Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s “literary investigation” of the police-state system in the Soviet Union, The Gulag Archipelago, 1918-1956, is published in the original Russian in Paris. The book was the first of the three-volume work. The brutal and uncompromising description of political repression and terror was quickly translated into many languages and was published in the United States just a few months later.
Solzhenitsyn’s massive work detailed the machinations of the Soviet police state from the time of the Bolshevik Revolution to 1956. In the preface to the book, however, he warned that reading the work would be “very dangerous” for Russians in 1973. The book was important in that it maintained that police terror had always been essential to the existence of the Soviet state. This deviated from the standard Soviet line that such terror had only come about during the time of Stalin and evaporated upon his death in 1956.
Solzhenitsyn admitted that political repression eased during the ensuing Khruschev years–the author himself was freed from political prison during that time. However, he believed that since Khruschev’s ouster in 1964, the Soviet state again resorted to intimidation and terror. His disappointment at the reversion of his country to these scare tactics influenced his decision to allow the publication of his book.
The book was an instant success in the West, but Soviet officials were livid. TASS, the official Soviet news agency, declared that the work was an “unfounded slander” against the Russian people. On February 12, 1974, Solzhenitsyn was arrested, stripped of his citizenship, and deported. He eventually settled in the United States. In the 1980s, he refused Mikhail Gorbachev’s offer to reinstate his Soviet citizenship, but did return to Russia to live in 1994. Solzhenitsyn died of heart failure in Moscow on August 3, 2008. He was 89.
It is my sincere desire to provide readers of this site with the best unbiased information available, and a forum where it can be discussed openly, as our Founders intended. But it is not easy nor inexpensive to do so, especially when those who wish to prevent us from making the truth known, attack us without mercy on all fronts on a daily basis. So each time you visit the site, I would ask that you consider the value that you receive and have received from The Burning Platform and the community of which you are a vital part. I can't do it all alone, and I need your help and support to keep it alive. Please consider contributing an amount commensurate to the value that you receive from this site and community, or even by becoming a sustaining supporter through periodic contributions. [Burning Platform LLC - PO Box 1520 Kulpsville, PA 19443] or Paypal
-----------------------------------------------------
To donate via Stripe, click here.
-----------------------------------------------------
Use promo code ILMF2, and save up to 66% on all MyPillow purchases. (The Burning Platform benefits when you use this promo code.)
Why is Solzhenitsyn’s “200 Years Together” so hard to find?
Jewish censorship.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, TASS moved to America and changed their name to CNN. Fact!
My introduction to the works of AS was not that book, but a movie that came out three years earlier —> “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich”
Only saw it once. But, my recollection from what I saw 50 years ago …. it was THE darkest most depressing soul-crushing movie I’ve seen in my 17 years of living.
And it actually affected my political views. I just HATED the fucken Soviets! I remember that clearly. And it was a huge reason I was a 100% supporter of the Vietnam war. I felt strongly that is was our duty to stop the Soviets everywhere in the world and crush the bastards. I’m telling you the truth.
Full movie is available on The Tube We Hate. Seriously, I might just have to watch it again …. if nothing else to see what emotions it raises this time around.
https://youtu.be/YqG1uwhTX2o
.
I just checked rottentomatoes ….. 17% from the professionals, 91% from the audience.
Recommend reading the book instead.
Just watch ‘The Death of Stalin’. Shows you how horrible it was and gives you a lot of laughs too.
Now, I did hear Israel is our greatest ally. Let us not forget the many humanitarian efforts spearheaded by our generous friends!
Very spot on analysis. It is a total myth that the Jewish race is more sacred than any other. The Cheka is up there with the biggest murderers in history.
Every minority group believes or pushes the idea it’s somehow the most ‘sacred’. That’s why it’s so important to prioritize the collective culture instead of empowering minorities.
Jews aren’t the only ones who shift history to advantage. Everybody does it. So we’re not sure what your point is.
One of Solzhenitsyn;s themes in his writings was the isolation of the individual in modern life. It is much worse now than it was during his life. This could be a partial explanation of the publics docile reaction to the government/science tyranny being imposed
“And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would things have been like if every security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family? Or if, during periods of mass arrests, as for example in Leningrad, when they arrested a quarter of the entire city, people had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling with terror at every bang of the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had understood they had nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of half a dozen people with axes, hammers, pokers, or whatever else was at hand? After all, you knew ahead of time that those bluecaps were out at night for no good purpose. And you could be sure ahead of time that you’d be cracking the skull of a cutthroat.” – Alexander Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago