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Sov I Etdissident- ·~C1uite ~:7f;~::;i:~ke an attempt to beJair and balanced ,but actually is I",:"",'.'".:""::,·,',:,": ,'.'You see,Shifrai there is probably orne right on both sides of this , conflict. I would maintain, howey ,that this way of posing the , i'quest~on is in itself a distortion whic raises a false issue. There never SOV I ETDISSIDENT-"":,,,, ,",." ..".: really was an independent Jewish Student movement in North Ameri~a;:': The "establishment" has always intervened and the AND SOV,IET JEWS r, " American Zionist Youth Foundation can be proud that it was always ',in the vanguard of such intervention. If you check the record you W(II find that both Network and the Jewish Student Press Service are in' no sm'all. part results. of this type of intervention. It was a summer evening at the home o'f Moscow r. But that intervention was always based upon cuorrent moods on Alexandr Lerner. Seven Jewish activists and I relaxed ,hi :th,' e,il'ivi:'I~di':i:</}:',::?;/>(!jt:i campus and current student ,attitudes - certainly not upon nostalgic room and enjoyed the soporifiC' after-effects of Mrs.' Le'rner's p(],ta:ito." •• 'Y~~;{r's;,3!ii::!?: ideological positions of another age that had no relevance to the lotkes and cabbage borscht. The atmosphere was' un"dou h tl=lcU'i/".:'i'''''\:(''':':''',ir.:fi1. , current, campus scene., An establishment that doesn't adjust its Soviet anomaly: small reproductions of Jerusalem's ',"Ch'alqall,','ii':':;'i::>}::i'S " approachan,d change with the times and that is not in touch with its windows" partially blocking the titles of ,Jewish texts,fn Gonstituency is doomed to fai lure. This, it seems to me, is the key bookcase, a proudly disp layed oi I painting, of Jewish activist ;:"~;~::':",I; '::,'i':'.".:::,>:,;':':;"':i;: '" issue underlying the recent history of Network and its old guard Shcharansky, a small. Israel i flag hanging on the wall and tileVoi:<:;e, 0t"'.;,):;(8:',,;,(;/;:;; "establishment." America playing in the background. " If. you are still looking for balance, I suggest that you print the The meeting was arranged to discuss a particularissuewhi~h I'"i,.,:",i'.. ')i:i.i:,',·',:if::.::,\i:, , attached material along vvith this letter. I think that Eric's analysis is had been asking refusen iks about since I arrived in, M0scowt'~,"t"·,::,; !.i,'i':';:fA::.'j,i';' 'shared. by rmmy students that were present at the convention or that weeks earl ier. As I brought up the topic, the relaxed faces tux J.t":u; ...• ···".,;.:i:.'i:.i'.;~•. rk ,were familiar with Network from previous contact. I certainly agree intense and concerned. lilt's as if the KGB had planted'this··,.,r,l,:I:r:lC'.· with his basic analysis of the situation. movement," one activist said bitterly. The subjectshe: vvas, sPlea~~i'hlj:: .,>:.S;5;'i~r{ Thank you for asking me to write for RESPONSE. I hope that I of was not a bugging device or an agent provocateut,butth ,7:;,':T?o;;-;i.(,;:.\;i, will b~able to respond positively to such requests in the future. ~ver the involvement of Jewish activists with other 'dissiden ',', .. '.:.,.",., .... ". , , B'vracha, d comm'ents during the next two hours reflecte.d their disappoin+ma ..... ' ..... Mike over some Western Jewish leaders' advocacy of a doctdne Whli.~fii;X't~C,:,·.:i·.:::::;1.;:;,~; impossible to adopt in the world of Soviet dissent, that(is, a.''f''t;:' ....,'.~~';):;:;.:::,,/:.: .. ,;:; between the Jewish movement and other dissenters.' " '" Zev Shank en, at the time in question, was an employee of AZYF and did not participate in ,the' editorial process on articles dealing with Network and AZYF. At the discussion's end, the same refusenik eagerly: -Editors me.' "Now do you understand?" she said. After four m6re',We!$~~)i{i·Ej'.,::.:<::"::'!::;':;:;:Eir't:. the Soviet Union, I - with my Western mentality,- still co . fully grasp the subtleties of the refusenik-dissident relaiiOnshi'r:: r:~;:!lj,:uJj.·'>},:! my understanding of it had indeed grown. Although the· particular aim ot emigration move~ent unique, there is still collaboration betwee '. and other dissidents, especially .the Soviet DemocrMs. 'It:.eilr,(·rrlUtIU:§t activities inc,lude legal G and scientific seminars,:aicJ :1'cJ;0"R:9q"tiE;~~J; prisoners and legal assistance to dissenters on '~ri'~'1 ,...... '"' ....,,; .. ,,~ the Democrats - do have in,terests which In times of crisis, some Jews dissenters even write appeals lr'ld refuseniks,. There are other. groups of Soviet . sign petitions in support of each ther. as the Russian nationalists;" whose opposition to the Jewish activists. Shipwre ked . These "Russites" advocate the return to 'a naltJcmallJs'Uc HILl5 This r~ciprocal support has increased in the past two yearS. This ideology is usually linked ~.~ the concept of ~Jc:'trnqgr.tJ~o\irerrlrnet'i·t'~ Since the signing of the Helsinki Accord, various dissidents have had - anything from a monarchy to a proletarian . their. ,c.:aClses fall together with .those of others under the umbrella Samolvin's "Open Letter to Solzhenitsyn" is typical of m:~)st:'~!