Vladimir Bukovsky passed away on 27 October, 2019. See the obituary page.
Also see selected quotes from these works.
COMMUNISM: FROM UTOPIA TO DISASTER
A previously unpublished work, translated by Bukovsky's friend and scholar Alyona Kojevnikov, offers Bukovsky's prescient warnings about the persistent threat of communist ideology. The author's stark assessment remains relevant today: "Communism continues to live an independent life, as if in a poor science fiction novel, it continues to enslave people and destroy the earth, inexorably trampling one country after another."
Original Russian text (RTF file download)
JUDGMENT IN MOSCOW
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Baen
MORE INFO | REVIEW COPIES
MEDIA COVERAGE | CONTACT | PRAISE
The long-awaited English translation of Bukovsky's 1995 book that details Soviet meddling in Western politics for decades – and willing collusion by European and American leaders that makes current revelations no surprise.
Bukovsky's thesis is in the title: Just as the Nuremberg trials declared Nazism and associated actions crimes against humanity, so should the world have put Communism on trial after the fall of the Soviet Union.
To BUILD A CASTLE
Bukovsky's landmark memoir of his years as a political prisoner, fighting from within, is available for Amazon Kindle.
When To Build a Castle debuted in 1978, Ronald Reagan told his radio audience, "This book is important." Russian activists Garry Kasparov and Pussy Riot are among those declaring the book a must-read on its Amazon page.
On Amazon, or read the first chapter online.
“The great truth was that it was not rifles, not tanks, and not atom bombs that created power. Power depended upon public obedience, upon a will to submit.”
A Manual on Psychiatry for Dissenters - 1974. A samizdat guide, written with Dr. Semyon Gluzman, for other dissidents falsely diagnosed as mentally ill and imprisoned in Soviet psikhushka. (Copied, samizdat-style, from Russia's Political Hospitals by Sidney Bloch and Peter Reddaway, 1977.)
Soviet Hypocrisy and Western Gullibility - 1987, with Sidney Hook and Paul Hollander. Bukovsky explains how the USSR had been able to manipulate Westerners eager for peace through classic Russian provokatsia -- covertly backing and funding the nuclear disarmament movement in Europe.
To Choose Freedom - 1988. Published by Stanford's Hoover Institution, Bukovsky's plea to Westerners to see the failures of socialist solutions in the Soviet Union, and beware the similarities between powerful Western institutions and the Red Menace they loathed and feared.
EUSSR - 2004. A booklet co-authored with fellow dissident Pavel Stroilov, which includes confidential Soviet documents showing discussions between European and Russian leaders to create "a collectivist European Union state" that would give Moscow power over Europe and isolate America.
Articles & Essays
“I strongly recommend that White House lawyers think about another flood of lawsuits, not from detainees but from the men and women in your armed services or the CIA agents who have been or will be engaged in cruel, inhumane or degrading practices. Our rich experience in Russia has shown that many will become alcoholics or drug addicts, violent criminals or, at the very least, despotic and abusive fathers and mothers.”
Is 'Glasnost' a Game of Mirrors? - 1987. New York Times opinion essay written by Bukovsky and a group of dissident Soviet emigres.
Punitive Psychiatry - 1977. Introduction to Russia's Political Hospitals by Sidney Bloch and Peter Reddaway.
The Soul of Man Under Socialism - 1979. Excerpted from To Build a Castle, a first-person exposition of life in the USSR, where citizens were coerced to participate in their own day-to-day oppression, breaking their will and their hope in a way that guns and prisons could not.
Better Red Than Dead is not Good Enough - 1981. An essay in the Times charging that the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and other peace groups in Europe have been infiltrated by the Soviets.
The Peace Movement and the Soviet Union - 1982. Commentary magazine essay charging that the demand for peace with the Soviet Union is an invitation for conquest.
