[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 71 (Thursday, May 1, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E791]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      FORTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ``CHRONICLE OF CURRENT EVENTS''

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                         HON. ALCEE L. HASTINGS

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 1, 2008

  Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Madam Speaker, this week marks the 40th 
anniversary of the initial publication of the ``Chronicle of Current 
Events,'' the ``underground newspaper of record,'' if you will, of the 
Soviet human rights movement in the years before the collapse of the 
Soviet Union.
  The ``Chronicle'' was a samizdat, or ``self-published,'' journal 
created to break through the government's monopoly on the flow of 
information and report to its readers the truth about human rights in 
the ``workers' paradise.'' Described recently by the Russian human 
rights organization ``Memorial'' as the ``fullest and most precise 
compilation of historical information about dissident activity and 
political persecutions in the USSR between 1968 and 1982,'' it was 
distributed via underground channels to readers in the Soviet Union and 
to foreign journalists and diplomats. In short time, the ``Chronicle'' 
gained a reputation for veracity and straight-forward reporting, and 
when copies reached the West, the contents were broadcast back to the 
Soviet Union by international radio stations such as Radio Liberty, 
BBC, Deutschewelle and others.
  Meanwhile, the KGB expended a huge amount of effort and time to 
expose and apprehend the editors, contributors, and distributors of 
these two dozen or so typewritten sheets of onionskin paper. 
Possession, and especially distribution, of the ``Chronicle'' could 
result in lengthy labor camp sentences and internal exile. As might be 
expected, the list of persons involved in producing the ``Chronicle'' 
is a ``Who's Who'' of former Soviet dissidents and political prisoners. 
Despite the hardships and dangers involved, these brave individuals 
managed to compile and distribute over 60 issues of the publication.
  Besides supplying otherwise unavailable information on human rights 
issues, the ``Chronicle'' inspired the establishment of similar 
publications devoted to specific themes and geographic regions. These 
would include the fate of the Catholic Church in Lithuania, the abuse 
of psychiatry for political purposes, and the fate of national 
minorities, such as the Crimean Tatars, under the Soviet system.
  Madam Speaker, I would also mention that through the tireless efforts 
of Mr. Edward Kline, Professor Peter Reddaway, and exiled Soviet 
dissidents Valery Chalidze and Pavel Litvinov, an English version of 
the ``Chronicle'' became available in the West, allowing many non-
specialists to become familiar with the deplorable human rights 
situation in the Soviet Union.
  Eventually, with former KGB head Yuri Andropov in command in the 
Kremlin, the authorities managed to imprison, exile, or neutralize so 
many contributors to the ``Chronicle'' that it ceased publication in 
1982. However, the folly of insulating the Soviet system from the free 
flow of information that was encircling the globe while trying to 
maintain a decent economy, let alone super-power status, was becoming 
by this time obvious to the more perceptive apparatchiks in the 
Kremlin's corridors of power. Three years later, Mr. Mikhail Gorbachev 
was selected to lead the Communist Party, and 6 years later the hammer 
and sickle banner of Soviet communism was replaced by the tri-color of 
the Russian Federation.
  Today, Russia and the nations that comprised the Soviet Union are now 
independent and sovereign states. However, the free flow of information 
and media pluralism, though in immeasurably better condition than 
during the Soviet period, is still problematic. As Freedom House points 
out in its recently issued annual survey of press freedom throughout 
the world, Russia is among several nations of the former Soviet bloc 
that have suffered setbacks in the area of press freedom. There seems 
to be a rush by the government to characterize, with little serious 
justification, as ``extremist'' certain books and articles, opposition 
journalists and newspapers have been harassed, and new legislation 
recently introduced in the Duma would make it easier for the government 
to close down media outlets for allegedly publishing libel and slander.
  Madam Speaker, let us hope that President-elect Medvedev recognizes 
that if Russia is to prosper in the global community, the free flow of 
information must be a vital component of the nation's commercial, 
social, and political infrastructure, and that if Russian citizens wish 
to view underground publications such as the ``Chronicle of Current 
Events,'' they might better find them freely available in museums and 
libraries.

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