Conscience, Dissent and Reform in Soviet Russia

This book examines the ethical paradigm shift that took place in Soviet Russia after 1953, making special reference to the idea of a consciencea. After exploring the history of the idea of conscience before the revolution and in the early decades of Soviet rule, as well as under Khrushchev, it focuses on the moral ideas of dissidents and party reformers. It examines the ethics of the human rights movement and the way in which dissident ethics were shaped by experiences of imprisonment and interrogation. It goes on to explore the idea of conscience in late Soviet literature and philosophy, the enduring influence of Russian Orthodox spirituality in Soviet life, the ethics of party leaders such as Gorbachev and Yakovlev and the moral concerns of the intelligentsia and the emerging democratic movement.