July 20th marks the 85th birthday of Lyudmila Alexeyeva, one of the leading figures in the Russian human rights movement for the past half century. Ms. Alexeeva is a founding member and the chairwoman of the Moscow Helsinki Group and a trustee of the Institute of Modern Russia.
Lyudmila Alexeyeva protesting for freedom of assembly at the Dissenters’ Rally. Moscow, August 31, 2009.
Dear Lyudmila Mikhailovna,
On this momentous occasion, we celebrate your historic achievements in human rights advocacy in Russia. Few have fought harder to attain and educate Russians on what is due to them as citizens and human beings.
It is a great honor and responsibility to follow in your footsteps in the struggle for a different kind of Russia, a Russia with a human face. Your work serves as an inspiring reminder of how much can be accomplished with will and commitment, courage and integrity, even in the most difficult circumstances.
In your classic study Soviet Dissent, you write about the origins of Russia’s human rights movement: “We have a tradition of empathizing with ‘the little people,’ a tradition created by great Russian literature.” Today, when so many of our best traditions have been put aside in favor of our worst, your unconquerable energy in fighting for the interests of ‘the little people’ is an exceptional example of an individual carrying on the fundamental values of Russian humanist culture.
We congratulate you from the bottom of our hearts, wishing that you may maintain your great spiritual and physical strength, as well as passion in your struggle for justice in Russia. Your life and work represent one of the noblest and most meaningful pages in recent Russian history.
With great respect and our warmest wishes,
THE INSTITUTE OF MODERN RUSSIA
Lyudmila Alexeyeva graduated from Moscow State University with a degree in history and began her career working as a science editor at major Soviet publishing house Science and a researcher at the Institute of Social Sciences Information of the Soviet Academy of Sciences.
From 1956 on, her apartment became a hub for Soviet dissidents where many of the samizdat publications prohibited by Soviet authorities were disseminated and archived. Starting in 1966, Ms. Alexeyeva became an active participant in human rights campaigns, spearheaded programs to send material support to political prisoners, typed the first underground human rights bulletin The Chronicle of Current Events, bravely engaging in these and other anti-Soviet activities as passionate leader.
In 1996, she was elected Chairperson of the Moscow Helsinki Group. From 1998 to 2004, she served as the president of the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights. From 2002 until her resignation in 2012, she was a member of the Presidential Human Rights Commission (which later became the Presidential Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights). She is a member of the Human Rights Commission of the City of Moscow and is on the advisory boards of the Federal Drug Control Service, Federal Antitrust Service, Interior Ministry Main Directorate of Moscow, and the Moscow Prosecutor's Office.
From 2004 to 2007, she co-chaired the All-Russian Civil Congress “Russia For Democracy Against Dictatorship.” Since 2008, she has been the chairperson of the All-Russia Civic Network.
Lyudmila Alexeyeva has received many prizes, including the Russian Federal Bar Association Award, the Andrei Sakharov Prize, the Olof Palme Prize, the National Endowment for Democracy’s Democracy Award, the French Order of the Legion of Honour, the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, among others.
