Dissident — People | Cyber-Lenin

Dissident

44 people

By birth A–Z List Cards

Boris Leonidovich Pasternak Борис Леонидович Пастернак The poet of Doctor Zhivago and the refused Nobel Prize Literature and arts 1890–1960
Nikola Dimitrov Petkov Никола Димитров Петков Agrarian leader who opposed communist rule and was hanged after a show trial Political and party leadership 1893–1947
Milada Horáková Milada Horáková Czech politician who resisted both the Nazis and the Communists and was hanged in 1950 after a fabricated treason trial Social movements and organizing 1901–1950
Dmitry Sergeyevich Likhachev Дмитрий Сергеевич Лихачёв Gulag survivor, world authority on Old Russian literature, moral conscience of late Soviet society Scholarship and theory 1906–1999
Jan Patočka Jan Patočka A phenomenologist who turned care for truth into civic action Scholarship and theory 1907–1977
Petro Grigoryevich Grigorenko Пётр Григорьевич Григоренко Soviet major general who turned dissident to defend human rights and deported nations Military command · Soviet Union 1907–1987
František Kriegel František Kriegel The only Prague Spring leader who refused to sign the Moscow Protocol Political and party leadership · Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ) 1908–1979
Robert Havemann Robert Havemann East German chemist who survived a Nazi death sentence and later, expelled from the SED, became a dissident under house arrest Science and technology · East Germany 1910–1982
Milovan Djilas Милован Ђилас Yugoslav dissident who attacked Western communist parties at the Cominform and later dissected the communist system in The New Class Political and party leadership · Yugoslavia 1911–1995
Jiří Hájek Jiří Hájek A diplomat who turned international law into a language of civic rights Diplomacy and international organization · Czechoslovakia 1913–1993
Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn Александр Исаевич Солженицын Prisoner Shch-854, who told the world about the Archipelago Literature and arts 1918–2008
Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov Андрей Дмитриевич Сахаров He built the hydrogen bomb, then turned on the system Science and technology · Soviet Union 1921–1989
Yuri Fyodorovich Orlov Юрий Фёдорович Орлов The physicist who held the Kremlin to the Helsinki human-rights promises it signed Ideology and propaganda · Soviet Union 1924–2020
Andrei Donatovich Sinyavsky Андрей Донатович Синявский Abram Tertz, from Novy Mir critic to symbol of the Soviet dissident movement Literature and arts 1925–1997
Zhores Alexandrovich Medvedev Жорес Александрович Медведев The dissident biologist who argued the archives contain no evidence Stalin planned a Jewish deportation Scholarship and theory 1925–2018
Roy Alexandrovich Medvedev Рой Александрович Медведев The Marxist historian who put Stalinism on trial Scholarship and theory · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks 1925–2026
Ludvík Vaculík Ludvík Vaculík The Czech writer who declared 'not one human question has been solved in twenty years' and authored the 'Two Thousand Words' manifesto Literature and arts · Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ) 1926–2015
Tadeusz Mazowiecki Tadeusz Mazowiecki Catholic intellectual of Solidarity who became the Eastern Bloc's first non-communist prime minister Government and administration · Poland 1927–2013
Anna Walentynowicz Anna Walentynowicz From fired shipyard worker to 'mother of independent Poland' Social movements and organizing · Free Trade Unions of the Coast (WZZ) 1929–2010
Zdeněk Mlynář Zdeněk Mlynář A reform communist who sought to democratize socialism Political and party leadership · Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ) 1930–1997
Jacek Jan Kuroń Jacek Jan Kuroń A dissident socialist who linked workers’ self-management to civic solidarity Social movements and organizing · Workers' Defence Committee (KOR) 1934–2004
