[This is the fifth installment of the transcript of the trial of Vladimir Bukovsky, held in Moscow January 5, 1972. Serialization began in our May 22 issue.
[The translation of the transcript was done for Intercontinental Press by Marilyn Vogt. Explanatory material in brackets is by the translator.]
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Speech of Prosecutor A. Bobrushko
This concludes the court examination of the case of Vladimir Konstantinovich Bukovsky, born in 1942, of Russian nationality. The acts of which the defendant Bukovsky is accused are classified as a crime under the provisions of Article 70, Part I of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR. But, before I say anything else, I am going to digress a moment to describe the world situation at it exists as this case is taking place.
The rapid growth of the material and spiritual strength of the Soviet Union and of other socialist countries and the success of the worldwide communist and workers' movement have led to an unprecedented diffusion throughout the planet of the great ideals of communism. There are no powers that can hold back the revolutionary influence of these ideals on the fate of humanity.
The course of the worldwide revolutionary process arouses deep anxiety among the imperialist reactionaries. And they utilize every means of struggle against the forces of social and national liberation and against the socialist world. The conscious work of the Soviet people and of the workers of the fraternal socialist countries serves as an inspiring example for the peoples of every continent. Bourgeois propaganda conducts a desperate struggle against the ideas of socialism, striving above all to discredit the Soviet regime and to slander the historic achievements of our people. One campaign of slander replaces another, new critics and "oracles" replace old ones. But the existence of anticommunism as the main trend of the policy and ideology of imperialist reaction remains. We are now facing one more round of this anti-Soviet drive.
In this drive, Messrs. Imperialists and their lackeys do not shun any sort of means — from fabrications about "communist aggression" and "the Soviet military threat," the composition of fables about the "absence of freedom," or "persecution of the Jews" in the Soviet Union and similar nonsense, to the most blatant and cynical subversive activities — in which we find, all tangled together, agents of imperialist intelligence agencies, venerable professors of misinformation, and mercenary scribblers of the bourgeois press.
But, however zealous these anti-Soviet gentlemen may be, it is not within their power to attain the goal they strive for — to destroy popular faith in the ideas of communism and socialism. That goal is unrealizable. And it is by no means an accident that in the camp of reaction voices keep resounding which admit the failure of the anticommunist propaganda. The American newsweekly Time says through its teeth, "Marxism controls one-third of humanity. The attraction of the Marxist vision of the world will be preserved until such a time as contemporary bourgeois society finds more effective means than it has until now for explaining to the masses its nature and intention."
In search of these "more effective means" present-day imperialism utilizes a colossal propaganda apparatus for the maintenance of which no expenses are spared. The press, radio, television, so-called research institutes, progapanda departments, and special services disseminate day and night the poison of anticommunism and anti-Sovietism to every corner of the earth, in attempts to poison the minds of the people.
In the recent period we have seen a step-up in the falsification and slander emanating from the Western centers of ideological diversion, whose task is to use every possible means to show the Soviet Union in a bad light, to distort the foreign and domestic policies of the USSR, to slander the Soviet people and the Soviet Communist party. Even New York Times columnist [Harrison] Salisbury, who would hardly be considered a Soviet sympathizer, actually admitted in regard to rumors about the situation in the Soviet Union which were recently publicized in the American press that these false materials were fabricated in one of the centers of anti-Soviet falsification.
While slandering the socialist world, imperialist propaganda tries with all its strength to conceal the exploitative, inhuman nature of the bourgeois system. The imperialist ideologists know that against the background of the achievements of the world revolutionary process and the undeniable success of the countries of the socialist bloc, the laboriously, yet crudely concocted "image of the free world" collapses, while the prestige of the capitalist powers is rapidly disintegrating.
How can imperialist apologetics conceal the fact that the "image of the free world" is full of holes? Having no positive ideals to their name, having no sort of constructive program — like a drowning man grabbing a straw — they clutch at the venomous weapon of anticommunism. The step-up in anticommunist activity, and especially anti-Soviet propaganda, is obviously aimed at obscuring and blurring the consciousness of people in the troubled countries of the West, in an attempt to alienate them from the compelling ideas of progress and freedom, forcing them to resign themselves to the burdensome abomination of imperialism.
Such are the aims of our ideological enemies. What means do they use?
Entire groups of pseudoscientific "Sovietologists" compose "works," crammed with "schemes" and "models" for the annihilation of socialism. The assistance of the propaganda crew of imperialism is mobilized behind them. In close collaboration with the intelligence agencies, this crew persistently searches in our country for material to slander the socialist regime. The task is a thankless one and clearly backbreaking. The monolithic Soviet people, proud of their achievements, of their unity and confidence in the triumph of the high ideals which they defend, resist imperialism with all their strength. There is only one choice for the enemies of the Soviet people: to ransack the dregs of society; to search for prey among the rotten souls who are ready to sell anything and everything for a foreign mess of pottage.
