A Citizen's Appeal            

 

 

      Several months ago the organs of state security arrested two citizens: writers A. Sinyavsky and Yu. Daniel. There are reasons to fear violation of glasnost of the legal process. It is commonly known that violation of the law on glasnost (Article 3 of the Constitution of the USSR and Article 18 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic) constitutes an illegal action. It is inconceivable that the work of a writer could constitute a crime against the state.

    In the past, unlawful actions by the authorities have taken the lives of millions of Soviet citizens. This bloodstained past demands vigilance in the present. It is more prudent to give up one day of tranquility than to spend years suffering the consequences of lawlessness that has not been stopped in time.

    Soviet citizens have a means for resisting capricious actions of the authorities. That method is the Glasnost Meetings whose participants chant only one slogan: 'WE DE-MAND GLAS-NOST FOR THE TRIAL OF (followed by the last names of the accused)!' or where the participants display a corresponding banner. Any shouts or slogans that depart from demands of strict adherence to laws must be regarded as counter-productive or, possibly, provocational and must be halted by the participants of the meeting.

    During the meeting, it is essential to observe decorum. At the first demand of the authorities it is essential to inform the authorities about the purpose of the meeting, then to disband.

    You are being invited to a Glasnost Meeting which will be held on December 5, at 6 P.M., on Pushkin Square, by the monument to the poet.

    Invite [at least] two other citizens by means of this appeal.

 

 

(As preserved by Ludmilla Alexeyeva and Paul Goldberg in "The Thaw Generation Coming of Age in the Post-Stalin Era" (Boston : Little, Brown and Co., 1990)

 

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