How did rallies change the USSR?

A new episode of the historical series "New Europe" about Russia's attempt to become free - about street protests

In modern Russia, it is almost impossible to imagine mass rallies: the authorities even disperse the protests of the wives of mobilized soldiers, and the last major demonstrations took place in the first days of the invasion of Ukraine. But recent history teaches us that the “stability” of a dictatorship, ensured by censorship and security forces, can crumble at the most unexpected moment.

This is the second episode of the series “On the Path to Freedom” , where we talk about the events and people who made Russia free for a short period of time.

Today we will talk about freedom of assembly: the suddenly emerging opportunity for Soviet citizens to defend their rights in the country's main squares. By the end of the 1980s, in just a few years, small protests had grown into rallies of hundreds of thousands of people. It was at these rallies that the future fate of the country was decided.