The “Human Rights Activist” Identity in the Axiology and Social Practice of Alexander Esenin-Volpin

The object of the research is the social position and personal axiology of the poet, philosopher and mathematician Alexander Esenin-Volpin. From the second half of the 1960s to the mid-1980s, the human rights movement constituted the core of the Soviet dissidence, and an analysis of the personal axiology and social position of the movement founder permits to understand the specifics of collective identity and of the “human rights activist” behavior model. The purpose of this work is to identify the origins and specificity of the “human rights activist” behavioral pattern, which gradually replaced the “defender” model from nonconformist rhetoric and social practice, and to characterize the axiology and typology of human rights protection. The Legal Note and the Free Philosophical Tractate by Volpin served as the material for this study.

The author claims that the “human rights activist” model of social behavior emerged in the practice of nonconformists during the Sinyavsky—Daniel trial. It differs from the “defender” model implemented by the liberal intelligentsia in the Brodsky case. The “defender” is guided by the absolute value of the individual, invites the authorities to take into account personal characteristics of the defendant when sentencing, which means a selective approach to the law. For the “human rights activist”, the law is universal; compliance with the law not only by citizens, but also by the state is the guarantee of justice.

Volpin laid several theses on the basis of the ideology and axiology of human rights protection: the state is a subject of law, obliged not only to formulate laws for citizens, but also to comply with the prescribed norms itself; Soviet laws are designed to limit the dictates of the state and to protect the citizens; the citizens have legal rights to defend themselves against illegal actions of the state.

The first practical implementation of these ideas — the “glasnost meeting” — showed that the authorities were not prepared for the proposed model of behavior. However, the motivation of the meeting participants mostly fit into the “defender” paradigm; the human rights logic of action and rhetoric were adopted by the community gradually. The Legal Note was written by Volpin to educate nonconformists and popularize human rights ideas.

The article concludes that, thanks to Volpin’s activities, appealing to the rights and the law gradually became the usual rhetorical method in literary and journalistic statements and social actions of dissidents.

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