SUMMARY:

The article revisits the dominant heroic and politicized interpretation of the late Soviet Jewish national movement (the refuseniks) of the 1970s–1980s. The author shifts the focus from the political and ideological aspect of the movement to its function as a form of leisure and socialization. She introduces the notion of the “refuseniks milieu” as a common denominator for a variety of participants in the new forms of Jewish life. Only a minority of these people upheld Zionist views and ethnonormativity; most people longed for a particular social experience. This is what was made the refuseniks milieu similar to the “public of svoi” or “public of inside/outside-ness” as conceptualized by Alexei Yurchak. His understanding of inside/outside-ness is revised in the article as a multilayered metaphor reflecting the aspirations and social practices of the refuseniks’ milieu.