# The dissident movement: resistance the USSR called Nazism

> The dissident movement of the 1950s–80s resisted Russification for the Ukrainian language. The USSR branded dissidents "heirs of Nazism" — a forerunner of Russia's "denazification" cliché today.

Canonical: https://holospravdy.com/en/dissident-movement
Period: holodna-viyna | Type: spoke | Updated: 2026-06-18

**TL;DR.** The Ukrainian dissident movement of the 1950s–80s was a peaceful intellectual resistance to Russification: for the Ukrainian language, culture, and independence. The Soviet authorities fought it not only with arrests but also with **slander**: branding dissidents as "nationalists" and "heirs of Nazism." This is the same cliché with which Russia justifies its war today — only half a century earlier.

## Who the dissidents were

The dissident movement was a phenomenon of the **1950s–1980s**. These were people who, under the Soviet regime, defended their own convictions: the idea of Ukrainian independence, the **Ukrainian language and culture**. The movement was not narrowly national: there were also **religious** dissidents (for freedom of worship) and those who defended the rights of national minorities — **Crimean Tatars, Jews**[1]. Compared with the armed stage of the struggle (the OUN, the UPA), the dissidents were few — this was a different, intelligentsia form of resistance.

## Valentyn Moroz and "Chronicle of Resistance"

One of the symbols of this resistance was **Valentyn Moroz** — one of the most radical dissidents from among the Sixtiers, who openly challenged the authorities. He wrote four essays — including **"Chronicle of Resistance"** (as well as "A Report from the Beria Reserve," "Amid the Snows," and "Moses and Dathan") — that were popular in dissident circles. Under those conditions, Moroz dared to defend the very term "Ukrainian nationalism"[2]. (Moroz is an ambiguous figure: his later, émigré views were controversial; here we are concerned with his role in the dissident resistance of the 1960s–70s.)

## Slander as a weapon

The most important thing for understanding the present is **how** the authorities fought the dissidents. Besides arrests and labor camps, slander was put to use: Soviet propaganda branded dissidents as **"nationalists, heirs of Nazism"** in order to strip them of influence and authority[3]. The regime **feared** the dissidents precisely because they were intellectuals — lecturers, teachers, writers — capable of influencing the young and the student body, and therefore the future.

## A blow against the diaspora

The campaign reached abroad. The publication **"News from Ukraine"** was a mouthpiece of Soviet propaganda aimed at the diaspora. In it were published the **"confessional statements"** of broken dissidents — such as Ivan Dziuba or Zinoviia Franko (granddaughter of Ivan Franko)[4]. The aim was to sow despair and division among Ukrainians abroad, to portray the resistance as "doomed." These are classic [active measures](/en/kgb-active-measures-diaspora) against the diaspora.

## What this means

The Soviet cliché "dissident = nationalist = heir of Nazism" is a direct ancestor of today's Russian "**denazification**" narrative about Ukraine. The logic is the same: any Ukrainian resistance to the empire is declared "Nazism" in order to dehumanize it and justify repression. The dissidents of the 1960s proved the opposite: the demand to speak one's own language and to have one's own state is not "Nazism" but the normal right of a people — a right feared precisely by the empire.

## Citation sources

[1] summary: «Український дисидентський рух — феномен 1950–1980-х: люди, які в умовах радянського режиму відстоювали ідею української незалежності, боролися за українську мову й культуру. Були й релігійні дисиденти (за свободу віросповідання) і ті, хто обстоював права нацменшин — кримських татар, євреїв.» — Historian Every Saturday: Bohdan Paska. Valentyn Moroz: the path to eternity (18.05.2024) — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-1ZQMrGS8s (timecodes: 4:39, 4:41, 4:44)

[2] summary: «Валентин Мороз — один із найбільш радикальних українських дисидентів із середовища шістдесятників: відкрито кидав виклик владі. Написав чотири есе («Репортаж із заповідника імені Берії», «Серед снігів», «Хроніка опору», «Мойсей і Датан»), популярні в дисидентських колах, і наважувався відстоювати сам термін «український націоналізм».» — Historian Every Saturday: Bohdan Paska. Valentyn Moroz: the path to eternity (18.05.2024) — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-1ZQMrGS8s (timecodes: 17:49, 18:19, 18:42)

[3] summary: «Радянська пропаганда таврувала дисидентів як «націоналістів, спадкоємців нацизму» — щоб позбавити їх впливу й авторитету в суспільстві. Влада особливо боялася впливу дисидентів-інтелігентів на молодь і студентство, розуміючи, що за молоддю майбутнє.» — Historian Every Saturday: Bohdan Paska. Valentyn Moroz: the path to eternity (18.05.2024) — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-1ZQMrGS8s (timecodes: 46:00, 46:49)

[4] summary: «Діяла й міжнародна кампанія: видання «Вісті з України» було рупором радянської пропаганди на діаспору. У ньому публікували «покаяльні заяви» зламаних дисидентів — як-от Івана Дзюби чи Зіновії Франко (онуки Івана Франка).» — Historian Every Saturday: Bohdan Paska. Valentyn Moroz: the path to eternity (18.05.2024) — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-1ZQMrGS8s (timecodes: 47:29, 47:54)