Victor Krasin
Encyclopedia
Victor Krasin is a Russian human rights activist, economist, a former Soviet
dissident
and a political prisoner
. Krasin is currently a US citizen.
In January 1949, Krasin and some friends were arrested by the KGB
and sentenced to eight years in labor camps for criticizing Marxism-Leninism. Krasin was sent to the Ozerlag labor camp
along the Tayshet railway. In September 1949, Krasin escaped with four others from The Taishet transit camp. They disarmed two of the guards when working in the sand carrier in the forest. They were re-captured on the third day and sentenced to 10 years for counter-revolutionary sabotage. Krasin spent the first winter working in the logging camp.
In 1950 Krasin was transferred to the Kolyma
region in the USSR Ear east, in the Berlag labor camp. Ozerlag and Berlag were special camps for political prisoners. The prisoners worked 10 hours a day, usually with one rest day in a month, and had the right to send only two letters per year. In the Magadan transit camp Krasin learned how to work on a lathe
machine. He was transferred to the uranium mines and this skill saved his life. Many miners became deadly sick in one year because of silicosis, but Krasin was registered as a turner
and worked the rest of his term in the mechanical shops. After Stalin's death, in October 1954, Krasin the and others who were arrested in 1949 were brought back to Moscow, released and rehabilitated.
In 1963 Krasin graduated from the Economic Faculty of Moscow State University. He worked as a truck and taxi driver. Krasin completed postgraduate studies in 1966 in the Department of Statistics. He was unable to defend his thesis because it did not correspond to Marxist standards. From 1966 to 1968 Krasin worked as a researcher at the Central Economics and Mathematics Institute (CEMI).
At this time Krasin started self-publishing: he took photographs and gave friends uncensored books to read. Krasin also began collecting information about human rights violations. He established relations with American correspondents Henry Kamm
from New York Times, Frank Starr from Chicago Tribune and Tony Collins from Associated Press and passed them materials on human rights violations in the USSR which were then published in the US press. In May 1969 Peter Yakir and Krasin organized the Initiative Group for Defence of Human Rights in the USSR – the first legal organization to oppose political repression in the USSR.
In the autumn of 1968 Krasin was fired from CEMI, because he refused to stop his human rights activities. He did not work for a year but meanwhile began contributing to the samizdat. Then in 1969, almost exactly one year later, he was arrested then sentenced to five years of internal exile on a charge of parasitism, under the "anti-parasite law" initiated by Nikita Khrushchev
. Krasin was serving his term in the Krasnoyarsk
area. While he was in exile he was informed that in June 1971 his friend and participating rights activist Nadezhda Pavlovna Yemel'kin was arrested for demonstrating alone on Pushkin Square holding up a banner "Freedom to Political Prisoners in the USSR." After the RSFSR Supreme Court overturned Krasin's verdict in autumn 1971 he went to the town of Yeniseisk where she was in exile and married her. This was his second marriage. In the first marriage, he fathered three sons who emigrated with their mother to Israel in 1972.
In September 1972 he was again arrested by the KGB on the charge of anti-soviet propaganda (Article 70). He was subjected to intense KGB interrogation, constantly threatened by the death penalty if he did not cooperate. Then he was placed on trial with Yakir. Krasin subsequently wrote a book detailing the interrogation and the trial called "The Trial," published in Russian by Chalidze Publications, New York, 1983. The publication can be found at the Center of the Sakharov (Russian: Музей и общественный центр им. А.Сахарова - Sakharov-Center.ru), in The authors and the texts of memories of the Gulag.)
On September 12, 1973, two weeks after Krasin's trial, the United States Senate
adopted a resolution which was an appeal to President Richard Nixon
to demand that the Soviet government stop repression of the participants of the human rights movement in the USSR. It was stated in this resolution that Andrei Sakharov
, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Pyotr Yakir and Victor Krasin had "demonstrated enormous courage and intellectual honesty in advocating and defending the importance of fundamental civil and political liberty." On September 18, 1973, a similar resolution was adopted by the United States House of Representatives
, and stated that the public humiliation of Yakir and Krasin was an outrage that "served to illuminate the plight of hundreds of thousands of Soviet citizens."
In February 1975 Krasin and his wife emigrated to the United States. They became US citizens in 1981. Krasin was interviewed by the New York Times and a cover article was published called "How I Was Broken by the K.G.B." in the New York Times Magazine on March 19, 1984. From 1984 to 1991, he worked as a correspondent for Radio Liberty. In the summer of 1991 Krasin and his wife returned to Moscow. In 2003 they returned to the United States. He is currently contributing articles to The Daily Journal (Russian: Ежедневный журнал) http://www.ej.ru/?a=author&id=299.
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
dissident
Dissident
A dissident, broadly defined, is a person who actively challenges an established doctrine, policy, or institution. When dissidents unite for a common cause they often effect a dissident movement....
and a political prisoner
Political prisoner
According to the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, a political prisoner is ‘someone who is in prison because they have opposed or criticized the government of their own country’....
. Krasin is currently a US citizen.
Biography
In 1947 Krasin entered the Moscow University's Psychology Department of the Philosophical Faculty.In January 1949, Krasin and some friends were arrested by the KGB
KGB
The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
and sentenced to eight years in labor camps for criticizing Marxism-Leninism. Krasin was sent to the Ozerlag labor camp
Labor camp
A labor camp is a simplified detention facility where inmates are forced to engage in penal labor. Labor camps have many common aspects with slavery and with prisons...
along the Tayshet railway. In September 1949, Krasin escaped with four others from The Taishet transit camp. They disarmed two of the guards when working in the sand carrier in the forest. They were re-captured on the third day and sentenced to 10 years for counter-revolutionary sabotage. Krasin spent the first winter working in the logging camp.
