Resistance international

The beginning of the 1980s was marked by a sharp aggravation of global international confrontation. The wars in Afghanistan , in Angola , in Nicaragua , in Mozambique , in Cambodia , the political crisis in Poland , the buildup of nuclear missile arsenals and their deployment in Europe, and the tightening of ideological rhetoric on both sides marked a new stage of the Cold War . This was symbolically manifested in the speeches of Ronald Reagan on June 8, 1982 (House of Commons of the British Parliament , speech on the revolutionary crisis of totalitarianism ^[1] ) and March 8, 1983 (National Association of Evangelicals, speech on the evil empire ). On the other hand, the XXVI Congress of the CPSU in February-March 1981 confirmed the course towards the "victory of socialism throughout the world" (the support of the Polish PUWP and the Afghan PDPA was especially guaranteed).

The confrontation was conducted not only at the interstate and interblock level. Active participation in the military-political struggle took social movements. A prominent role was played by dissidents of the USSR and other socialist countries, including those who emigrated to the West. The well-known human rights activist, the former Soviet political prisoner Vladimir Bukovsky , showed particular political activity. It was he who initiated the creation of the international anti-communist International of Resistance ( IP ).

The task was seen as combining ideological struggle, agitation and propaganda with concrete operational actions in support of anti-communist and anti-Soviet rebels. At the same time, the organization was built with the expectation of global reach, affecting various sections of the Cold War. Previously, this approach was not typical for dissident human rights defenders.

The Soviet Communists lost - we already knew that ... Their regimes have already begun to burst in Angola, Ethiopia, Central America, Afghanistan. Our task, in addition to coordination and mutual assistance, was also (it was my strategic concept) that if they spend such money on external expansion, we must make it even more expensive.
Vladimir Bukovsky ^[2]

The organization was established in Paris on May 16, 1983 . The headquarters is located in a three-room apartment on the Champs Elysees . The president of the Resistance International was Vladimir Bukovsky, the chairman - a member of the aircraft business , Zionist and Prisoner of Zion Eduard Kuznetsov . The secretary was a former member of the French Resistance and a Gulag prisoner Arman Malumyan . The practical leadership as the executive director was initially carried out by the famous writer Vladimir Maximov , then he was replaced by Eduard Kuznetsov.

Thus, the leaders of the Resistance International were predominantly Soviet dissidents. The group dominated by the editors of the expat magazine Continent . At the time of establishment, participants and groups from 21 countries were represented on IP. The second initiator and one of the leaders was the Cuban dissident long-term political prisoner Armando Valladares . A prominent role was played by the activist of the Polish Solidarity , human rights and student movement Andrzej Metkovsky .

The dissidents initiative met with a keen response in Western intellectual circles. The Resistance International Support Committee included French philosophers Raymond Aron and Andre Glucksmann , political scientist Alain Besancon , former European Parliament Speaker Simone Weil , member of the British Parliament from the conservative party Winston Churchill Jr. (grandson of Sir Winston Churchill ), conservative lord Nicholas Bethellvest, historian Robas Conkestvest, historian Robas Conquest , West German publicist Cornelia Gerstenmaier , Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal , playwright Eugène Ionesco , a Yugoslav politician Milovan Djilas , musician and public Worker l Mstislav Rostropovich - about 100 people.

On February 16, 1985, the Reagan Doctrine was proclaimed. The US administration has officially announced its intention to support anti-communist and anti-Soviet movements ^[3] . This position so coincided with the IP platform that Vladimir Bukovsky considers it to be borrowed: My friends who worked with Reagan made our doctrine this idea, and they called it the "Reagan doctrine." But this was, however, the only case in my life when my interests and those of Western governments completely coincided . Since that time, IP activities have intensified significantly.

In the same year, the American Resistance International Foundation ( AFRI ) was established. His leadership included figures such as US Representative to the UN Gene Kirkpatrick and US Under Secretary of Defense Richard Pearl . IP financier was an American businessman of French origin Albert Joli (Jolis) - a former employee of the Office of Strategic Services , a dealer in the diamond and bookselling ( comics ) business ^[4] . There is also information on IP financing by the US Congress ($ 6 million in 1983).

The main focus of IP was information work in areas of armed conflict. Radio “Free Kabul” was organized: 25 portable transmitters that broadcast in local languages ​​and provided communication between mujahideen groups . The organization was also involved in the export of Soviet deserters and prisoners of war who were ready to move to the West from Afghanistan - in 1984 Lord Betell conducted such an operation: Soviet soldiers Igor Rykov and Sergey Tseluevsky were taken to the UK ^[5] . For propaganda, a newspaper similar in appearance to the Red Star was published in OKSVA .

Similar propaganda was conducted among the Cuban troops in Angola . The monitoring of the negotiations of Soviet troops in Chad , who participated in the hostilities on the side of Libya, was carried out. IS widely disseminated data from a journalistic investigation into the persecution by the Sandinists of the Nicaraguan Miskito Indians who opposed the Contras .

IP activities by their very nature were quite confidential ... It is clear that many IP actions in Afghanistan, Nicaragua, Chad, Angola and others could not be carried out without the logistical assistance of American intelligence services, but it was not customary for us to ask unnecessary questions ^{[6 ]} .

Intensive informational support was provided by IP to the Polish Solidarity and Struggle Solidarity movements. Through Poland, propaganda videos were sent to the USSR (they were transported by Polish trucks with a double bottom).

IP held campaigns in Western Europe - for example, a protest human rights rally in Paris during a visit by Mikhail Gorbachev in September 1985. In the same year, IP participated in the organization of the World Youth Conference in Jamaica , which was an anti-communist response to the XII World Festival of Youth and Students in Moscow ^[7] .

Along with the International of Resistance, there were other international anti-communist organizations - the Anti - Bolshevik Bloc of Peoples (ABN), the World Anti-Communist League (WACL), and the Democratic International (Jamboree). However, IP had its own specifics: unlike ABN and VAKL, it did not include the ultra-right ; unlike the Jamboree, he was not paramilitary in nature ^[8] . IP united liberal - democratic activists and applied non-violent methods of struggle. However, his activities were a major factor in the Cold War at its final stage.

In the USSR, the activity of the Resistance International was largely hushed up, but was taken into account as a complicating factor. Soviet propaganda occasionally published critical materials about IP, usually linking the organization with the personality of Vladimir Bukovsky. So, in the spring of 1986, Bukovsky was visited by the repentant militants of the Red Brigades and asked a rhetorical question: “What did they discuss? Raids on banks doing business with the USSR? ” Bukovsky’s reputation as the“ organizer of the shock five ”allowed him to make hints, but failed to put forward direct charges of violence against IP ^[9] .

Since 1986 , against the backdrop of Perestroika , the improvement of Soviet-American relations and a general change in the international situation, the activities of the Resistance International began to meet obstacles. Gradually, American support came to naught.

The resistance international was torn to pieces, trying to counter what the huge, well-funded and powerful structures were doing in the USSR. Our Western friends often did not even understand what we were trying to do.
Vladimir Bukovsky ^[10]

In 1988 , after the visit of Ronald Reagan to Moscow and friendly negotiations with Mikhail Gorbachev, IP activities almost ceased. Bukovsky subsequently repeatedly criticized Western leaders for the uncritical adoption of “perestroika” and the rejection of a strategy of opposition.

• World Anti-Communist League
• Anti-Bolshevik Bloc of Peoples
• Jamboree
• Anti-Communist League of Asian Peoples