{"id":2135012,"date":"2023-12-28T04:02:02","date_gmt":"2023-12-28T09:02:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/50-years-ago-gulag-archipelago-unveiled-a-haunted-world\/"},"modified":"2023-12-28T04:14:14","modified_gmt":"2023-12-28T09:14:14","slug":"50-years-ago-gulag-archipelago-unveiled-a-haunted-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/50-years-ago-gulag-archipelago-unveiled-a-haunted-world\/","title":{"rendered":"50 years ago, Gulag Archipelago revealed a chilling realm"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2F50-years-ago-gulag-archipelago-unveiled-a-haunted-world%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2135012&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div class=\"article-content\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The Gulag Archipelago: Exposing\u200b the Dark Side of Communism<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Just after \u200dChristmas 50 years ago, the original Russian\u200d edition \u200cof the first two parts \u200bof <em>The Gulag \u200dArchipelago<\/em> was published, followed by French and English translations the next year. \u200dAleksandr Solzhenitsyn dedicated his book \u201cto all those who did not live to\u2062 tell it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This was followed by second and third volumes in 1975 \u2064(parts three and four) and 1976 (parts five through seven), with corresponding translations in 1976 \u200cand\u2064 1978. Harper Collins\u2063 publishes an authorized <a href=\"https:\/\/www.harpercollins.com\/products\/the-gulag-archipelago-aleksandr-i-solzhenitsyn?variant=39307360632866\">abridged<\/a> edition.<\/p>\n<p>My parents emigrated from the Soviet Union. From \u200bwhat \u2063they told\u200b me, I developed a deep reluctance to being frog-marched to Kolyma courtesy of \u2062unilateral disarmament peaceniks, \u2062who are nowadays called \u201cwoke\u201d\u200b with alternate grievances \u2064but the same collectivist \u2064Borg mentality. With that mindset, I purchased copies of all <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/TheGulagArchipelago-Threevolumes\/The-Gulag-Archipelago__vol1__I-II__Solzhenitsyn\/\">three volumes<\/a> as they became available and \u200cread them with curiosity and sorrow.<\/p>\n<p>Unlike <em>Gulag<\/em> by Anne Applebaum (2004), Solzhenitsyn\u2019s treatment does not present a comprehensive history of Soviet\u2063 slave labor\u2062 camps. Rather, it\u2019s an anthology\u2062 of vignettes, both firsthand and \u2064described by other former inmates,\u200c woven into\u2064 a damning indictment of communism under Moscow\u2019s dominion.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Frozen Apocalypse<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Prior to <em>Archipelago<\/em>\u2019s release,\u2064 Americans and Western Europeans had been exposed to only glimpses of communist inhumanity, \u2062mostly from the few survivors who had escaped their dystopias\u200b by fortitude and fortune. But their voices were seldom heard, drowned out by a cacophony of Soviet apologists who insisted socialist coercion represented the ideal manner for ordering other people around.\u2062 Central planning is benevolent, you see.<\/p>\n<p>Solzhenitsyn tore the curtain away from this\u2063 fa\u00e7ade and forced the \u201cprogressive\u201d elite to confront the ugly truth: Their \u200bprosperous socialist utopia was a cruel and barbaric sham. \u201cGulag\u201d is a Russian acronym, for <em><u>G<\/u>lavnoye <u>u<\/u>pravleniye <u>lag<\/u>ereii i mest zaklyucheniya (<\/em>\u0413\u043b\u0430\u0432\u043d\u043e\u0435\u2063 \u0443\u043f\u0440\u0430\u0432\u043b\u0435\u043d\u0438\u0435 \u043b\u0430\u0433\u0435\u0440\u0435\u0439 \u0438 \u043c\u0435\u0441\u0442 \u0437\u0430\u043a\u043b\u044e\u0447\u0435\u043d\u0438\u044f). It\u2019s translated\u200b as General Authority on Internment and Detention.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Solzhenitsyn\u2019s Life<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Born in 1918, Solzhenitsyn\u200c studied \u200cmathematics at Rostov University. He served as an\u200b artillery captain \u2064in the\u200c Red Army, defending\u2064 the country from \u200dthe \u2062Nazi \u200dinvasion during the Second World War. He was arrested in February 1945 for derogatory comments about Stalin in a private letter and sentenced to eight years in a Kazakhstan labor camp. Upon completing \u200bhis sentence in March 1953, still in internal\u200b exile, he was belatedly treated for cancer in Tashkent.<\/p>\n<p>In\u2063 February\u2063 1956, Nikita Khrushchev delivered his \u201cPersonality Cult\u201d speech to the Communist Party Congress. It \u2062implicitly criticized mass incarceration. In the aftermath, Solzhenitsyn was released from exile. During this period, he published a\u200d novella, <em>One Day in the \u2062Life of Ivan Denisovich<\/em> (1962) about life \u200din the camps.<\/p>\n<p>The Politburo deposed Khrushchev in October 1964, quashing the brief literary thaw.\u200c Solzhenitsyn continued writing, and a few of his novels were published in the West, notably <em>Cancer Ward<\/em> and <em>The First Circle<\/em> (both \u2062in 1968).<\/p>\n<p>Solzhenitsyn labored quietly and clandestinely to compose <em>The Gulag\u200d Archipelago<\/em> from 1958 to 1967.