In 1950 Krasin was transferred to the Kolyma
Kolyma
The Kolyma region is located in the far north-eastern area of Russia in what is commonly known as Siberia but is actually part of the Russian Far East. It is bounded by the East Siberian Sea and the Arctic Ocean in the north and the Sea of Okhotsk to the south...
region in the USSR Ear east, in the Berlag labor camp. Ozerlag and Berlag were special camps for political prisoners. The prisoners worked 10 hours a day, usually with one rest day in a month, and had the right to send only two letters per year. In the Magadan transit camp Krasin learned how to work on a lathe
Lathe
A lathe is a machine tool which rotates the workpiece on its axis to perform various operations such as cutting, sanding, knurling, drilling, or deformation with tools that are applied to the workpiece to create an object which has symmetry about an axis of rotation.Lathes are used in woodturning,...
machine. He was transferred to the uranium mines and this skill saved his life. Many miners became deadly sick in one year because of silicosis, but Krasin was registered as a turner
Machinist
A machinist is a person who uses machine tools to make or modify parts, primarily metal parts, a process known as machining. This is accomplished by using machine tools to cut away excess material much as a woodcarver cuts away excess wood to produce his work. In addition to metal, the parts may...
and worked the rest of his term in the mechanical shops. After Stalin's death, in October 1954, Krasin the and others who were arrested in 1949 were brought back to Moscow, released and rehabilitated.
In 1963 Krasin graduated from the Economic Faculty of Moscow State University. He worked as a truck and taxi driver. Krasin completed postgraduate studies in 1966 in the Department of Statistics. He was unable to defend his thesis because it did not correspond to Marxist standards. From 1966 to 1968 Krasin worked as a researcher at the Central Economics and Mathematics Institute (CEMI).
At this time Krasin started self-publishing: he took photographs and gave friends uncensored books to read. Krasin also began collecting information about human rights violations. He established relations with American correspondents Henry Kamm
Henry Kamm
Henry Kamm was a correspondent for The New York Times. He reported for the Times from Southeast Asia , Europe, the Middle East and Africa....
from New York Times, Frank Starr from Chicago Tribune and Tony Collins from Associated Press and passed them materials on human rights violations in the USSR which were then published in the US press. In May 1969 Peter Yakir and Krasin organized the Initiative Group for Defence of Human Rights in the USSR – the first legal organization to oppose political repression in the USSR.
In the autumn of 1968 Krasin was fired from CEMI, because he refused to stop his human rights activities. He did not work for a year but meanwhile began contributing to the samizdat. Then in 1969, almost exactly one year later, he was arrested then sentenced to five years of internal exile on a charge of parasitism, under the "anti-parasite law" initiated by Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev led the Soviet Union during part of the Cold War. He served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, and as Chairman of the Council of Ministers, or Premier, from 1958 to 1964...
. Krasin was serving his term in the Krasnoyarsk
Krasnoyarsk
Krasnoyarsk is a city and the administrative center of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia, located on the Yenisei River. It is the third largest city in Siberia, with the population of 973,891. Krasnoyarsk is an important junction of the Trans-Siberian Railway and one of Russia's largest producers of...
area. While he was in exile he was informed that in June 1971 his friend and participating rights activist Nadezhda Pavlovna Yemel'kin was arrested for demonstrating alone on Pushkin Square holding up a banner "Freedom to Political Prisoners in the USSR." After the RSFSR Supreme Court overturned Krasin's verdict in autumn 1971 he went to the town of Yeniseisk where she was in exile and married her. This was his second marriage. In the first marriage, he fathered three sons who emigrated with their mother to Israel in 1972.
In September 1972 he was again arrested by the KGB on the charge of anti-soviet propaganda (Article 70). He was subjected to intense KGB interrogation, constantly threatened by the death penalty if he did not cooperate. Then he was placed on trial with Yakir. Krasin subsequently wrote a book detailing the interrogation and the trial called "The Trial," published in Russian by Chalidze Publications, New York, 1983. The publication can be found at the Center of the Sakharov (Russian: Музей и общественный центр им. А.Сахарова - Sakharov-Center.ru), in The authors and the texts of memories of the Gulag.)
On September 12, 1973, two weeks after Krasin's trial, the United States Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
adopted a resolution which was an appeal to President Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
to demand that the Soviet government stop repression of the participants of the human rights movement in the USSR. It was stated in this resolution that Andrei Sakharov
Andrei Sakharov
Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov was a Soviet nuclear physicist, dissident and human rights activist. He earned renown as the designer of the Soviet Union's Third Idea, a codename for Soviet development of thermonuclear weapons. Sakharov was an advocate of civil liberties and civil reforms in the...
, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Pyotr Yakir and Victor Krasin had "demonstrated enormous courage and intellectual honesty in advocating and defending the importance of fundamental civil and political liberty." On September 18, 1973, a similar resolution was adopted by the United States House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
, and stated that the public humiliation of Yakir and Krasin was an outrage that "served to illuminate the plight of hundreds of thousands of Soviet citizens."
In February 1975 Krasin and his wife emigrated to the United States. They became US citizens in 1981. Krasin was interviewed by the New York Times and a cover article was published called "How I Was Broken by the K.G.B." in the New York Times Magazine on March 19, 1984. From 1984 to 1991, he worked as a correspondent for Radio Liberty. In the summer of 1991 Krasin and his wife returned to Moscow. In 2003 they returned to the United States. He is currently contributing articles to The Daily Journal (Russian: Ежедневный журнал) http://www.ej.ru/?a=author&id=299.