Zhores Medvedev was a staunch supporter of the journal Labour Focus on Eastern Europe, set up in 1977 to provide a vehicle for leftwing support for dissidents in central and eastern Europe in the wake of the Polish strikes of 1976 and the formation of Charter 77 in Czechoslovakia.

He remained on the international editorial board of its successor publications Debatte and the Journal of Contemporary Central and Eastern Europe until the end of his life.