What is dissent, and who are dissidents? These terms are widely recognized, yet defining them is not so easy. No one would dispute that individuals like Andrei Sakharov or Vladimir Bukovsky, Sergey Kovalev or Natalya Gorbanevskaya are true dissidents. But what do they have in common with writers like Alexander Zinoviev, who remained a party member almost until his departure from the country, with some of the Russian, Baltic, or Georgian nationalists, with Jews advocating for their right to live in Israel, with Orthodox Christians and Baptists protesting against state interference in church affairs, with advocates for the rights of the disabled, women, and workers — with all those who, in various cases, can also be classified as dissidents?

The struggle of dissidents had many directions in various spheres of life. This book focuses solely on Russian dissent, as it was in Russia that it originated. Here, its principles were formed, common to dissidents throughout the USSR and, more broadly, Eastern Europe.