Joint political initiatives by Estonians, Latvians, and Lithuanians as reflected in samizdat materials—1969–1987

During almost two decades, reams of samizdat texts have made their way to the West from Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. The most prolific and systematic unofficial publishers have been the Lithuanians, especially the dedicated men and women who have clandestinely produced and distributed The Chronicle of the Lithuanian Catholic Church since 1972. The secrecy was necessitated by the Soviet regime's restrictions on free speech and private dissemination of information and opinion. Those engaging in such activities tended to be considered by the authorities as lawbreakers and opponents of the system, rather than dissidents exercising their constitutionally guaranteed rights. Consequently, they risked harassment, imprisonment, and exile. Even now in the period of Gorbachevian glasnosť and demokratizatsiya, the Soviet authorities have not abandoned altogether their mistrust and generally harsh treatment of dissidents and dissident organizations. This is well illustrated by the fortunes and misfortunes of the Democratic Union, an unofficial organization of activists from various parts of the USSR, including the Baltic republics, advocating democratic reform; (a founding meeting was held in Moscow from May 7-9, 1988, a fact which placed it outside the time-frame of this survey.) Given the dangers involved and the difficulties that have had to be surmounted in contacting and working together with like-minded individuals or groups in the neighboring republics, as well as in copying and distributing the materials, it is understandable that not all of the texts reached the West and that in the totality of samizdat materials from the Baltic republics, only a small portion reflects joint political activity; considerably more numerous, however, are statements made by individuals or groups of a single nationality speaking on behalf of all three Baltic nations. The materials included in this compilation are limited to texts illustrating forms of joint Baltic political activity from 1969 to 1987. In view of the circumstances just noted, the compilation cannot claim to be complete or genuinely representative of its kind

Censorship · Democracy · Imprisonment · Lithuanian · Political science · Politics · Secrecy · Sociology · Soviet union · Eastern European Communism and Reforms · Historical Geopolitical and Social Dynamics · Law

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  Open Access•Iver B Neumann•Review of International Studies•1994

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