The Bonds of the Soviet People

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Recommended: Iron curtain and its implications

Elena Gorokhova explains in her memoir that “The rules are simple: they lie to us, we know they're lying, they know we know they're lying, but they keep lying to us, and we keep pretending to believe them.” The novel, A Mountain of Crumbs, depicts the hopelessness, opression and deception of life behind the Iron Curtain during the 70s and 80s. Many rights of the people within the Soviet Union were violated and unacknowledged. In ages past, there were no human rights but the idea evolved after a while. It was at the end of World War II that the United Nations created the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, with the purpose of saving future generations from devastating internal conflicts. Human rights are the rights one has simply because one is a human being. There is no distinction between who can exercise and obtain their rights. Some of these obvious rights include that all humans are born free with the promise of life, liberty and security of person. The above rights should be protected and respected by everyone. However, the rights of the communist nations in the USSR were not kept safe. Specifically, the rights to emigrate and move freely as pleased, the freedom of consciousness, thought and religion and the ability to express oneself as they wish. Essentially, people’s rights were being restricted within the Iron Curtain, many of them uncovering their voices and pleeing for change at once, but instead they encountered armed forces prepared to erase anyone in defense of the status quo. Even though there were not many alternations in the socialist regime of the Soviet Union, there were plenty after World War II. The Big Three, U.S President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet Premi... ... middle of paper ... ....org/history/1953-the-east-german-uprising>. “The Potsdam Conf. 1945.” U.S Departments of State; Office of the Historian. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Mar. 2014. . Ray, Rob, and John S, eds. “1956: The Hungarian Revolution.” Libcom. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Mar. 2014. . “Universal Declaration of Human Rights.” Human Rights. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2014. . “What are human rights and how do they function?” Mount Holyoke. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2014. . “The Yalta Con, 1945.” U.S Department of State. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2014. .

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