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PARTISAN REVIEW
his activities nevertheless are tolerated by the authorities. The views of
Medvedev and of other representatives of this trend such as General P.
Grigorenko, and former kolkhos head
I.
Yachimovich seem to be
influential in certain circles of Party functionaries, yet at the same time
this group seems to be fairly isolated from the dissenters. Medvedev's
views have changed. Several years ago, he was an adherent of the one–
party system, while recently there have been signs of his moving to a
position closer
to
social-democratic. A similar development is evident
in the views of another representative of this trend-Lev Kopelev, a
talented literary critic and publicist (depicted in the character of Rubin
in Solzhenitsyn's novel "The First Circle").
In recent years the dissenters with Russian nationalistic tendencies
have become influential. From 1970 to 1974 one such group was
concentrated around a semilegal Samizdat magazine
Veche.
Its foun–
der' Vladimir Osipov, was sentenced to eight years of hard labor in
1974. On the nationalistic axis this group occupied a chauvinistic
position, ranging from the relatively moderate nationalism of Osipov
himself to the extreme chauvinism of V. Khaibulin or G. Shimanov.
The group's location on the totalitarian axis was ambiguous, since the
speeches of members usually focused on national problems, and an
antitotalitarian trend was not obvious in those speeches. Moreover, the
group members stressed their loyalty to the existing regime, while
arguing for the revival of Russian nationalism. On the religious axis,
various positions were present in the group, from the atheistic–
nationalism of Stroganov to the religious-nationalism of Osipov. In
1974 a deep split occurred among its members and the group collapsed.
Osipov and several of his adherents (for instance, V. Rodionov) had
taken a moderate stand, particularly regarding anti-Semitism and
chauvinism, which had repulsed many dissenters during
Veche's
activity. The majority of the
Veche
group, however, adopted an
extremely chauvinistic stand, eventually exiling Osipov from his own
journal. There is evidence that among those
Veche
people who caused
the journal's collapse were direct agents of the KGB.
Solzhenitsyn and his adherents also take a nationalistic position.
Their nationalistic feelings, however, are far less extreme than those of
the
Veche
group. Solzhenitsyn is certainly one of the strongest fighters
against the totalitarian regime in Russia. On the other hand, he has
stated that democracy does not fit Russia's needs. At a press conference
in Stockholm, arguing against "antidemocratic" accusations, Solzhen–
itsyn said: "I am not against democracy in general and not against
democracy in Russia, but I am for a good democracy and for approach–
ing it in Russia in a smooth, careful, slow way." Solzhenitsytl'S group
