In 1978, the first independent trade union in the USSR was created by Volodymyr Klebanov. Volodymyr Klebanov was a miner who fought against abuses by the administration of the Bazhanov mine in Makiivka. For this, he was convicted under Article 187, Part 1 of the Criminal Code of the UkrSSR, declared schizophrenic, and placed in a special psychiatric hospital. After his release in 1973, he tried to seek justice in Moscow. There, he met comrades in misfortune and united them around himself. A group was formed, numbering several dozen people. This group held several meetings with foreign journalists accredited in Moscow.
But this only led to further persecution. Then, on February 26, 1978, this group was transformed into the “Association of the Free Trade Union of Workers in the Soviet Union.” A Charter for the first independent trade union was drafted. Klebanov managed to attract about 200 people to it. The members of this association deliberately distanced themselves from political dissidents and human rights activists, declaring loyalty to communist ideals, and they considered their sole purpose to be the fight against bureaucracy and the defense of workers’ rights, above all—the right to work. The union did not last long; by the spring of 1978, its activists were arrested, and the rest scattered.
Photo of Volodymyr Klebanov
