by Andrei D. Sakharov, translated by Guy V. Daniels
1975 • Vintage Books
109 pages / ISBN 0394720679 (paperback)
It is easy to forget those who were heavily involved in political landscapes of old. As our concerns shift from Eastern Europe to the Middle East and Far East, memories of our standoff with the USSR have faded or, at least, blurred.
With twenty years now dividing us from the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991, average people have largely forgotten the efforts of Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov, a physicist who took part in the development of nuclear weapons during the 1940s and 50s. Sakharov, a product of Moscow State University who died in 1989, was a leading force in both diplomatic change and reform within his own country. His writings and political activism toed a very fine line when critics of the Soviet regime were regularly imprisoned or deported.Political frontiers have built up and dissolved since the mid-1970s, so observers can easily lose sight of the courage behind Sakharov's outspokenness. My Country and the World, first published in 1975, may read like a simple moral tract nowadays; but the essay was in stark contradiction to Soviet policy when it first appeared. The essay was critical of both Soviet life and foreign diplomatic relations, positions that could be fatal for those who voiced them. Sakharov fought on, however, by offering correctives toward disarmament, improved understanding between countries, and greater social freedoms for all involved.
Vintage Books' original run of My Country and the World is a very readable translation by Guy V. Daniels, a French and Russian scholar known for works of other dissidents and the plays of Vladimir Mayakovsky. The five-section, 109-page book offers Sakharov's comprehensive views on the state of Soviet and international affairs at its time of publication.
Most impressive is the first section, an open critique of Soviet society. Here, Sakharov examines how the USSR's heavy-handed economics and lack of basic freedoms such as international travel and non-conformism have stilted enormous Soviet potentials. He is especially critical of the USSR's grossly mismanaged labor system, the Soviet justice system, and its harsh treatment of political prisoners. Other issues include the formation of a nomenklatura, a sort of 'inner party' that holds wealth and privilege in Soviet life, and the discrimination of various ethnic groups such as Germans and those in the Soviet republics.
The four remaining parts are international in approach. Section two discusses our human right to leave and reenter one's country at will. Section three is an account of disarmament issues, reflecting Sakharov's own experience in the Third Idea project. Sakharov goes on to defend the original aims of U.S. intervention in Vietnam through his section on Indochina and the Middle East before finishing out with criticism of Western intellectuals and journalists who hold naive (and, Sakharov concludes, politically dangerous) views on life in the Bloc nations.
On the surface, My Country and the World is an idealistic tract that may now seem high-flown and preachy. When considering the state of affairs at its time of publication, however, Sakharov's essay was a courageous pearl of wisdom and it cost him dearly. Sakharov, who faced pressure from the Soviet authorities since becoming an activist in the 1950s, managed to avoid disappearing into prison or facing banishment from his country. Still, the relationship with his country became increasingly strained. When selected for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1975, he was not allowed to visit Oslo (his wife attended in his place). After protesting the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Sakharov was banished to Gorky, a city off-limits to foreigners, in 1980. He could not return to Moscow until 1986.
Though topical, My Country and the World gives an interesting retrospective on political situations of the 1970s and Cold War tensions. Copies of the Vintage Books softcover from 1975 have circulated widely and are available on the Internet (including Amazon), in used book stores, and in libraries.
