Dynamics of Network Resonance: The Case of the Transnational Helsinki Network

Abstract

The underlying assumption of this article is that network resonance is autocatalytic for drastic or large-scale socio-political transformation as an unexpected consequence of social emergence. To test this, the transnational Helsinki network is examined as an empirical case. The Helsinki network, organised following the signing of the Helsinki Final Act in 1975, contributed significantly to the demise of communism in Eastern Europe in 1989. The case study demonstrates that the self-organisation of chain reactions in the Helsinki network triggered autocatalytic dynamics that led to the wave of revolutions in Eastern Europe in 1989.

Notes

1 The Helsinki Final Act, available at: www.osce.org/documents/mcs/1975/08/4044_en.pdf, accessed 3 February 2018.

2 According to a KGB secret report, ‘10,206 anti-Soviet, ideologically harmful and slanderous anonymous documents (6,476 pamphlets, 3,255 letters and 475 petitions) were prepared and distributed by 1,629 authors’ in 1975 (US Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Dmitrii A. Volkogonov Papers, Reel 18, Container 28).

3 For example, at the beginning of 1976, the Soviets announced that only 18 non-communist Western newspapers would shortly go on sale in the USSR and in Eastern Europe. For example, 1,105 copies of Newsweek were distributed weekly in Poland, 545 in Hungary, 216 in the USSR, 161 in Czechoslovakia and 96 in Romania. However, they were available largely for foreign tourists (‘First Semiannual Report by the President to the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe’, Second Session, 94th Congress, US government Printing Office, Washington, 1976, available at: https://www.csce.gov/sites/helsinkicommission.house.gov/files/First%20Semiannual%20Report%20on%20the%20Implementation%20of%20the%20Helsinki%20Final%20Act%20-%20US%20Department%20of%20State.pdf, accessed 2 April 2019).

4 Fenwick visited the Soviet Union as a member of a congressional delegation for a United States–Soviet Union Inter-Parliamentary Exchange in August 1975. There she met Yuri Orlov and was inspired by his argument that the West should use the Helsinki Accord to pressure the Soviet governments to honour its obligations, and to monitor how well it honoured them (Snyder 2011, p. 72).

5 The members of the Group were A. I. Ginzburg, P. G. Grigorenko, A. T. Marchenko, V. A. Rubin, A. D. Shcharansky, V. S. Slepak, E. G. Bonner, M. S. Bernshtam, M. N. Landa, L. M. Alexeeva, A. A. Korchak (‘About the Hostile Actions of the So-called Group for Assistance of Implementation of the Helsinki Agreements in the USSR’, The secret report of the USSR Committee for State Security, No. 2577-A, 15 November 1976, Moscow, available at: https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB191/KGB-Helsinki%201976-11-15.pdf, accessed 15 May 2017).

6 The Initiative Group was organised by Yakir and Krasin in 1969 for the purpose of uniting organisationally the participants of the so-called ‘movement for democratization’. The Committee for the Defence of Human Rights was created by Chalidze, Sakharov and Shafarevich in 1970, and the Russian section of Amnesty International was headed by Turchin and Tverdokhlebov in 1973 (‘About the Hostile Actions of the So-called Group for Assistance of Implementation of the Helsinki Agreements in the USSR’, The secret report of USSR Committee for State Security at the USSR Council of Ministers, 15 November 1976, No. 2577-A, available at: https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB191/KGB-Helsinki%201976-11-15.pdf, accessed 15 May 2017).

7 The founding members of the IHF were Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United States.

8 The secret report of the Committee of State Security of the USSR Council of Ministers (No. 2577-A, 16 November 1976) states that ‘Orlov and his closest accomplices instigated the creation of similar “groups” in Ukraine and Lithuania. Recently members of the mentioned groups have significantly stepped up their collection and dissemination to the West of the slanderous materials, which aim to place in doubt the sincerity of the Soviet Union's efforts to implement the stipulations of the Final Act of the Conference for Security and Cooperation in Europe’ (US Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Dmitrii Volkogonov Papers, Reel 18, Container 28).

9 The Soviet Prosecutor General's office conducted searches at the homes of activists and seized anti-Soviet documents and related materials in 1976–1977 (US Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Dmitrii Volkogonov Papers, Reel 18, Container 28).

10 According to Lipski, the Helsinki process ‘intensified and facilitated’ the capacity of the opposition to appeal to the existing Constitution and its capacity to strengthen civil rights and autonomous social action (Lipski 1985, p. 25).

11 ‘The Moscow Helsinki Group 30th Anniversary: From the Secret Files’, National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 191, 4, available at: https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB191/index.htm, accessed 17 February 2018.

12 ‘About the Hostile Actions of the So-called Group for Assistance of Implementation of the Helsinki Agreements in the USSR’, The secret report of USSR Committee for State Security at the USSR Council of Ministers, 15 November 1976, No. 2577-A, available at: https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB191/KGB-Helsinki%201976-11-15.pdf, accessed 15 May 2017.

