Рец. на кн.: Benjamin Nathans. To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2024. XIV+797 p.

Антропологический форум. 2025. № 67. С. 297–311.

Kozlov D.

THe book by Benjamin Nathans suggests an innovative approach to the study of Soviet dissidence of the 1960s and 1970s . Political protest is presented as a multifaceted communication in which such important concepts as freedom, law, civil rights, responsibility, and political participation are redefined between the dissidents, repre- sentatives of party and state power, KGB officers, and the public inside and outside the USSR . THe results of this redefinition formed the basis for a specific dissident repertoire of contention based on nonviolence, publicity, and appeals to existing legal norms . THe author invites attention not only to the recognized heroes of the dissident movement — those who, through their writings and actions, shaped and represented the ethos of nonviolent resistance to the Soviet regime — but also to a broader circle of its supporters — people who were involved in networks of solidarity and mutual aid . THis broadening of the phenomenon’s scope, coupled with fresh interpretations of key milestones in Soviet dissidence, makes the book a significant event in the historiography of late Soviet society .

Keywords: Soviet history, коммуникация, communication, история СССР, политический протест, диссидентское движение, political protest, dissident movement, repertoire of contention, репертуар протеста

Publication based on the results of: Официальное и неофициальное в литературе ленинградского андеграунда 1950-1980-х гг: стратегии и способы взаимодействия (2025)