Haynes Viktor, Senyonova Olga (eds.) Workers Against the Gulag. The New Opposition in the Soviet Union

London: Pluto Press, 1979. — 128 p. — ISBN10: 0861040724; ISBN13: 978-0861040728The evidence from the Soviet Union makes it totally clear that the dichotomy between procedural and substantive rights is nonsense. One cannot exist without the other. The primary message of the worker dissidents is that they are suffering deprivation of economic rights and when they ask redress they suffer deprivation of political rights. While the leaders have done a great deal better than US politicians in sharing more limited wealth more equitably, the notion that there is a decent minimum guaranteed to every citizen is a myth. The official Soviet poverty level is 50 rubles a head. Pensioners in 1974 averaged 40. Forty per cent of 10,000 working class families surveyed in Leningrad fell below the poverty level. Free nurseries are available for about one third of the children of pre-school age. Inflation is expressed in food shortages and sudden inexplicable jumps in official prices. Services are inadequate.Preface by Richard BarnetGeneral Introduction: The Soviet Working ClassThe Right to OrganiseIntroduction: The Free Trade Union Association of the Soviet Working PeopleSelected Documents of the Free Trade Union AssociationOpen Letter to International Opinion, 20 May 1977
Open Letter to International Opinion, 18 September 1977
Appeal to the ILO and to Trade Unions in the West
Statute of the Free Trade Union Association
Vladimir Aleksandrovich Klebanov: A Biography
Members of the Free Trade Union Association: Case Histories
Other Known Members of the Free Trade Union AssociationThe Right to StrikeRevolt in NovocherkasskDocumentsNever to be Forgotten
Two Further AccountsVyshgorodAppeal of the Residents of Vyshgorod to the Central Committee of the Communist PartyThe Right to ProtestDocumentsAppeal to the Activists of the Communist and Socialist Parties from Nikolay Andreyevich Yevgrafov, Ukrainian
Open Letter to Harry Bridges from Gennady Bogolyubov
Letter to George Meany from Bohdan RebrykThe Right to EmigrateDocumentsFour Workers Who Want to Emigrate
Open Letter to Brezhnev from Leonid Sery
Open Letter to George Meany and American Workers from Leonid Sery
To the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions: Leonid Sery’s ResignationSolidarityAppeal to the Workers of the Renault Factories in FranceNotes