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The 1968 Red Square demonstration (russian: Демонстра́ция 25 а́вгуста 1968 го́да) took place in Moscow on 25 August 1968. It was a protest by eight demonstrators against the
invasion of Czechoslovakia
The Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia refers to the events of 20–21 August 1968, when the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic was jointly invaded by four Warsaw Pact countries: the Soviet Union, the Polish People's Republic, the People's Rep ...
on the night of 20–21 August 1968 by the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
and its
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact (WP) or Treaty of Warsaw, formally the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, was a collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Poland, between the Soviet Union and seven other Eastern Bloc socialist repub ...
allies, crushing the
Prague Spring, the challenge to centralised planning and censorship by
communist leader
Alexander Dubček
Alexander Dubček (; 27 November 1921 – 7 November 1992) was a Slovak politician who served as the First Secretary of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ) (''de facto'' leader of Czechoslovak ...
.
The protest took place at the
Lobnoye Mesto
Lobnoye mesto (russian: Лобное место) is a 13-meter-long stone platform situated on Red Square in Moscow in front of Saint Basil's Cathedral.
Its name is derived from the Russian words for 'forehead' () and 'place' (). In Old Russia ...
(Place of Proclamation) on
Red Square
Red Square ( rus, Красная площадь, Krasnaya ploshchad', ˈkrasnəjə ˈploɕːətʲ) is one of the oldest and largest squares in Moscow, the capital of Russia. Owing to its historical significance and the adjacent historical build ...
next to the Kremlin, to avoid any accusation of a violation of public order. It was a non-violent, sit-down demonstration. However, all but one of the protestors was quickly and roughly arrested by police and plainclothes KGB men.
The protest, 25 August
The protest began at noon as eight protesters (
Larisa Bogoraz
Larisa Iosifovna Bogoraz (russian: Лари́са Ио́сифовна Богора́з(-Брухман), full name: Larisa Iosifovna Bogoraz-Brukhman, Bogoraz was her father's last name, Brukhman her mother's, August 8, 1929 – April 6, 20 ...
, Konstantin Babitsky,
Vadim Delaunay, Vladimir Dremliuga,
Pavel Litvinov
Pavel Mikhailovich Litvinov (russian: Па́вел Миха́йлович Литви́нов; born 6 July 1940) is a Russian-born U.S. physicist, writer, teacher, human rights activist and former Soviet-era dissident.
Biography
The grandson of ...
,
Natalya Gorbanevskaya
Natalya Yevgenyevna Gorbanevskaya ( rus, Ната́лья Евге́ньевна Горбане́вская, p=nɐˈtalʲjə jɪvˈɡʲenʲjɪvnə ɡərbɐˈnʲefskəjə, a=Natal'ya Yevgen'yevna Gorbanyevskaya.ru.vorb.oga; 26 May 1936 – 29 Nove ...
,
Viktor Fainberg
Viktor Isaakovich Fainberg (russian: Ви́ктор Исаа́кович Фа́йнберг, born 26 November 1931, Kharkiv, Ukrainian SSR) is a philologist, prominent figure of the dissident movement in the Soviet Union, participant of the 1968 ...
, and Tatiana Baeva) sat at the Lobnoye Mesto and held a small
Czechoslovak
Czechoslovak may refer to:
*A demonym or adjective pertaining to Czechoslovakia (1918–93)
**First Czechoslovak Republic (1918–38)
**Second Czechoslovak Republic (1938–39)
**Third Czechoslovak Republic (1948–60)
**Fourth Czechoslovak Repub ...
flag and placards bearing various slogans:
* "We are losing our best friends" ("мы теряем лучших друзей"),
* "Ať žije svobodné a nezávislé Československo!" (Long live free and independent Czechoslovakia),
* "Shame to the occupiers" ("Позор оккупантам!"),
* "Hands off the
ČSSR" ("Руки прочь от ЧССР!"),
* "
For your freedom and ours
For our freedom and yours ( pl, Za naszą i waszą wolność) is one of the unofficial mottos of Poland. It is commonly associated with the times when Polish soldiers, exiled from the partitioned Poland (1795-1914), partitioned Poland, fought in ...
