This DATSETNAMEreadme.txt file was generated on [YYYYMMDD] by [Name] ------------------- GENERAL INFORMATION ------------------- 1. Title of Dataset Interviews on ethics, conscience and dissent in the USSR 2. Author Information Principal Investigator Contact Information Name: Dr Philip Boobbyer Institution: University of Kent Address: School of History, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent, CT2 7NZ Email: P.C.Boobbyer@kent.ac.uk 3. Date of data collection (single date, range, approximate date) 1994-2003 4. Geographic location of data collection (where was data collected?): Russia, France, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Denmark 5. Information about funding sources that supported the collection of the data: The recording equipment was funded by the University of Kent and some funds were provided by the Leverhulme Trust. --------------------- DATA & FILE OVERVIEW --------------------- These interviews were conducted by Philip Boobbyer between 1994 and 2003 for a research project on the role of ‘conscience’ in shaping opinion and undermining communism in the late Soviet era. They explored the ethical thinking and experiences of dissidents, intellectuals and Communist Party reformers, and the ways in which moral and spiritual motivations were present in their ideas and activities. They took place face-to-face, in Russian, and were conducted in a semi-structured way. Interviewees were asked questions about how their ideas about morality were formed and how they experienced the influence of conscience in their lives, as well as about the impact on them of moments of crisis or transformation. The interviews were initially used as the basis for Boobbyer's article, 'Truth-telling, conscience and dissent in late Soviet Russia: Evidence from oral histories', European History Quarterly 30 (2000), 553-585. Material from the interviews was then used to inform his book Conscience, Dissent and Reform in Soviet Russia (London: Routledge, 2005), which was published in Russian as Sovest’, dissidentstvo i reformy v Sovetskoi Rossii (Moscow: ROSSPEN, 2010). 1. File List Dissidents, activists, prisoners (total 16) Ludmila Alexeyeva (1927-2018): Moscow, April 2003, two audio files plus transcript Larisa Bogoraz (1926-2004): Moscow, April 1996, two audio files plus transcript Vladimir Bukovsky (1942-2019): Cambridge, June 1995, three audio files plus transcript Alexander Ginzburg (1936-2002): Paris, March 1997, two audio files plus transcript Natalya Gorbanevskaya (1936-2013): Paris, March 1997, two audio files plus transcript Vyacheslav Igrunov (1948-): Copenhagen, May 1995, two audio files plus summary Veniamin Joffe (1938-2002): St Petersburg, April 1996, two audio files plus summary Tatyana Khodorovich (1921-2015): Paris, March 1997, two audio files plus transcript Sergei Kovalev (1930-2021): Moscow, April 1998, one audio files plus transcript Malva Landa (1918-2019): Moscow, April 1998, two audio files plus summary Andrei Mironov (1954-2014): Caux-sur-Montreux, July 1995, two audio files plus transcript Valerya Novodvorskaya (1950-2014): Moscow, April 2003, two audio files plus summary Leonid Plyushch (1938-2015): Paris, March 1997, two audio files plus transcript Grigorii Pomerants (1918-2013): Moscow, April 1998, one audio file plus transcript Vladimir Poresh (1949-2023): St Petersburg, April 1996, two audio files plus summary Tatyana Velikanova (1932-2002): Moscow, January 1998, two audio files plus transcript Intellectuals, creative figures (total 12) German Andreev (Fein) (1929-): Paris, March 1997, two audio files plus transcript Ernest Ametistov (1934-1998): Caux-sur-Montreux, August 1994, two audio files plus transcript Irina Baskin (1938-): Paris, March 1997, two audio files plus summary Natalya Bolshakova-Minchenko (1952-): Riga, March 2003, two audio files plus short summary Ilya Grits (1949-2000): Caux-sur-Montreux, August 1996, two audio files plus short summary Yuri Karyakin (1930-2011): Moscow, April 1999, two audio files plus transcript Lev Krugly (1931-2011): Paris, March 1997, two audio files plus summary Zoya Maslennikova (1923-2008): Moscow, April 1996, three audio files plus summary Yuri Lyubimov (1917-2014): Moscow, April 2003, two audio files plus summary Mikhail Rozov (1930-2011): Moscow, April 1996, two audio files plus summary Yuli Shreider (1927-1998): Moscow, April 1996, two audio files plus transcript Natalya Trauberg (1928-2009): Moscow, April 1996, two audio files plus summary Reformers, advisors (total 6) Vadim Bakatin (1937-2022): Moscow, March 2003, two audio files plus transcript Nail' Bikennin (1931-2007): Moscow, April 2003, two audio files plus transcript Anatoly Krasikov (1931-2020): Moscow, April 1998, two audio files plus summary Vadim Medvedev (1929-): Moscow, March 2003, two audio files plus transcript Alexander Tsipko (1941-): Moscow, January 1998, two audio files plus transcript Alexander Yakovlev (1923-2005): Moscow, March 2003, two audio files plus transcript 2. Relationship between files: N/A 3. Additional related data collected that was not included in the current data package: A full list of interviews conducted to support this research is cited on pages 231-32 of the book Conscience, Dissent and Reform in Soviet Russia (Routledge, 2005). 4. Are there multiple versions of the dataset? yes/no If yes, list versions: Name of file that was updated: i. Why was the file updated? ii. When was the file updated? Name of file that was updated: i. Why was the file updated? ii. When was the file updated? Some of the interviews in this collection are present in an earlier version of the dataset entitled 'Interviews on conscience and dissent in the USSR'. -------------------------- METHODOLOGICAL INFORMATION -------------------------- 1. Description of methods used for collection/generation of data: These interviews were conducted in a semi-structured manner. 2. Methods for processing the data: The interviews were recorded on cassette. 3. Instrument- or software-specific information needed to interpret the data: N/A 4. Standards and calibration information, if appropriate: N/A 5. Environmental/experimental conditions: N/A 6. Describe any quality-assurance procedures performed on the data: N/A 7. People involved with sample collection, processing, analysis and/or submission: N/A ----------------------------------------- DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR: [FILENAME] ----------------------------------------- 1. Number of variables: N/A 2. Number of cases/rows: N/A 3. Variable List A. Name: [variable name] Description: [description of the variable] Value labels if appropriate N/A B. Name: [variable name] Description: [description of the variable] Value labels if appropriate N/A 4. Missing data codes: Code/symbol Definition Code/symbol Definition N/A 5. Specialized formats of other abbreviations used N/A