Soviet Dissidents: A Gripping History of Resistance

Benjamin Nathans’ To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement, published in 2024 by Princeton University Press, is a masterful chronicle of the Soviet dissident movement from the 1960s to the 1980s, capturing the audacity and irony of intellectuals who challenged an authoritarian regime. Nathans, the Alan Charles Kors Endowed Term Associate Professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania, leverages his expertise in Russian history—evidenced by his award-winning Beyond the Pale: The Jewish Encounter with Late Imperial Russia—to deliver a Pulitzer Prize-winning narrative.

Drawing on unpublished diaries, private letters, and KGB interrogation records, Nathans illuminates the lives of dissidents who demanded the Soviet state adhere to its own constitutional laws, hastening the USSR’s collapse. The book is lauded as “a brilliant book about the success of a hopeless cause” (Slezkine, as cited in Nathans, 2024, cover).

This review argues that To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause is essential reading for its rigorous scholarship, compelling storytelling, and profound insights into the resilience of the human spirit against oppression. By framing dissidents within their Soviet context—rather than as Western liberal archetypes—Nathans offers a nuanced perspective on their human rights struggle, making it a vital text for understanding resistance in authoritarian regimes. For Indian readers, the book resonates with historical and contemporary struggles against systemic injustice, providing lessons in civic courage and principled dissent. Its exploration of ideas as weapons against tyranny makes it a must-read for those invested in global freedom movements.

To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause traces the Soviet dissident movement from the Khrushchev Thaw to the USSR’s dissolution, focusing on intellectuals who used Soviet law to challenge state power. Emerging in the 1960s, the movement, led by figures like Alexander Volpin, was inspired by global activists like Rosa Parks and “sought to apply modal logic to…jurisprudence and ethics” (Nathans, 2024, p. 23). Dissidents “held unauthorized public gatherings, petitioned in support of arrested intellectuals, and circulated banned samizdat texts” (Nathans, 2024, p. 15), earning them the label of “martyred heroes” (Nathans, 2024, p. 15) despite arrests and exile.

Key figures include Andrei Sakharov, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Natalya Gorbanevskaya, and lesser-known dissidents like Vladimir Albrekht, whose interrogation manuals “carnivaliz[ed] interrogations” (Nathans, 2024, p. 512). Volpin’s wit shines in his retort to a KGB interrogator: “I had not been aware of [your] existence, either, but that has not led me to conclude that you exist secretly” (Nathans, 2024, p. 78). The dissidents’ strategy was “simple to the point of genius: in an unfree country, they began to conduct themselves like free people” (Nathans, 2024, p. 302). The trial of writers Sinyavsky and Daniel for “agitation and propaganda” (Nathans, 2024, p. 189) galvanized the movement, with samizdat amplifying their cause.

The movement’s diversity is notable, with “30-40%” of dissidents being women, including Gorbanevskaya and Yelena Bonner, who “calmly and firmly defended freedom of conscience” (Nathans, 2024, p. 245). Facing severe repression, dissidents like Sergei Kovalev responded with “I refuse to answer” (Nathans, 2024, p. 112). By the 1980s, “more than half the movement had been forced to leave the USSR” (Nathans, 2024, p. 456), yet their efforts “undermined the Soviet system and unexpectedly hastened its collapse” (Nathans, 2024, p. 15). The book concludes by contrasting the movement’s legacy with Putin’s Russia, described as a “feral state, where political opponents…are as likely to be poisoned or assassinated” (Nathans, 2024, p. 598).

Nathans’ work is a scholarly triumph, blending meticulous research with vivid narrative. Its use of primary sources—diaries, letters, and KGB records—offers an intimate portrait of dissidents, as seen in Albrekht’s manuals advising, “You might enjoy asking which technique [the interrogator] is trying so unsuccessfully to use with you” (Nathans, 2024, p. 510). This humanizes the dissidents, making their courage tangible. Nathans’ framing of the movement as a Soviet phenomenon, not a Western import, is a key strength, arguing that dissidents “built the anti-totalitarian movement on fundamental concepts from within the communist pantheon” (Nathans, 2024, p. 17). This perspective, praised as “refreshingly clear-eyed” (Hoyer, The Telegraph, 2024), deepens understanding of their legal strategy.