" ("За вашу и нашу свободу!"),
* "Freedom for
Dubček" ("Свободу Дубчеку!").
Within a few minutes, seven of the protesters were assaulted, brutally beaten and loaded into cars by
KGB
The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...
operatives. The Czechoslovak flag was broken, and the placards were confiscated. Since
Natalya Gorbanevskaya
Natalya Yevgenyevna Gorbanevskaya ( rus, Ната́лья Евге́ньевна Горбане́вская, p=nɐˈtalʲjə jɪvˈɡʲenʲjɪvnə ɡərbɐˈnʲefskəjə, a=Natal'ya Yevgen'yevna Gorbanyevskaya.ru.vorb.oga; 26 May 1936 – 29 Nove ...
had recently given birth, she was not made to stand trial. The other protesters convinced 21-year-old Tatiana Baeva to declare that she had been at the scene by accident, and she was released soon after.
The KGB failed to find out which protester was holding which banner; therefore, all the banners were attributed to each protester, except for Tatiana Baeva, who was released. The banners were branded by the KGB as "
anti-Soviet
Anti-Sovietism, anti-Soviet sentiment, called by Soviet authorities ''antisovetchina'' (russian: антисоветчина), refers to persons and activities actually or allegedly aimed against the Soviet Union or government power within the ...
".
Trial, 9-11 October 1968
During the investigation and trial, the defence revealed several inconsistencies in the accusations.
One of the eyewitnesses declared that he saw protesters leaving the
GUM, a large store in the vicinity, even though this store is closed on Sundays. Additionally, all eyewitnesses happened to be from the same military division, even though they all claimed that they ended up on Red Square accidentally. However, these inconsistencies were not taken into account during the trial.
None of the demonstrators pleaded guilty.
Verdict and sentence
Lawyers for the defence (all
Communist Party of the Soviet Union members appointed and paid for by the State) demonstrated that the protestors had acted without criminal intent. but the protesters on trial all received sentences of up to several years imprisonment or exile and in two cases they were sent to psychiatric prison hospitals.
Vadim Delaunay and Vladimir Dremlyuga were sentenced to three years in a penal colony. Victor Fainberg, who had his teeth knocked out during the arrest, did not appear in court but was sent to a
psychiatric prison. Larisa Bogoraz was sentenced to four years of exile to a remote Siberian settlement in the
Irkutsk Region. Konstantin Babitsky was sentenced to three years of exile. Pavel Litvinov was sentenced to five years' exile. Natalya Gorbanevskaya was released the same day but later sent to a psychiatric prison.
In his "Attorney's waltz" singer and rights activist
Yuliy Kim
Yuliy Chersanovich Kim (russian: Юлий Черсанович Ким, ko, 율리 킴; born 23 December 1936, Moscow) is a Russian bard, composer, poet, and songwriter. His songs, encompassing everything from mild humor to biting political sati ...
claimed that the sentences had been decided before the trial.
[Yuly Kim, "The attorney's waltz" (Адвокатский вальс) (in Russian)](_blank)
In another song, "Ilyich", Kim mentions
Yuri Andropov
Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov (– 9 February 1984) was the sixth paramount leader of the Soviet Union and the fourth General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. After Leonid Brezhnev's 18-year rule, Andropov served in the p ...
's and
Leonid Brezhnev
Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev; uk, links= no, Леонід Ілліч Брежнєв, . (19 December 1906– 10 November 1982) was a Soviet politician who served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union between 1964 and ...
's anger at the demonstration, and refers to three of the protestors by name --
Pavel Litvinov
Pavel Mikhailovich Litvinov (russian: Па́вел Миха́йлович Литви́нов; born 6 July 1940) is a Russian-born U.S. physicist, writer, teacher, human rights activist and former Soviet-era dissident.
Biography
The grandson of ...
