This is a continuation of my reading of Victor Herman’s book, Coming Out Of The Ice, An Unexpected Life, out of print for some time. Just a reminder of why I am doing this. I consider this book to be extremely important, because it is a glimpse into what we can expect if we do not resist the oncoming tyranny. Victor Herman, in discussing his experiences in the Soviet gulag emphasized: “Don’t think it can’t happen here.” And, it is now happening here.
The series begins here.
This chapter is broken into two parts due to its length.
For context, this first part of chapter forty-seven covers the years from 1968 to 1976. Victor mentions the Helsinki Accords of 1975. This was a multi-lateral agreement between the Soviet Union, the countries of Europe (except Albania), and the United States and Canada - most importantly the Warsaw Pact nations and NATO. This was intended to solidify the post WWII status quo and thereby increase stability and reduce the likelihood of war.
Victor also tells of his ludicrous experience during U.S. President Richard Nixon’s visit to Moscow in 1972 to meet with Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev.
It was during this visit that the United States and the Soviet Union agreed to reduce weapons systems aimed at each other under the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT). This was a period of lessening tensions between the two great powers of the Cold War, which may explain how Victor was able eventually to leave the Soviet Union and return to the United States.
Of course, the story is really about Victor’s experiences dealing with the Soviet bureaucracy and the KGB, not about negotiations among world leaders. It is important to remember that this book was written in 1979, shortly after these events, and that at that time the Soviet Union was still going. Maybe not going strong, but still going, and Victor felt that it was necessary to keep some information secret because revealing that information might have hurt many people still stuck in the Soviet Union.
There are many parallels to draw between the conditions in the Soviet Union at that time and conditions in the United States now. But I will conclude here with an excerpt from the chapter that is somewhat more optimistic.
There are ways. We all know this. In any situation, there are ways. In the worst of conditions, people find a way. There is never any policing of such human resourcefulness - and the more you try to crush it, the more elaborate are its devices.
The reading is here. As always, I hope you appreciate Victor’s words.