The inclusion of women dissidents, like Gorbanevskaya, who “called out…the ‘petty tyranny’ of Khrushchev’s incipient cult of personality” (Nathans, 2024, p. 134), challenges male-centric narratives, enriching the movement’s diversity. The narrative style, described as “engaging and entertaining” (Kaiser, New York Review of Books, 2024), draws parallels with Indian storytelling traditions, making it accessible to readers familiar with oral histories.

The book’s 816-page length may deter readers, as NewPages.com notes: “some readers might be intimidated by its 816 pages” (2025). The dense detail, particularly in cataloging numerous dissidents and organizations, can induce narrative fatigue. The focus on KGB interrogations, while thorough, feels repetitive, as seen in the emphasis on “chain reactions” of protests (Nathans, 2024, p. 320). The intellectual focus may marginalize non-elite dissidents, such as workers, limiting the movement’s broader societal context. A Goodreads reviewer critiqued that the narrative “obscured the surprisingly high number of women” (2024) by not exploring their personal stories deeply, like Bonner’s. Cultural references, such as Albrekht’s parody of the Soviet Air Force hymn—“We were born to make Kafka real” (Nathans, 2024, p. 509)—may challenge readers unfamiliar with Russian literature.

Nathans excels in humanizing dissidents, as in Volpin’s witty retort to the KGB, showcasing defiance. The Sinyavsky-Daniel trial, where they argued “one cannot approach literature with juridical formulas” (Nathans, 2024, p. 189), parallels Indian writers like Rushdie facing censorship. However, the extensive cataloging of figures like Bukovsky and Kovalev can overwhelm, and the limited focus on non-intellectual dissidents misses broader dynamics, potentially reducing resonance for readers familiar with diverse Indian protest movements.

Why Indian Readers Must Read This Book

Indian readers will find To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause profoundly relevant, as it mirrors India’s struggles against systemic oppression, from colonial rule to modern challenges. The dissidents’ strategy of leveraging legal frameworks to demand accountability parallels Indian activists like B.R. Ambedkar, who harnessed the Constitution to combat caste discrimination, and contemporary movements like the anti-CAA protests and farmers’ agitations, which used legal and public advocacy to challenge state policies. The samizdat’s role in circulating banned texts echoes India’s underground press during the 1975-77 Emergency, reflecting shared tactics of resistance through literature and ideas.

The dissidents’ irony, captured in the toast “To the success of our hopeless cause” (Nathans, 2024, p. 1), resonates with the sardonic resilience of Indian activists facing state repression, such as during the Narmada Bachao Andolan. The significant presence of women dissidents aligns with Indian feminist movements, like the Shaheen Bagh protests, highlighting shared struggles for gender equity in patriarchal systems. Nathans’ portrayal of a “history mole [that] digs undetected” (Nathans, 2024, p. 602) inspires Indian readers to recognize the subtle, persistent efforts driving change, from Dalit literature to digital activism. The intellectual dissent mirrors India’s literary resistance, as seen in Arundhati Roy’s essays or JNU’s academic protests, making this book a vital exploration of global and local fights for justice and dignity.

To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause is a landmark historical work that illuminates the Soviet dissident movement’s courage and complexity. Its rigorous research, vivid storytelling, and nuanced perspective make it a standout, despite its dense length and intellectual focus. Praised as “a prodigiously researched and revealing history” (Pulitzer Prize Board, 2024), it offers timeless lessons in resistance. This reviewer recommends it to readers interested in human rights, authoritarianism, and the transformative power of ideas.