7 - The Pinnacle of the Struggle

Summary

When I began writing this section, I thought about dividing it into two parts: one describing our various forms of resistance to the authorities and the other covering the punishment we received in return. But it proved impossible to separate the two because one flowed from the other. In other words, the struggle itself, and then the ensuing punishments, were inseparable elements that penetrated all aspects of camp life for every prisoner.

As I have previously mentioned, everyone in camp already knew about the Helsinki Group activities and that some of their members had been arrested. My status, as a person who had spoken up in defense of the prisoners and their rights, was very high. At the same time, this made me accountable to them: I couldn't make any mistakes or show any fear. This was why I immediately got involved in the camp struggle. Beyond the punishment that would inevitably result from it, my elevated status also brought me some unexpected difficulties. Early on, Yevhen Proniuk stunned me with a solemn pronouncement: I should immediately start readying myself for future political activity. It was as if a sort of noblesse oblige required me to do so. I remember my surprisingly categorical answer: “No way!” Somehow, I never envisioned myself in politics.

Political engagement is one thing, but working to protect human dignity and my rights, which in our Soviet reality had a clear political dimension, was another matter. In this respect, I had no other choice: I simply had to defend my status as a political prisoner and dissident. Today, I am aware that a number of former Ukrainian political prisoners refrain from calling themselves “dissidents,” calling themselves “fighters for the Resistance Movement” (Ukr. Bortsi Rukhu oporu) instead. I accept this designation and agree that the term “dissident” might be semantically deceptive (as Ihor Kalynets and Ivan Hel claim) when applied to committed national freedom fighters. I do not agree, however, with retrograde and anachronistic attempts to denigrate the label as immature or unworthy. In my memory, in Zone 36, this term was considered both mature and honorable. To illustrate this, I would like to quote Ihor Kalynets's declaration of February 28, 1978, protesting against Levko Lukianenko's arrest: “It seems to me that it is high time to see sense and cease the harassment of dissident Ukrainian patriots.”