Anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda (ASA) was a criminal offence in the
Soviet UnionThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
. The term was interchangeably used with
counterrevolutionary agitation. The latter one was in use after the
Russian RevolutionThe Russian Revolution is the collective term for the series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union. In the first revolution of February 1917 the Czar was deposed and replaced by a Provisional government...
and was gradually phased out by the end of 1930s in favor of the former one.
According to article
article 58.10Article 58 of the Russian SFSR Penal Code was put in force on February 25, 1927 to arrest those suspected of counter-revolutionary activities. It was revised several times...
of RSFSR Penal Code that acted during the period of
StalinismStalinism was the political system and ideology of the Soviet Union under the leadership of Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union from 1928–1953...
, "propaganda and agitation that called to overturn or undermining of the Soviet power" was punishable with at least 6 months of imprisonment and up to the
death sentence"Death Sentence" is a short story by the American science-fiction writer Isaac Asimov. It was first published in the November 1943 issue of Astounding Science Fiction and reprinted in the 1972 collection The Early Asimov....
in the periods of war or unrest.
Since 1958 the RSFSR Penal Code was significantly revised.
Anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda (ASA) was a criminal offence in the
Soviet UnionThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
. The term was interchangeably used with
counterrevolutionary agitation. The latter one was in use after the
Russian RevolutionThe Russian Revolution is the collective term for the series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union. In the first revolution of February 1917 the Czar was deposed and replaced by a Provisional government...
and was gradually phased out by the end of 1930s in favor of the former one.
According to article
article 58.10Article 58 of the Russian SFSR Penal Code was put in force on February 25, 1927 to arrest those suspected of counter-revolutionary activities. It was revised several times...
of RSFSR Penal Code that acted during the period of
StalinismStalinism was the political system and ideology of the Soviet Union under the leadership of Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union from 1928–1953...
, "propaganda and agitation that called to overturn or undermining of the Soviet power" was punishable with at least 6 months of imprisonment and up to the
death sentence"Death Sentence" is a short story by the American science-fiction writer Isaac Asimov. It was first published in the November 1943 issue of Astounding Science Fiction and reprinted in the 1972 collection The Early Asimov....
in the periods of war or unrest.
Since 1958 the RSFSR Penal Code was significantly revised. Its language was changed to make it closer to Western legal norms. Article 58.10 was implemented by a separate Article 70,
Anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda. .
It was defined as:
- propaganda or agitation with the purpose of undermining or weakening of the Soviet power or with the purpose of committing or incitement to commit particularly grave crimes against the Soviet state (as defined in the law);
- the spreading with the same purposes of slanderous fabrications that target the Soviet political and social system;
- production, dissemination or storage, for the same purposes, of literature with anti-Soviet content
The penalty was from six months to 7 years of imprisonment, with possible subsequent
internal exileInternal Exile was Fish's second solo album after leaving Marillion in 1988. The album, released 28 October1991, was inspired by the singer's past, his own personal problems and his troubled experiences with his previous record label EMI.The album's music reflects Fish's indulgence in the vast...
from 2 to 5 years.
The article 70 was considered by the critics of the Soviet System as the grave violation of the
freedom of speechFreedom of speech is the freedom to speak without censorship or limitation. The synonymous term freedom of expression is sometimes used to indicate not only freedom of verbal speech but any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used...
. It was among the main legal instruments for the prosecution of the
Soviet dissidentsSoviet dissidents were citizens of the Soviet Union who disagreed with the policies and actions of their government and actively protested against these actions through non-violent means...
, some other being the punitive psychiatry and the offence of the
social parasitismSocial parasite is a derogatory term denoting a group or class in society which is considered to be detrimental to others, by taking advantage of them in some way.-Introduction:...
. In particular, the clause about literature targeted the
samizdatSamizdat was a key form of dissident activity across the Soviet-bloc; individuals reproduced censored publications by hand and passed the documents from reader to reader, thus building a foundation for the successful resistance of the 1980s...
.
While the clauses was phrased using the provision "with the purpose of", official commentaries (referred to as "Additions and Explanations to..."), as well as the actual legal practice made it sufficient to assert that the prosecuted person of sane mind must have realized the malicious implications of their utterances.
This article was the most common tool in fighting Soviet dissidents. Shortly after the
Sinyavsky-Daniel trialSinyavsky-Daniel trial was the trial against Russian writers Andrei Sinyavsky and Yuli Daniel, which took place in Moscow Supreme court, between autumn 1965 and February 1966, presided by L.P. Smirnov...
, the Soviet Penal Code was augmented with a weaker Article 190-1,
Dissemination of knowingly false fabrications that defame the Soviet state and social system (1967). It basically repeated the Article 70, with the omitted provision of the "anti-Soviet purpose". The penalty was lower: up to 3 years of imprisonment.
Petro Grigorenko in his memoirs wrote that any critique of the Soviet government or events in the Soviet Union was easily classified as ASA. Dissemination of any information which was not officially recognized was classified as "
Anti-Soviet slander". In this way nearly all members of
Helsinki WatchHelsinki Watch was a private American NGO devoted to monitoring Helsinki implementation throughout the Soviet bloc. It was created in 1978 to monitor compliance to the Helsinki Final Act...
were imprisoned.