13 The leaders were Jeri Laber, Executive Director of Helsinki Watch, and Aryeh Neier, Vice Chairman of Helsinki Watch (Laber 2002; Neier 2003).

14 ‘Third Annual Report: A Summary of the Activities of the US Helsinki Watch Committees from February 1981, through January 1982’, US Helsinki Watch Committee, HRWR Series VIII: New York Office Files, 1975–1996, box 1, folder 1–14.

15 ‘Annual Report of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe for the Period Covering 1 January through 31 December 1985’, First Session, 99th Congress, US Government Printing Office, Washington, 1986, available at: https://www.csce.gov/sites/helsinkicommission.house.gov/files/Helsinki%20Commission%20Annual%20Report%20-%201985.pdf, accessed 21 March 2019.

16 ‘Repercussion of the Trials of the Helsinki Monitors in the USSR’, Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe Hearing, 11 July 1978, Second Session, 95th Congress.

17 ‘Second Semiannual Report by the President to the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe’, First Session, 95th Congress, US Government Printing Office, Washington, 1977, available at: https://www.csce.gov/sites/helsinkicommission.house.gov/files/Second%20Semiannual%20Report%20on%20the%20Implementation%20of%20the%20Helsinki%20Final%20Act%20-%20US%20Department%20of%20State.pdf, accessed 21 March 2019.

18 ‘Second Semiannual Report by the President to the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe’, First Session, 95th Congress, US Government Printing Office, Washington, 1977, available at: https://www.csce.gov/sites/helsinkicommission.house.gov/files/Second%20Semiannual%20Report%20on%20the%20Implementation%20of%20the%20Helsinki%20Final%20Act%20-%20US%20Department%20of%20State.pdf, accessed 21 March 2019.

19 ‘Annual Report of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe for the Period Covering 1 January through 31 December 1985’, First Session, 99th Congress, US Government Printing Office, Washington, 1986, available at: https://www.csce.gov/sites/helsinkicommission.house.gov/files/Helsinki%20Commission%20Annual%20Report%20-%201985.pdf, accessed 21 March 2019.

20 Arkhiv Samizdata No. 3186. 12 December 1977, Human Rights, 1977–1977, Box 689, Old Code Subject Files, 1953–1994, Soviet Red Archives, Records of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Research Institute, Open Society Archives.

21 For example, Sakharov sent a letter to ask Carter to voice support for human rights advocates in the USSR and Eastern Europe. Carter replied with a letter assuring him that ‘our government will continue our firm commitment to promote respect for human rights not only in our country but also abroad’ (‘Second Semiannual Report by the President to the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe’, First Session, 95th Congress, US Government Printing Office, Washington, 1977, available at: https://www.csce.gov/sites/helsinkicommission.house.gov/files/Second%20Semiannual%20Report%20on%20the%20Implementation%20of%20the%20Helsinki%20Final%20Act%20-%20US%20Department%20of%20State.pdf, accessed 21 March 2019).

22 Human Rights Watch Records (HRWR), Helsinki Watch, 1952–2003, Jeri Laber Files, Record Group 7.

23 Proposal to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, 20 January 1977, ‘On Measures for the Curtailment of the Criminal Activities of Orlov, Ginsburg, Rudenko and Ventslova’, The Bukovsky Archive, Soviet Archives at INFO-RUSS, Folder 3.2, available at: http://psi.ece.jhu.edu/~kaplan/IRUSS/BUK/GBARC/buk.html, accessed 21 March 2017.

24 ‘Second Semiannual Report by the President to the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe’, First Session, 95th Congress, US Government Printing Office, Washington, 1977, available at: https://www.csce.gov/sites/helsinkicommission.house.gov/files/Second%20Semiannual%20Report%20on%20the%20Implementation%20of%20the%20Helsinki%20Final%20Act%20-%20US%20Department%20of%20State.pdf, accessed 21 March 2019.

25 Document CSCE/WT/VR.3, Archive of the OSCE Secretariat, Vienna.

26 Document CSCE/WT/VR.13, 7, Archive of the OSCE Secretariat, Vienna.

27 The founding of the Initiative for Peace and Human Rights marked the opening of a new chapter in the development of dissident activity in the GDR. This group was influenced by other East European opposition movements generally, and by Charter 77 in Czechoslovakia and its most famous figure, Václav Havel, in particular (Torpey 1995, p. 98).

28 Document CSCE/SP/VR.2, Paris, 19 November 1990, 33, Archive of the OSCE Secretariat, Vienna.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Kyung Hee University through Grant KHU-20130536.

Notes on contributors

Ki-Joon Hong

Ki-Joon Hong, The Graduate Institute of Peace Studies, Kyung Hee University, 195 Gwangneung Sumokwon-ro, Jinjeop-eup, Namyangju-si, Gyeonggi-do 12001, Republic of Korea