Human rights in the Soviet Union
Human rights in the Soviet Union were severely limited. The Soviet Union was a totalitarian state from 1927 until 1953 and a one-party state until 1990. Freedom of speech was suppressed and dissent was punished. Independent political activities were not tolerated, whether they involved participation in free labor unions, private corporations, independent churches or opposition political parties. The citizens' freedom of movement was limited both inside and outside the country.
St. Vladimir's Cathedral in Astrakhan, which served as a bus station in Soviet times.
January 10, 1973. Jewish refuseniks demonstrate in front of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the right to emigrate to Israel.
Dekulakization was the Soviet campaign of political repressions, including arrests, deportations, or executions of millions of kulaks and their families. Redistribution of farmland started in 1917 and lasted until 1933, but was most active in the 1929–1932 period of the first five-year plan. To facilitate the expropriations of farmland, the Soviet government announced the "liquidation of the kulaks as a class" on 27 December 1929, portraying kulaks as class enemies of the Soviet Union.
A parade under the banners "We will liquidate the kulaks as a class" and "All to the struggle against the wreckers of agriculture"
Children of kulaks in Northern krai, 1930
Kulak women in a forest cutting 1930
1930s Soviet propaganda poster stating: "Oust kulaks from kolkhozes!"
