Archiving by Adapting: The Case of the Soviet Dissident Movement and Memorial

• In Event: 463 - Section on Collective Behavior and Social Movements Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 03. Cultural Framing and Mobilization in a Comparative Perspective

Abstract

How do activists sustain collective action in authoritarian political contexts where there is neither independent socio-political space—characterized by indigenous organizational structures—nor mental space, as measured by strong and well-articulated collective identities? Using the Soviet dissident movement as a case study, this article argues that reform-minded Soviet activists were able to preserve or “archive” key networks and ideas cultivated during a brief window of “relative political opportunity” during Khrushchev’s “Thaw” throughout a subsequent period of intense repression that lasted thirty years. I argue that dissidents’ desire to “archive” spurred their creative appropriation of repressive actions deployed by the state to transform tactics and skills cultivated during the “Thaw.” This interaction between repression and tactical innovation manifested itself in practices of samizdat publication as well as in the cultivation of ties with the West. Ultimately, the “archivization” of core networks and ideas associated with the dissident movement provided a new generation of activists during the Perestroika era with a valuable set of tools by which to found the Memorial Society—a social movement dedicated to the projects of commemoration and justice-seeking in the wake of wide-scale political terror. This study relies on both archival data from Moscow’s Memorial Society as well as interviews with former dissident activists.

Author

• Louisa M. McClintock, University of Chicago