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DISSIDENT WOMEN: The Wives of Political Prisoners The fo llo w in g a rtic le w hich w ill be p re s e n te d in two p arts is the te x t o f a k e y n o te ad d res s d e liv e re d by R aissa M o ro z a t the S e c o n d W reath C o n fe re n c e , h e ld in E d m o nto n , C a n a d a O c to b e r 11-14, 1985. The C o n fe r e n c e c o m m e m o ra te d the 100th a n n iv e rs a ry o f the U k ra in ia n W o m e n ’s M o v e m e n t a n d e x p lo re d issues re la tin g to e th n ic ity a n d fem inism . Two papers on the subject of “Dissident Women” are being presented at this conference. In order to avoid repetition, Nadia Svitlychna and I decided to divide this extremely broad subject into two, more specific topics 1) the experiences of dissident women as political pri soners, and 2) experiences of women as wives, moth ers, sisters — all caregivers — of political prisoners. My presentation concentrates on the latter and is based on 13-years of personal knowledge and on that of my close friends and acquaintances. I realize that Soviet women, in general, and dissi dent women in particular face problems that might be considered extraneous to the purely feminist issues of this conference. Many of my former female friends would enviously respond to these issues by saying: “we would like to have y o u r problems and concerns!” For the time being, many feminist issues raised in Canada and the U.S. are merely a type of “higher mathematics” for the female population of the Soviet Union. The realities of Soviet life, force individuals to be concerned mainly with daily problems of physical survi val. Women, for example, do not anguish over the fact that society regards them above all as “sex objects”. They merely accept this stereotype unconsciously and behave accordingly. That’s it. They do not have time to think about, much less discuss such issues. In short, the problems of the female population of these two worlds exist on disparate levels. The purpose of my presentation is to examine only one of many problems faced by the Soviet woman. No Soviet law states that a convicted person’s rela tives share responsibility for his crime. On the contrary, the law stipulates that parents are not responsible for the actions of their children who are of age, and that children are not responsible for the actions of their par ents. In this respect, as in all others, the Soviet state reveals its hypocrisy: moral codes and written laws exist only on paper. From time to time they are proclaimed from lofty tribunes, but in practice unwritten laws and a policy of intolerance and persecution exist. As a rule, the wife of a political prisoner loses her job. The authorities find different reasons for depriving a person of her job and of all means of earning a living. In my case, I was dismissed for “not delivering enough scientific output” as a college instructor. Many wives were dismissed from their jobs because of “staff re ductions”. Jurij Badzio’s wife, Svitlana Kyrychenko, was dis missed twice, initially from work at the Ukrainian SSR Academy of Sciences for being an “unreliable” person. Subsequently, she was given a job in the pharmacy department, but following the arrest of her husband in 1979, she was dismissed from the pharmacy as well. She found herself in a helpless situation: labeled “unrel iable” she could not obtain employment in her profes sion and was unable to find a job as an unskilled worker because she was over-qualified. On Septemer 10, 1981 Svitlana was issued a warning that she could be charged with ’’parasitism”. Svitlana Kyrychenko, an extremely intelligent and highly educated woman is presently working at the post office as a cleaning woman. Loss of a job is just one punishment for being the wife of a political prisoner. Furthermore, the treatment of the wife and children by the KGB is used to bring pressure upon a prisoner of conscience: “admit you were wrong and you’ll go free — you have a young wife and children”. But, the accused has nothing to confess, and very few will compromise their consciences. A wife who does not want to leave her husband must endure a well-orchestrated campaign against her. Especially if she will not be silent, if she sends complaints and let ters, and if — God forbid! — she should think of con tacting foreign jounalists. A wife can expect repercussions when she actively defends her husband. In 1974, when my husband was brought to the brink of despair by severe conditions in prison, he declared a hunger strike and demanded to be transferred to a labor camp. Concerned about his health, I appealed through Western correspondents in Moscow to the world public, to Amnesty International, and to fel low Ukrainians. The KGB perceived this as unprece dented insolence, and the entire police machine came down on my head. I was summoned to the KGB almost daily for questioning. My relatives and I were threatened with arrest “for passing information abroad”, bands of agents followed me wherever I went. My friends were called in for questioning and through intimidation were forced to give evidence against me. When none of this stopped my protests, the KGB resorted to open vio lence. For example, at one o’clock in the morning my window was shattered by a rock, which hit me in the ’’НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ”, СІЧЕНЬ 1986 25
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