One of the bosses of the American propaganda effort — chairman of the "Committee of Political Information" General Jackson — with cynical frankness one day revealed what kind of "sources" the anticommunists resort to: "In the ideological struggle against communism we need not the truth, but subversive activities. In such a war all the cutthroats and gangsters we can secure by whatever means are necessary." Apparently, the affairs of the opponents of communism have gotten into such a sorry state that in order to turn up anti-Soviet propaganda they have to resort to the services of criminal elements, various kinds of renegades, parasites, rogues, and swindlers, and even people who could only be of interest to psychiatrists.
For want of appropriate "materials" the Western propaganda apparatus slobbered for a long time over the names of Tarsis and his ilk, playing up their talentless anti-Soviet crudities as "masterpieces of Russian literature." Having received no recognition in their native land, these malignant creatures willingly passed along their slander of the Soviet people to the capitalist countries, where it was published.[1]
The English reactionary press tried to create a "sensation" around the appearance in London of the graphomaniac Tarsis, who is mentally ill. The "Sovietologists" warmly recommended him to the English public as a "persecuted Soviet writer." The sensation very soon subsided because after Tarsis's two delirious statements on television and in newspapers his patrons acknowledged with embarrassment that they had before them not a writer but a candidate for a mental hospital. The English quickly and without fanfare forwarded him to the United States.
The professional anticommunists are constantly being pressed by their masters for more materials to prepare more misinformation. And this is not the first year that a number of Western newspapers and magazines have tried to suggest to readers that among scientific and literary circles in Moscow there exist certain "rebellious intellectuals" who serve, moreover, as "reliable sources," systematically informing certain foreign correspondents about reality in the Soviet Union. Reports from Moscow, which are published regularly in newspapers like the Washington Post, are often accompanied by references to these "sources." It never occurs to the unsophisticated reader that under the guise of "learned literati who disagree with the system" are hidden mercenary ignoramuses.
Take for example a certain A. Amalrik, whom the Washington Post glorifies as a "historian" and author of "gripping, brilliant" works. In fact he has been involved not so much in history as scandalous and criminal episodes.[2]
In 1961, he was dismissed from Moscow University for loafing and failing to meet academic standards. With that, Amalrik's "scholarly career" was ended. He neither wanted to study nor to work. Starting out by selling his papa's library, he soon led the life of a consummate parasite. He became acquainted with the organs of Soviet justice and took, in his words, "an involuntary journey." Returning to Moscow, Amalrik decided to begin working for a living at the correspondent centers of several Western publications. Almost every day Amalrik haunted the thresholds of foreign correspondents' offices, palming off to these masters his filthy rumors and gossip, which were later modeled into "reliable reports."
These renegades, begging for whisky and cigarettes in exchange for their foul fabrications, are only a miserable handful.
Even their benefactors themselves have had to admit this. Associated Press correspondent Holger Jensen, for example, has observed that these people are "a tiny minority." Henry Kamm, former Moscow correspondent for the New York Times, admits that for every renegade there are 100,000 devoted Soviet patriots. Despite this, day after day the thousand-tongued imperialist propaganda apparatus focuses not on the immense and remarkable life of our people but on this insignificant handful of mercenary self-seekers. Still, there is a certain logic to this. A bent for fabrication and falsification and an attraction toward the scum of a society have long since become second nature to the militant anticommunists.
Having suffered a fiasco with the rogues and schizophrenics of this kind, the heralds of anticommunism decided to resort to provocations on a grander scale and to create a sensation around the name of A. Solzhenitsyn, with his tacit agreement.
A. Solzhenitsyn's lampoons of the Soviet people, slandering the heroic feats and achievements of our motherland and the dignity of the Soviet people, turned out to be suitable material for the routine anticommunist campaign built up in the West.
An internal émigré in spirit, alienated from and hostile to all aspects of Soviet life, Solzhenitsyn was promoted by imperialist propaganda to the rank of "great Russian writer," and not long ago was awarded a Nobel prize. The Nobel committee sided with the anticommunist profiteers who raised Solzhentisyn to such a height not on the basis of "talent" but only because he denigrated Soviet reality.
Frauds, coarse insinuations, isolated rogues — these are the weapons used by our ideological enemies.
Today another slanderer and venomous anti-Soviet has stood before the court — Bukovsky. His Western backers try to present Bukovsky as an authority on Soviet life. But in real life this impudent young man authoritatively knows only the foyers of Western correspondents in Moscow. Only half-educated and expelled from the university for unsatisfactory performance, he lists himself as employed, but he knows only one kind of work — loitering around the apartments of foreign correspondents to trade anti-Soviet nonsense for cheap gifts.
In an attempt to curry favor with his Western patrons, Bukovsky has invented the slanderous tale that in the Soviet Union representatives of the intelligentsia are placed in psychiatric hospitals for their "democratic" views without any sort of hearing, where inhuman treatment is administered to them. With the aim of disseminating these anti-Soviet fabrications, Bukovsky, as he himself admitted to the court, gave an interview to AP correspondent Holger Jensen and to the head of the Moscow bureau of CBS television, William Cole, who at the present time has been expelled from the Soviet Union for activity incompatible with the ethics of journalism.
