In the 1960’s and 70’s they didn’t execute #professors and scientists anymore, but in return for their lives, they forced them to cooperate with the Soviet authorities. Most of them did cooperate with the government, since otherwise none of them would have been able to travel abroad and attend a single scientific conference. Such cooperation with #authorities, at first glance, was nothing special, and sometimes nothing was requested in return for their foreign trips, but this was only at first glance. In reality the main thing was taken away from them - freedom of speech and the right to have their own opinion. They couldn’t express their political views openly and had to support the government in all crucial cases (in every single one, for that matter). That’s what really happened - together with the Soviet government most Soviet scientists obediently created one big Soviet lie. Of course there also were exceptions - those who didn’t want privileges, apartments and cars given by the government (or the government didn’t with to encourage them). But there were very few of them - mostly they sat in the kitchens of their council flats. They would work, eat and drink and express negative opinions regarding the #Soviet #regime only there, in the safety of their tiny #kitchens. True, some - including academics - were in #jail (and not kitchen), but those were known as #dissidents.
#David-Turashvili #Georgia #Georgian #Georgian-writers #Georgian-prose #prose #quotes #USSR #СССР #past #memory #Soviet #flight-from-ussr #Jeans-generation #hijacking #Tbilisi_hijacking_incident #Tbilisi #Դավիթ֊Թուրաշվիլի #დავით-ტურაშვილი #արձակ #Թբիլիսի #თბილისი #Flight-6833 #ԽՍՀՄ #սովետ #պատմություն #միջադեպ #չվերթ֊6833 #անցյալ #поколение-джинсов #Давид-Турашвили #проза #рейс-6833 #Тбилиси #Грузия #инцидент #история #прошлое #jeans #ջինս