NATAN SHARANSKY
19
vocates the type of society in which the majority of Russians want to
live . I think that they have the right to live in this type of society.
The problem appears when there is an empire which forces other
people with different types of mentality, with different types of rela–
tions between the individual and the state, to live inside a society
that doesn't trust them and is afraid of them even when they are
assimilated.
Political prisoners are a tiny, tiny minority, among five million
zeks
[prisoners] in the Soviet Union. But there is a very big group,
many hundreds of thousand of those who have committed so-called
economic crimes, which in America are not crimes .
If
you buy for
one price and sell for another , that is a crime . A large percentage of
these crimes are committed by Jews . Why? Because they have in–
itiative . Also, the percentage of Jews is very high in economic and
cultural dissent.
RR:
If you could construct United States policy toward the Soviet
Union, what would it be? What would be your most important ob–
jective? This clearly is an election-year question.
NS:
From what I already have said, it is quite clear what I think
American policies toward the Soviet Union should be . The Soviet
Union is now seeking credits, private and state loans, computer and
other technology from the West. I wouldn't say "No, let's stop all our
connections with the Soviet Union ." It is both impossible and unde–
sirable.
If
the Soviets are ready to release all political prisoners , to
permit emigration, say, to forty or fifty thousand, then America
should be ready to support these measures of liberalization. In other
words, the Soviets would know what they would be getting in ex–
change and that they could not cheat. Now, they make some nice
gestures to create a good impression , and at the same time take some
steps inside the Soviet Union to minimize the effects of these
gestures . For example , instead of solving the problem of emigration,
they are trying to sell every
refusnik
as a refugee for the highest possi–
ble price.
If
the United States had a clear program of linkage, the
Soviets would not be able to use these people as hostages. At the
same time they would be sure of really getting something in return.
RR:
If
they were trying to break you, trying their best to break your
spirit, they might have put you in a psychiatric hospital and given
you drugs. Don't they do this to political prisoners, and do you know
why they didn't do this to you?
NS:
Well , no one knows why they didn't. I know a number of people