Torture's Long Shadow - 2005. A torture survivor's powerful warning to Americans that abuse of prisoners has an inevitable result: The demoralization of the abusers themselves, as happened to his captors in Russia, and the moral numbing of the populace that sanctions their actions.
Licence to Kill - 2006. A warning in the The Times that President Putin had pushed through new legislation in Russia legally declaring critics of his regime "extremists," and allowing such extremists to be killed by Russian agents in any foreign country. Later that year, former FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko was fatally poisoned after appearing along with Bukovsky on a "hit list" compiled by the FSB. Bukovsky's co-author, Oleg Gordievsky, was also poisoned and suffered serious injury.
Is Political Correctness worse than Leninism? - 2009. Text of a speech in Sofia, Bulgaria. "It is impossible to live in Utopia and it will always end with the gulag, because utopians never admit they are wrong ... Trust me, I am an old jailbird, and I know when it whiffs with prison."
The Power of Memory and Acknowledgement - 2010. An essay for the Cato Institute that decries the persistent dream of a socialist state in Europe.
INTERVIEWS
Bukovsky on MacNeil/Lehrer Report - 1977. During Bukovsky’s visit to the United States as a guest of AFL-CIO President George Meany, and soon after meeting with President Jimmy Carter. Dr. Yuri Olkhovsky, then chairman of the Slavic Languages Dept. of George Washington University interpreted. “It appears to me that to really get the point across exactly how a political prisoner is treated in a psychiatric ward is just a little bit too involved. I hope that one of these days I’ll be able to write a book where I’ll be able to spell out all the details concerning this.” That book was To Build A Castle.
Bukovsky on 112 Ukraine TV - 2018. Discussing the Soviet past, Russia’s present, and why the upcoming 2018 FIFA World Cup in Moscow should be boycotted: “We shouldn't give Russia an opportunity to host international championships or any kind of international conferences. You can't give even a shred of validation to a gangster state that kills people left and right, without discernment and without a thought.” Translated from Russian by Alissa Ordabai.
Bukovsky on RTVD - 2017, Part Two. Discussing the failings of the U.S. and its European allies in dealing with Russia, as well as sovietization of the West. "The ulcer burst and spread all over the world." Translated from Russian by Alissa Ordabai.
Bukovsky on RTVD - 2017, Part One. Discussing Russia's domestic policy and predicting its outcome: "A disintegration process of Russia itself." Translated from Russian by Alissa Ordabai.
Bukovsky on Radio Liberty – 2018. Discussing the Skripal poisonings. "I am prepared to make the following bet: If two cruise missiles were to be launched at Lubyanka then the level of terrorism worldwide would drop by approximately 80 percent." Translated from Russian by Alissa Ordabai.
Bukovsky on NVC Radio – 2018. Discussing the upcoming English-language publication of his book Judgement in Moscow. "The cold war is not over for as long as we are failing to put communism on trial in Moscow." Translated from Russian by Alissa Ordabai.
Soviet Archives
The Bukovsky Archives - 1992. Confidential state documents smuggled from Moscow by Bukovsky, including notes of high-level meetings with American leaders who offer quiet concessions in private, and European leaders who propose to join forces with Russia to dominate Europe together.
LiTvinenko Inquiry
Bukovsky's testimony - Royal Court of Justice, London, 17 March 2015. Bukovsky testified that the murdered ex-FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko, a friend, received death threats from some former colleagues, and tips from others that he was targeted for assassination. Bukovsky also explained that new Russian laws suggested the killing in London was authorized by President Putin himself, making it legal in Russia.
Video
1988, Intercollegiate Studies Institute: Bukovsky with William Buckley, explaining why glasnost did not have his hopes up.
2008, Al Jazeera: David Frost interview on Russian elections, Putin, and Bukovsky's life in Soviet prisons.
2009, Cato Institute: "The Power of Memory and Acknowledgement"
2009, Oslo Freedom Forum: "My Life as a Dissenter"
2007, Britain on the Brink (DVD): Closing argument.