Antropologicheskij forum, 2025, no. 67

A Review of BENJAMIN NATHANS, TO THE SUCCESS OF OUR HOPELESS CAUSE: TH E MANY LIVES OF THE SOVIET DISSIDENT MOVEMENT. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2024, XIV+797 pp.

Dmitry Kozlov

HSE University
123 Griboedova Canal Emb., St Petersburg, Russia
dmitrys.kozlov()gmail.com

Abstract: The book by Benjamin Nathans suggests an innovative approach to the study of Soviet dissidence of the 1960s and 1970s. Political protest is presented as a multifaceted communication in which such important concepts as freedom, law, civil rights, responsibility, and political participation are redefined between the dissidents, representatives of party and state power, KGB officers, and the public inside and outside the USSR. The results of this redefinition formed the basis for a specific dissident repertoire of contention based on nonviolence, publicity, and appeals to existing legal norms. The author invites attention not only to the recognised heroes of the dissident movement — those who, through their writings and actions, shaped and represented the ethos of nonviolent resistance to the Soviet regime — but also to a broader circle of its supporters — people who were involved in networks of solidarity and mutual aid. This broadening of the phenomenon’s scope, coupled with fresh interpretations of key milestones in Soviet dissidence, makes the book a significant event in the historiography of late Soviet society.

Keywords: dissident movement, repertoire of contention, political protest, Soviet history, commucation.

Acknowledgements: This publication was prepared as part of the work of the scientific study group “Research into the Unofficial Culture of Leningrad in the 1950s–1980s” (project no. 25-00-051) within the framework of the programme “Scientific Foundation of the National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE)”.

To cite: Kozlov D., ‘A Review of Benjamin Nathans, To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2024, XIV+797 pp.’, Antropologicheskij forum, 2025, no. 67, pp. 297–311.

doi: 10.31250/1815-8870-2025-21-67-297-311

URL: http://anthropologie.kunstkamera.ru/files/pdf/067/kozlov.pdf