the spelling)due to its abuse of political prisoners in mental institutions then? One of the AFR's activities was providing some necessities for the families of dissidents held in this way.
As according to you there were next to no restrictions from 1987 how easy was it to get hold of a non communist newspaper, or Western history text (other than those written by fellow travellers) or simply a bible?
Also are you seriously suggesting the motivation for my humble efforts (glad you know me so well) & the heroism of Soviet dissidents was the ego boost?
 
Are you telling me that he Soviet Union wasn't expelled from the International Association of Physciatrists (with apologies for the spelling)due to its abuse of political prisoners in mental institutions then?
When exactly did it happen? Soviets did use mental institutions to confine dissidents, however, this policy peaked sometimes in late 1970s. Taking into account the pace of changes in 1985-1987, I can allow that Association fought yesterday's war, punishing USSR for sins it largely avoided at this point.
One of the AFR's activities was providing some necessities for the families of dissidents held in this way.
Good for you. Although, in all fairness, some of those people were truly mentally unstable (I've known a lot of them personally). At least in a sense "Was Hitler mentally unstable?" But let's leave this slippery topic before I got accused by some over-zealous stalker of Allmighty knows what.
As according to you there were next to no restrictions from 1987 how easy was it to get hold of a non communist newspaper, or Western history text (other than those written by fellow travellers) or simply a bible?
Also are you seriously suggesting the motivation for my humble efforts (glad you know me so well) & the heroism of Soviet dissidents was the ego boost?
As according to you there were next to no restrictions from 1987 how easy was it to get hold of a non communist newspaper
In 1987-1988? In most big cities of USSR you just needed to go to certain "book market" and buy one. They were monthlies, though.
or simply a bible?
Just go to your local church or said book market and buy one. Bibles were always available in churches and synagogues. It is just that for a long period of Soviet history it wasn't really safe to have one. That period was over by 1987.
Also are you seriously suggesting the motivation for my humble efforts (glad you know me so well) & the heroism of Soviet dissidents was the ego boost?
No, you misunderstood me (I'd like to think better of people and assume that it was accidental). People's motives to enter this fight were mostly (there were exceptions, but there's no rule without exceptions) different from ego boost. However, participation in good-natured bar fight is different from charging machinegun pit across an open field. Being dissident in the USSR for longish periods of time was similar to latter. However, by 1987 it really was more and more like former, however was still painted as latter.
 
Last edited:
I like how all those government funded *ahem* NGO’s all have ''free'' or ''freedom'' in their name kinda like how Stalin talked about ‘’peace’’ all the time.:rolleyes:
I disagree with that McCarthyist undertone, although there's no denying that among organizations working to weaken Communist Russia (and especially among financing sources of said organizations), there were some who put at least much emphasize on "Russia" as on "Communism", as far as aiming of their destructive efforts was concerned. It should not, however, be used to smear true freedom-lsupporting grassroots movements.
 
I disagree with that McCarthyist undertone, although there's no denying that among organizations working to weaken Communist Russia (and especially among financing sources of said organizations), there were some who put at least much emphasize on "Russia" as on "Communism", as far as aiming of their destructive efforts was concerned. It should not, however, be used to smear true freedom-lsupporting grassroots movements.

It's all those colour coded coups in former USSR plus the blunt hypocrisy of many *ahem* ‘’NGO’s’’ & organizations like Amnesty International who go after some nations like attack dogs but leave certain regimes alone because they seem to be ‘’pro-west’’ Georgia is a good example of this.

What happened to Russia in the 90’s has soured me on grassroots freedom movements which tend to be led b opportunists like Yeltsen (and other eastern European leaders) supported by masses of people based on momentary sentiment half-baked idealism.
 
Top