Andrzej Gwiazda Andrzej Gwiazda An uncompromising organiser of August Solidarity Social movements and organizing · Free Trade Unions of the Coast (WZZ) 1935–
Marian Jurczyk Marian Jurczyk A shipyard leader caught between two landmark agreements Social movements and organizing · Solidarity (Solidarność) 1935–2014
Václav Havel Václav Havel Czech playwright-turned-president whose absurdist theater critiqued the regime and whose dissident leadership ended communist rule Literature and arts 1936–2011
Fang Lizhi 方励之 “China’s Sakharov”, the astrophysicist known for the 1986 student protests and his 1989 refuge in the US embassy Science and technology · Communist Party of China 1936–2012
Jan Ludwiczak Jan Ludwiczak The union leader whose arrest sparked the Wujek strike Social movements and organizing · Solidarity (Solidarność) 1937–2023
Andrei Alekseevich Amalrik Андрей Алексеевич Амальрик Historian and playwright who foresaw the Soviet collapse by 1984 Literature and arts 1938–1980
Abulfaz Gadirgulu oghlu Elchibey Əbülfəz Qədirqulu oğlu Elçibəy The pan-Turkist dissident who became Azerbaijan's first democratically elected president Political and party leadership · Azerbaijan state institutions 1938–2000
Merab Ivanes dze Kostava მერაბ ივანეს ძე კოსტავა A poet who joined the struggle for independence to the defense of human rights Social movements and organizing 1939–1989
Zviad Konstantinovich Gamsakhurdia ზვიად კონსტანტინეს ძე გამსახურდია The nationalist dissident who became Georgia's first democratically elected president Political and party leadership 1939–1993
Lagle Parek Lagle Parek The dissident architect who walked out of a Soviet prison camp and opened Estonia's political road to independence Political and party leadership 1941–
Lech Wałęsa Lech Wałęsa Electrician who became president as the leader of Solidarity Social movements and organizing · Solidarity (Solidarność) 1943–
Jan Rulewski Jan Rulewski A Solidarity leader beaten while linking workers’ and farmers’ demands Social movements and organizing · Solidarity (Solidarność) 1944–
Adam Michnik Adam Michnik The dissident strategist who negotiated a peaceful transition with communist power Social movements and organizing · Workers' Defence Committee (KOR) 1946–
Roman Bartoszcze Roman Bartoszcze A peasant leader who carried Rural Solidarity into pluralist politics Political and party leadership · Polish People's Party (PSL) 1946–2015
Jan Palach Jan Palach The Charles University student who set himself on fire against the Soviet occupation Social movements and organizing 1948–1969
Bogdan Michał Borusewicz Bogdan Borusewicz The Solidarity strategist who planned the 1980 Gdańsk strike, shaped the 21 Demands, and co-founded the MKS Social movements and organizing · Solidarity (Solidarność) 1949–
Tiit Madisson Tiit Madisson The Estonian dissident who helped break the silence at Hirvepark Social movements and organizing 1950–2021
Wei Jingsheng 魏京生 The electrician who pasted “The Fifth Modernisation” on Democracy Wall, deported after eighteen years in prison Social movements and organizing 1950–
Alina Pienkowska Alina Pienkowska The shipyard nurse who, when the regime declared the strike over, held workers back and turned it into a solidarity strike Social movements and organizing · Free Trade Unions of the Coast (WZZ) 1952–2002
László Tőkés Tőkés László The Reformed pastor whose attempted eviction in Timișoara sparked the Romanian Revolution Political and party leadership 1952–
Henryka Krzywonos Henryka Krzywonos-Strycharska The tram driver who carried the strike beyond the shipyard Social movements and organizing 1953–
Etibar Salidar oglu Mammadov Etibar Səlidar oğlu Məmmədov Deputy chairman of the Azerbaijani Popular Front who warned Primakov there would be resistance Political and party leadership 1955–
Heiki Ahonen Heiki Ahonen Estonian former political prisoner who survived the Soviet camps and co-organized the first open rally of the Baltic independence movement Social movements and organizing 1956–