,
Natalya Gorbanevskaya
Natalya Yevgenyevna Gorbanevskaya ( rus, Ната́лья Евге́ньевна Горбане́вская, p=nɐˈtalʲjə jɪvˈɡʲenʲjɪvnə ɡərbɐˈnʲefskəjə, a=Natal'ya Yevgen'yevna Gorbanyevskaya.ru.vorb.oga; 26 May 1936 – 29 Nove ...
and
Larisa Bogoraz
Larisa Iosifovna Bogoraz (russian: Лари́са Ио́сифовна Богора́з(-Брухман), full name: Larisa Iosifovna Bogoraz-Brukhman, Bogoraz was her father's last name, Brukhman her mother's, August 8, 1929 – April 6, 20 ...
.
The story of the August 1968 demonstration is recounted in the 2005 documentary ''
They Chose Freedom
''They Chose Freedom'' (russian: Они выбирали свободу, Oni vybirali svobodu) is a four-part TV documentary on the history of political dissent in the USSR from the 1950s to the 1990s. It was produced in 2005 by Vladimir V. Kara- ...
''.
Belated public recognition
In 1990 (following the
Velvet Revolution
The Velvet Revolution ( cs, Sametová revoluce) or Gentle Revolution ( sk, Nežná revolúcia) was a non-violent transition of power in what was then Czechoslovakia, occurring from 17 November to 28 November 1989. Popular demonstrations agains ...
), seven of the protesters were awarded
honorary citizenship
Honorary citizenship is a status bestowed by a city or other government on a foreign or native individual whom it considers to be especially admirable or otherwise worthy of the distinction. The honour usually is symbolic and does not confer an ...
of
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...
.
During the
conflict in South Ossetia, August 2008, the former president of the Czech Republic,
Václav Havel
Václav Havel (; 5 October 193618 December 2011) was a Czech statesman, author, poet, playwright, and former dissident. Havel served as the last president of Czechoslovakia from 1989 until the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1992 and then ...
, expressed his sympathies for the protesters of 1968. Czech Premier
Mirek Topolánek
Mirek Topolánek (, born 15 May 1956) is a Czech politician and business manager who served as the prime minister of the Czech Republic from 2006 to 2009 and the leader of the Civic Democratic Party (ODS) from 2002 to 2010. Between 2006 and 2 ...
recognized the heroism of the protesters with awards.
There was no recognition on the part of the Russian government. On 24 August 2008, the
similar demonstration with the slogan
For your freedom and ours
For our freedom and yours ( pl, Za naszą i waszą wolność) is one of the unofficial mottos of Poland. It is commonly associated with the times when Polish soldiers, exiled from the partitioned Poland (1795-1914), partitioned Poland, fought in ...
was held in the same place.
On 25 August 2013, the 45th anniversary of the demonstration, Gorbanevskaya and several of her friends recreated the original protest, again featuring the "For your freedom and ours" banner. Ten participants (among them Delaunay's son Sergey) were arrested almost immediately and taken to a police station. They were soon arraigned and released pending court appearance on charges of failing to secure prior permission for a political rally, a misdemeanor under current Russian law.
In 2018, three participants at another repeat demonstration were arrested.
Three people were arrested on red square for remembrance of the 1968 Red Square demonstration
Novaya Gazeta, 25 August 2018
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
See also
* Political abuse of psychiatry in the Soviet Union
There was systematic political abuse of psychiatry in the Soviet Union, based on the interpretation of political opposition or dissent as a psychiatric problem. It was called "psychopathological mechanisms" of dissent.
During the leadership ...
External links
*
*Soviet Archives posted by V. Bukovsky. Chapter 3.1 Dissidents, 1960–1969, https://web.archive.org/web/20180720130713/http://psi.ece.jhu.edu/~kaplan/IRUSS/BUK/GBARC/pdfs/dis60/dis60-e.html
*
Информация о демонстрации в бюллетене "Хроника текущих событий"
Л. А. Кацва. История России. Cоветский период. (1917–1991)
*Сева Новгородцев 23 августа 2003
К 35-летию советского вторжения в Чехословакию
{{DEFAULTSORT:Red Square demonstration, 1968
Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia
Events in Moscow
Red Square demonstration
Czechoslovakia–Soviet Union relations
Political repression in the Soviet Union
Protests in the Soviet Union
Human rights in the Soviet Union
Anti-war protests in Russia
Red Square
1968 in Moscow
1968 protests
August 1968 events in Europe
Protests in Russia