Bent Boel

Bible Smuggling and Human Rights in the Cold War

Bible smuggling was a little known dimension of Western anti-communist endeavours during the Cold War.1 It took place throughout the conflict and involved numerous (overwhelmingly Protestant) groups from especially the Nordic countries, West Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United States. Unambiguously anti-communist in their orientation, these groups were fully transnational in terms of outlook and operation. The original source of inspiration for many was a pioneering Dutch smuggler, Anne van der Bijl, better known as Brother Andrew, whose first visit to the Soviet bloc took place in 1955.2 By their very nature, these operations required secrecy and segmentation. Nonetheless, forms of cooperation developed as the various groups shared the view that missionary efforts ought to ignore state borders. Transnational cooperation was helped by personal links between key actors, public as well as secret international gatherings aimed at denouncing violations of religious rights in the communist countries, the exchange of information, and the coordination of activities. Such cooperation took very practical forms: co-financing publications, dividing tasks among Bible translators, producers and smugglers, and even operational collaboration.

Western Trotskyists and subversive travelling in Soviet Bloc countries, 1956-1989

Western Trotskyists have been largely ignored by Cold War historians. This article argues that such implicit dismissal is unwarranted. A number of independent sources point to the importance of their role in the Western contacts with Soviet bloc oppositionists. Their efforts were pioneering, persistent and broad-ranging. Trotskyists were political subversive travelers in the East at a time when very few people were really interested in ‘the other Europe’. Beyond the early years, they continued playing a noticeable role due to their focus on illegal and practical support and particularly on the more risky business of smuggling printing devices to the East, first of all Poland. Finally their engagement was multifaceted. Some Trotskyists became involved in broad and influential trans-political campaigns for the freeing of political prisoners. The impact of their publications ought also to be emphasized: Trotskyists were the driving forces behind the creation of L’Alternative in France, Labour Focus on Eastern Europe in the UK, Gegenstimmen in Austria. If one is interested in Western practical assistance to Soviet bloc dissidents before 1980, then powerful mainstream politicians become almost irrelevant. The main actors were unknown and politically marginal. In that milieu, Trotskyists were among the major actors.