About some cases of "non-return" as a special form of emigration from the ussr during the period of "the cold war"

Abstract

© Serials Publications.The relevance of the research problem is determined due to the need of further investigation of the history of protest activity in the USSR as a phenomenon characterizing the maturity level of any civil society, but, unfortunately, to this day still remaining insufficiently studied component of the Soviet political past. The article aims at exploring the phenomenon of "non-return" as a special kind of political emigration from the USSR during the period of "the cold war". The leading approach to the study of this problem was the hermeneutic interpretation, verification and interpretation of previously not introduced into scientific discourse documents and record keeping, deposited in RGANI (Russian state archive of contemporary history), and materials of Soviet legislation of the analyzed period. The main inferences of the study are the characteristics of these not enough studied forms of protest movement in the USSR, known as the "non-return" of ordinary Soviet citizens, and the activities of the Soviet secret police aimed at preventing it. It is proved that, despite the unofficial ban on travel and various penalties (up to capital punishment) against persons who attempted without permission to leave the country, nevertheless such cases as a special form of political protest took place. The methodology of coping with the specific documentary and narrative sources on the problem under consideration is proposed. The article can be useful for the teaching of political history of Russia, history of the Soviet punitive agencies, law, archival studies and source studies of Russian history, and historical anthropology and psychology.