This movement emerged at the beginning of the “Thaw” in the form of Marxist circles. The main idea of all such associations was to change or correct the party’s course in accordance with Marxist principles; sometimes the goal was even to change the government to establish a truly Marxist regime, because the existing government, in the opinion of many Marxist dissidents, was incapable of following the correct path. These groups used underground methods of struggle. One of the most prominent associations of this type was the group “Realistic Workers’ Circle of Democrats,” which was created in Donetsk by young workers Yevhen Donichenko, Mykola Malyi, Anatoliy Serhiyenko, Anatoliy Hapchenko, Serhiy Volodchenko, and the Melnykov brothers. The idea of forming an underground group arose with Yevhen Donichenko back in the fall of 1955.
By the spring of 1956, the group was already established. At that time, its members developed the text of an introductory oath, a charter, conspiratorial pseudonyms, and a cipher, and began to pay membership dues. It was an underground political organization that aimed to change the government and democratize society. In the early stages, the means of struggle for the Workers’ Circle of Democrats were agitation and propaganda. They distributed many leaflets with slogans such as “Don’t believe the Chekists!” “Don’t believe the communists!” “Glory to Jesus Christ,” and leaflets commemorating the uprisings in Berlin and Poznań, among others. There were also manifestations of human rights activity—Y. Donichenko and A. Serhiyenko prepared and sent letters to the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on behalf of the workers of Donbas enterprises, demanding the release of political prisoners.
Later, the group members planned to conduct revolutionary activities. For this, Y. Donichenko collected data on the deployment of military units, lists of communists, Chekists, Komsomol members, etc., and also prepared a brochure, “What Are Democrats,” and several articles. But their revolutionary activities never came to fruition, as the group members were arrested in August 1957. In November of the same year, they were sentenced: Y. Donichenko to 7 years in labor camps and 5 years of exile, A. Serhiyenko to 6 years in camps, and M. Malyi and S. Volodchenko to 4 years.
