Word: druzhinniki
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...Charge. Brodsky's haunting, moody, calculatedly nonpolitical verses were circulated by hand through intel lectual circles, won him a growing reputation. Inevitably, he came to the attention of the druzhinniki, the witch-hunting vigilantes whose jobs include directing traffic, controlling crowds and bringing recalcitrant intellectuals and other "hooligans" to justice...
Since they could not fault Brodsky on the content of his poetry, the druzhinniki invoked that convenient Catch 22 of Soviet law: "parasitism." The case against Brodsky last February charged him with being "a pseudo-poet in velveteen trousers" whose "earnings were casual, which shows that he did not fulfill the most important constitutional duty to work honestly for the good of the motherland...
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