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PARTISAN REVIEW
tural relationships and the nature of the cultural situation in Eastern
Europe and the Soviet Union. I think, therefore, that we can prop–
erly turn to this group for advice on the larger question of relation–
ships with the Soviet Union and the Eastern European countries,
and particularly on the question of whether cultural and scientific
relationships are or are not a useful step....
WILLIAM PHILLIPS: Our dissidents are divided, some sitting up
here and some sitting down in the first or second rows. Those up here
will be speaking this morning and those down there will be speaking
this afternoon. But together they represent a very large and impor–
tant part of Russian and East European culture. This is a strange
phenomenon, and I suppose it's only the second time in history that
this has happened. The first time, of course, was the coming of exiles
from Nazi Germany .
In Boston, each of the dissidents delivered a short paper. Some
of us felt that there were a number of very important questions that
were left unanswered. Hence, we will ask the dissidents some ques–
tions at this session. What are the different positions and groupings
among the exiles from the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, and
what do you agree and disagree about?
BORIS SHRAGIN: After our emigration began in the first half of
the 1970s, there developed some divergent and even hostile tenden–
cies in our dissident movement, in the Soviet Union and also abroad,
which stemmed from absolutely different views about the develop–
ment of our country.
One of these tendencies is very eloquently expressed by Alek–
sandr Solzhenitsyn. He is a Russian nationalist, an orthodox, reli–
gious believer in Eastern Christianity, Byzantium Christianity . This
tendency would like Russia to return to its pre-Revolution state,
when it was an orthodox religious, Christian monarchy. The most
important difference between those people and us is the denial of
democracy . They think that democracy is not perfect; that it is a dis–
order without unity. Nobody knows what is real truth, inner honor,
real justice. That is why they believe in Russia, given our Russian
tradition, that we need an authoritarian government in Russia.
Another tendency is democratic, though some are more liberal,
some less liberal, and some social democrats . This tendency also is
connected with the human rights movement in our country, which
tries to defend freedom of speech, freedom of assembly- all political
liberties.
