1993 "Letter of Forty-Two"

25 years ago, on October 5, 1993, the Izvestiya newspaper published a letter from 42 writers, including Dmitry Likhachev, Viktor Astafiev, Grigory Baklanov, Vasil Bykov, Ales Adamovich, Boris Vasiliev, Daniil Granin, Bulat Okudzhava, Yuri Nagibin , Anatoly Pristavkin, Yuri Chernichenko. They demanded a ban on "all types of communist and nationalist parties, fronts and associations", "all illegal paramilitary, and even more so armed associations", the introduction and widespread use of harsh legal sanctions "for propaganda of fascism, chauvinism, racial hatred, for incitement to violence and cruelty."

The letter stated that it was necessary to close "until the trial" a number of newspapers and magazines, in particular the newspapers Den, Sovetskaya Rossiya, Literaturnaya Rossiya, Pravda, which "incited hatred, called for violence and are .. . one of the main organizers and perpetrators of the tragedy, "and the TV program" 600 seconds ". It also contained a demand to suspend the activities of Soviets that "refused to submit to legitimate authority," and in addition, to recognize as illegitimate not only the Congress of People's Deputies and the Supreme Council, but also all the bodies formed by them, including the Constitutional Court.