It's time to return

It's time to return to Pushkinskaya Square. In Soviet times, every December near the monument to Pushkin was a silent demonstration in memory of the dead political prisoners and those who continued to stay in camps, links, prisons and mental hospitals. The first such demonstration took place 50 years ago - December 5, 1965 , on the Day of the Constitution of the USSR. The audience demanded that the trial of writers Julius Daniel and Andrei Sinyavsky be open and vowel.

Since then, silent demonstrations took place on December 5 on Pushkinskaya Square every year. The ritual was always the same: those who managed to reach the monument to Pushkin on this day at exactly 6 pm they shot hats, paying tribute to the dead political prisoners and recalling the living.

There were always many Western correspondents on the square on this day, so the authorities were afraid to arrange pogroms for a long time. KGB and operational Komsomol detachments of Moscow State University and Azlk filled the square, snatching from the crowd and on the way to the area of ​​those dissidents who were known by person. Some were kept in police cars, others were taken to police departments, someone just rolled around the city until the demonstration ends.

In 1976, Zinaida Mikhailovna Grigorenko, the wife of General Peter Grigorenko, violated the tradition of a silent demonstration. She made a small speech about our political prisoners, and no one dared to arrest her.

In 1977, a new constitution was adopted, and they began to be carried out since then on December 10 - on the day of human rights. It was a more suitable date than the Constitution Day. The democratic movement by that time had long grown the slogan, nominated once by Alexander Sergeyevich Yesenin-Wolpin: "Observe your constitution!" The force of the law acquired the International Pact on Civil and Political Rights and the 1975 Helsinki agreements. These were incomparably more advanced documents than the Stalin and Brezhnev variants of the Soviet Constitution.

The last time the traditional December demonstration took place in 1987. This was already the beginning of a new era. The authorities decided to change the strategy - in order to maintain protests in the safe for it, it was necessary to lead them. On December 10, they staged a rally on Pushkinskaya Square to commemorate the Human Rights Day. Of course, at six in the evening. The site around the monument to Pushkin was cordoned off by the police. It was possible to go inside only by passes. The official speakers performed, made official speeches.

In 1987, most of the political prisoners were released by pardon. Not submitted by a petition, was released next year or two. The reason for the December demonstration has disappeared.

Today, political prisoners appeared in Russia again. They are very different, and there are already dozens of them. Many are convicted of a freely expressed word. Previously, for this they accused of anti -Soviet activity and slander for the state system, today they are accused of extremism and inciting social growth. The formulations are changing, but the essence of repression remains the same - to suppress dissent and open civil resistance.

It's time to resume a long tradition. Power leaves us no other choice.

December 10. Moscow. Pushkinskaya Square. 18 hours.