Soviet dissidents who challenged the Kremlin
Benjamin Nathans discusses how dissidents within the Soviet Union mounted a sustained campaign of 'civil obedience' after Stalin's death, compelling the Kremlin to live up to its own laws
In the years following Stalin’s death in 1953, a new phenomenon emerged within the Soviet Union: so-called 'dissidents'. Preferring to think of themselves as 'rights defenders', these individuals advocated a form of 'civil obedience' – a demand that the state abide by its own constitution and the basic rights and freedoms it promised on paper. Historian Benjamin Nathans speaks to Danny Bird about his Cundill Prize-nominated book To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause, which examines this extraordinary movement.
Find out more about the Cundill History Prize
Benjamin Nathans is the author of To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement (Princeton University Press, 2024)
Authors
Danny Bird is Content Producer for BBC History Magazine and was previously staff writer for BBC History Revealed. He joined the History team in 2022. Fascinated with the past since childhood, Danny completed his History BA at the University of Sheffield, developing a special interest in the Spanish Civil War and the Paris Commune. He subsequently gained his History MA from University College London, studying at its School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES)