ARTICLES 58-1 – 58-10 of the CRIMINAL CODE of the UkrSSR (analogous to Art. 58 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR) – a body of offenses that established liability for “counter-revolutionary activity” and “treason against the homeland.” Introduced into the Criminal Code of the UkrSSR .......... 1934 (in the Criminal Code of the RSFSR on July 20, 1934), shortly after the Resolution of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR of June 8, 1934, “On Amending the Statute on State Crimes with Articles on Treason Against the Homeland.” This resolution amended the Criminal Code with the following articles: 58-1a (Treason against the homeland, i.e., actions committed by citizens of the USSR to the detriment of the military power of the USSR, its state independence, or the inviolability of its territory, such as: espionage, disclosure of military or state secrets, defection to the enemy, escape or flight abroad); 58-1b (The same crimes, when committed by military personnel); 58-1c (on the liability of family members of “traitors,” who were not even aware of the treason that had occurred or was about to occur); 58-1d (on the liability for failure to report a planned or committed act of treason). For the first two articles (1a and 1b), the law provided for the supreme measure of punishment—execution with confiscation of property, the commutation of which (to 10 years of imprisonment) was permitted only under Art. 1a and only “in the presence of mitigating circumstances.”
Art. 58-10: “Propaganda or agitation containing a call to overthrow, undermine, or weaken Soviet power or to commit individual counter-revolutionary crimes (Arts. 58-2 – 58-9 of this Code), as well as the dissemination or production or possession of literature of the same content shall be punishable by—
Imprisonment for a term of not less than six months.
The same actions during mass disturbances, or using the religious or national prejudices of the masses, or in a wartime situation, or in localities declared under martial law, shall be punishable by—
the measures of social protection specified in Art. 58-2 of this Code,” i.e., up to and including execution.
For 19 years, until Stalin’s death, the charges of counter-revolutionary activity and treason against the homeland were used for the physical elimination of real and perceived political opponents of the regime. In the 1930s, many Red Army commanders, leaders and members of the intra-party political opposition, and the remnants of non-communist parties fell victim to Art. 58-1. Another important function of this charge was to prevent all forms of unauthorized contact between USSR citizens and foreigners.
From the beginning of the Soviet-German war until 1953, military personnel who were taken prisoner and civilians deported abroad were accused of “treason” en masse. A special government decree strengthened the punitive measures for family members of “traitors to the homeland.” Participation in national resistance to the Soviet regime (in the Baltic countries, Ukraine) was classified as “treason,” regardless of whether it was armed or peaceful and whether there were ties to foreign countries.
The liberalization of punitive policy (after Stalin’s death) led to a fundamental change in the application of this charge. First and foremost, the number of people convicted each year fell sharply—by hundreds of times. In 1955, a mass amnesty was granted to those convicted of “aiding the occupiers.” In 1956, a joint resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR, “On Eliminating the Consequences of Gross Violations of Legality Concerning Prisoners of War and Their Families,” was adopted. In the same year, Art. 58-c was repealed—a norm unique even for Stalinist justice. The rehabilitation process that began did not affect a number of figures from the party opposition, members of bourgeois parties, or leaders and activists of the national resistance. At the same time, contact with foreigners (to a lesser extent than before), escape attempts, and even the desire to travel abroad could lead to arrest and conviction on charges of “treason.”
In 1957–1958, a process of reforming the special part of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR and the codes of the union republics began. Of the entire body of “especially dangerous state crimes,” the charge of “treason” underwent the most significant changes. The new elements of the crime were formulated in the USSR Law “On Criminal Liability for State Crimes” (Art. 1). First of all, a direct reference to the intentionality of this act was introduced into the text of the new article. The disposition was expanded to include such acts as “Providing assistance to a foreign state in carrying out hostile activities against the USSR, as well as a conspiracy to seize power,” which had previously been punished under other paragraphs of Art. 58. The sanctions remained quite severe (up to and including execution), but the practical application of this article henceforth remained selective, even during periods of political crisis in the USSR. From 1961, the wording of Article 58-1 was incorporated into the new Criminal Codes of all union republics (see Art. 56 of the Criminal Code of the UkrSSR.).
Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group – based on materials from Moscow’s “Memorial”