(J,ssii:1atl;,::;,;;i'·\I::t·,d';;·;:i';' . :issu,e of tlhuman rights" and therefore, have been able to work National ists' attitudes toward the Soviet Zionists' ~alllol\tllnr.dl~c;llaFE~$(: together in the monitoring of these rights. The Jewish activists have 1 that II Jews made the mess ( 1917 Revolution) a~d are n0W,'tf"V'inb:',tc separate aims from the other dissenters, yet cooperation between the get ou t. "4 ,.,:':',,'::, :,,':·, ..• ·,i!: ,+<,,;:~!/,/.>::i:i:":i:',!;,' Jews and other groups is inevitable. On the other hand, various elements' of, Before examining this complicated question of refusenik movement, from the true Marxist-Lenihists' to' the , Wc~stlerrl~t~('pe!',:,,:!;,~;i';:'t; involvement with other Soviet dissidents, we need to understand the democrats or Christian Sociali~ts, have been histori~aljy intertwj;jl'9cl'·'::'(i,,' to , , purpose of Soviet Jewish activism. The refuseniks are the antithesis with the Jewish movement. Because of the great number UI.J,t::'Wli:m;:'(ii···':;.· , of the Western concept of a movement. They have no common intellectuals and the Russian antagonism to Jewish political beliefs. Some are religious; some are completely assimilated Jews fell into oppositional ideologies such as that of the , into Russian society; and most are somewhere in between. Their " I n fact, some of the fi rst Soviet Zion ists;'suchas Edward ,'occupations can range from an office clerk to a microbiologist. And Roman Rutman and Alexandr Voronel,were originally their ages and geographical locations are just as diverse as their Voronel explains: vocations. Misha Nosovsky, a Leningrad Hebrew teacher who has While Jews make up only a tiny percentage of the general Soviet been waiting two ye'ars to leave the Soviet Union, compares the population, they account for well over half of the'diss.idehts 'i'i,.,·".,·',,··-,;:.'i"':';:'.hU.,j};!·,' , movement ~o a group of people who sail together on a boat and then Democrats) in the U.S,S.R. Non-Jews, in fact, are aniin'ority in get shipwrecked on an island; the only thing which they have in Democratic movement there. Most of the members are either common is their insularity.l The refuseniks' only uniform belief is or partly Jewish, and the majority, of the aliya' emigration to Israel) activists were at one their desire to leave the Soviet Union. Even their destination - Israel Democrats}.5 Or ~he United States - is a point of controversy. Sbme Jewish activists believe the promotion of Jewish culture Reciprocity between Jews and Dis~iderits i r1 ,theSoViet Union is just as important as emigration. In an attempt The first Zionists learned dissidenttechniqJes tbcounteract the government encouraged scarcity of Jewish Democratic friends. "They helped us' with ' " literature and religious material, Hebrew teachers in the larger cities (unofficial publications) and establishing c~ntacts conduct ulpanim despite constant police harassment. Other journalists," said Vladmir Slepak who' has been', iri , refuseriiksleadseminars on Biblical and Jewish history. However, the movement for over seven years. "Eventually,we eSl'anllsr1erIOlllrilhw'n';,i ; ;participants. in these culturally oriented studies are, with rare contacts and made our own samizdat."6 exceptions, Jews who have applied to leave the country. I ndeed, all Since the Democrats advocate civil ,of the teachers with whom I. spoke said that their pupils studied the 2 philosophy has obviously enc~mpassed the language and history to prepare for anticipated emigration. religion and emigration, Conseque'ntly, Soviet' Ilberc~ls;·h~lve.:;-oft€ini This particular purpose makes the individuals in the Jewish , aided the cause of the Jewish activists. The <,,:rnovernerlt ,distinct~rom most other Soviet dissidents. Only the has be.en Andrei Sakharov, who, h~s time and Turkish lYIeskhetians actively appeal to leave the well-known' name in support of the. Jews.' Most rec;eriiIY·,ij::i'e;;'s,efj't::t() fortheir hom,eland.But certain movements - most notably Voronel, originator of the first Moscow 's~~::I~:!,iC::I,~rJ~t:~~S,:,~~~~l;~;l . weste.r.'.n. ". d.ele~.ates .... a.t .. the B.e~rade. confe.r~nc,e. a telegram. the massrve house arrests f JewIsh actIvIsts In Moscow. 7 those who frequently took "part, ·for I'll ·,,·"·· .. 1· ... ," .. ,.,. been many others, such . Valery Chalidze and Vladimi.r arrested chairman of the Moscow Helsinki who have provided similar elp. Yuri Orlov. WhenelevE?n Western scientists trclvelecl:tl@:,iGIVIOiS.e()W:?:i The Democratic samizdat Chronicle of Current Events has also April, 1977 to participate in a special u~::~::~~;~~:2~:~~~1f"1:'~'~J,~:~I,~ given cc:>~siderableattention to the Jewish cause. Beginning with its Democrats including Andrei Sakharov wer,ein a1 . Any dissident can also gain from the refu~E:niks~ Je~al<.!;~rrl.ll\lc~r::S: sixth ·issue i~ 1968, The Chronicle described the arrest and trial of General surveys of international and Soviet ' ~ewish activist Boris Kochubeyevsky.
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