Afterward, as had been previously planned, this slander was picked up by such foreign newspapers of anti-Soviet bias as the Washington Post, the Daily News, and others, as well as by Radio Liberty, the BBC, and the Voice of America — well known for their rabid anticommunism. The court has reviewed the commentaries carried by these newspapers and radio stations as part of the evidence testifying to Bukovsky's activity. What, after all, are this interview and these commentaries on it all about? They are about people who committed socially dangerous acts in a state of mental imbalance or who, while under investigation or on trial, developed mental illnesses that deprived them of the capacity to be aware of their actions. In compliance with existing laws such people, on the basis of rulings by competent judicial and psychiatric experts and by the decision of a court, are subject to an order to be treated in psychiatric hospitals of a general or special type.
The half-educated Bukovsky, who is totally ignorant of medicine, does not even recognize the absurd situation in which he has placed himself. Why, he takes it upon himself to lecture and contradict medical specialists, representatives of the Soviet school of psychiatry, who have earned the respect and recognition of the world. The well-known Soviet scholar and director of the Institute of Psychiatry of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR, Academician A. V. Snezhnevsky has stated, in a conversation with Izvestia correspondent K. Briantsev that "The highest humanism, the goal of helping the mentally ill feel as though they are part of society, these goals have always distinguished Soviet psychiatry. Therefore, the absurd report that in the Soviet Union sane people are placed in psychiatric hospitals, this wild fabrication, cannot help but arouse a feeling of deep indignation."[3]
In the court proceedings all aspects of the indictment returned after the preliminary investigation were studied as carefully as possible. Irrefutable evidence of the guilt of the defendant Bukovsky on all the points in the indictment were presented to the court.
I ask the court to take note of the personality of the accused. Bukovsky had previously been convicted under Article 190 (3) of the RSFSR Criminal Code. After serving the sentence (three years) he continued his anti-Soviet activity, systematically distributing slanderous materials discrediting the Soviet state and social system, despite repeated warnings by officials of the prosecutor's office.
I ask the court also to note who certainly abetted the crime. I refer to the mother of the defendant, Nina Ivanovna Bukovskaya. She herself established in her own home a setting favorable for receiving foreign correspondents, thus encouraging her son's criminal activities. For this, Bukovskaya received 100 rubles from her son's Western masters. One hundred rubles — that is how much these Western anti-Sovietists value their zealous assistant.
In the investigation, Bukovsky behaved defiantly, refusing to cooperate. Taking into account all the aforesaid, I ask the court to impose the full punishment on Bukovsky provided under Article 70, Part I of the RSFSR Criminal Code — imprisonment for seven years to be served in a corrective labor camp of the strict order, with the first two years in prison; to be followed by five years in exile.
[To be continued.]
1. Valery Tarsis, a dissident writer, was published abroad in the early 1960s. Among his works was Ward 7, an account of his incarceration in a mental hospital because of his political views.
In 1966, Tarsis was permited to go to England for a lecture tour. While he was there, Soviet authorities stripped him of his citizenship and denounced him as both traitorous and insane. — IP
2. Andrei Alekseyevich Amalrik is the author of Can the USSR Survive Until 1984?, which predicts the destruction of the Soviet Union in a war with China. Amalrik was expelled from Moscow University in 1963 (not 1961, as the prosecutor states) for writing a paper on Norse influence in the founding of the Russian state.
In February 1965, he was sentenced to two-and-a-half years of exile in Siberia for circulating allegedly "anti-Soviet and pornographic" plays. His conviction was overturned by a higher court after sixteen months. Amalrik described this period of his life in the book Involuntary Journey to Siberia, which depicts life on a Siberian collective farm.
Amalrik was arrested again in May 1970, and in November of that year was sentenced to three years in a restrictive-regime labor camp for "defaming" the Soviet state. He is reported to be in extremely poor health as the result of an untreated heart disease. — IP
3. Snezhnevsky is reported to have shown "deep indignation" on other occasions. One of these was in June 1970, when biologist Jaures Medvedev was confined in a psychiatric hospital until domestic and foreign protest forced his release. At that time Snezhnevsky expressed himself to the doctor in charge of Medvedev's commitment: "In a year's time there is going to be an international psychiatric congress in Mexico City. How do you think this is going to make our delegation look?"
The delegation, led by Snezhnevsky, looked rather bad, although it did prevent the November 28-December 4, 1971, congress from discussing forced psychiatric confinement of political dissenters in the Soviet Union. When speakers attempted to bring up the matter, Snezhnevsky led a walkout of the Soviet delegation, saying they could not discuss the matter because there was no official interpretation into Russian! See "Why Psychiatric Congress Failed Soviet Prisoners," Intercontinental Press, February 28, 1972, p. 213. — IP