\u200b These writings were based on his observations and testimonies from former prisoners in a magnum opus collection. He carefully \u2063maintained several copies, both internally and abroad, but because many of the people\u200d he interviewed remained\u2062 alive and vulnerable, he declined to publish the contents. In the afterward, he apologizes for his inability to properly edit\u200b the materials because he didn\u2019t dare assemble all the text in a\u2063 single\u200d location where all of it could be confiscated.<\/p>\n<p>Soviet authorities seized \u200ca hidden copy in late \u200c1973, prompting \u2063Solzhenitsyn to publish a draft in safekeeping beyond the \u200bIron Curtain. Deported from his homeland in February 1974 to (then West) Germany, he \u2064briefly sojourned in Switzerland before settling \u200bin Vermont.<\/p>\n<p>Solzhenitsyn continued writing books, including <em>Lenin in Zurich<\/em> (1976) and \u2062a memoir, <em>The Oak and the Calf<\/em> (1981). In May\u200d 1994, he\u200b returned to Russia, noting the changes from his two decades of absence. He \u200ccontinued writing \u2064and died \u200cin Moscow in 2008.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>First Volume<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The first volume is divided into \u2063two\u2062 parts: \u201cI The\u2063 Prison Industry\u201d and \u201cII \u2062Perpetual Motion.\u201d \u2064These describe \u2063the Communist Party\u2019s\u200b terror organizations,\u200c the prisons with their\u200c wardens and psychological\u2064 toll on inmates, the quasi-legal tropes used to justify arrest and \u200dtorture, \u2063and the logistics of transporting prisoners \u200bfrom prisons to camps.<\/p>\n<p>In \u200bpart I\u2019s fourth chapter, Solzhenitsyn encourages humility about \u2064human vulnerability to evil. \u201cIf\u2062 only there were evil\u200c people somewhere insidiously\u2062 committing \u200cevil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate \u2063them \u200bfrom the rest of us and destroy \u2063them. \u200dBut the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In the fifth chapter, another\u200c comment resonated \u2064with me: \u201cI had grown up \u2063among engineers, \u2064and I could \u200dremember the engineers of \u2064the twenties very well indeed: their open, shining intellects, their free and gentle humor,\u200d their agility and breadth of thought, the ease with which they shifted \u200dfrom one engineering \u2064field to another, and, for \u2063that matter, from\u200d technology to social concerns \u200band art. Then, too, they personified good manners and delicacy \u200cof taste; well-bred speech that flowed \u200cevenly and was free of uncultured words; \u200bone of them might play a musical instrument, another dabble in \u200bpainting; and their \u200dfaces always \u200dbore a spiritual imprint.\u201d (STEM types on\u2063 our side are a tad more\u2063 plebeian.) What happened to them? They got replaced.<\/p>\n<p><em>Archipelago<\/em> doesn\u2019t address the communist purges directly. Those decimated more privileged members of society, especially party members. This thinned the ranks of technical specialists and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/south-africa-president-country-returning-to-calm\/\" title=\"South Africa President: Country returning to calm\">senior military officers<\/a>. Back in 1975 during a Soviet exhibition, I \u200dpurchased a booklet, <em>Rocket Engines GDL-OKB<\/em>, by Valentin Glushko. Of the 10 men it mentions\u200d who were \u200bborn\u2064 between \u200b1893 and 1907, fully half died in \u2062the 1930s \u2014 implicitly casualties of the prewar liquidation.<\/p>\n<p>Another 17 men whose photographs were taken during their prime had \u200bno dates identified. This\u2064 suggests additional\u2064 victims\u2062 of state paranoia. Whether these engineers and\u200d technicians were summarily \u200dexecuted or worked to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/broncos-super-bowl-champion-demaryius-thomas-dead-at-33\/\" title=\"Broncos Super Bowl Champion Demaryius Thomas Dead at 33\">death remains unknown<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Second Volume<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Volume two is also divided into two parts: \u201cIII The Destructive-Labor\u2064 Camps\u201d and \u201cIV Soul &#038; Barbed Wire.\u201d These chapters describe conditions in the labor camps, especially the \u200bbackbreaking labor to dig\u2064 the White\u200c Sea Canal \u2063in 1931-33. The photograph below illustrates the \u200dwretched working conditions.<\/p>\n<p>In part III\u2019s 10th chapter, a tragic story stands out\u200c regarding one woman\u2019s arrest and detention.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>Grusha \u2026 committed a crime\u2064 of simply astounding gravity.\u2063 She worked at a glass factory for twenty-three\u2063 years and her neighbors had never seen an icon\u200d in her home. But just before the [invading] Germans got to\u200c her district she did put up \u200csome icons. \u200c\u2026 Then, too, she had \u200bpicked up near her \u2062house a pretty German\u2064 leaflet with a picture and pushed it into the vase on her dresser. And despite all this our humane court, taking into consideration her proletarian origins, gave\u200b Grusha only eight years of camp and three years of disenfranchisement. Meanwhile, her husband perished at the front. \u200bAnd her daughter was a student in the technological institute, but the\u200d cadres kept tormenting her: \u2018Where is your mother?\u2019\u2063 And the girl poisoned herself. (Grusha could never get past the point \u2063of her daughter\u2019s death in telling her story. She sobbed and went out.)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Solzhenitsyn segues \u2064to courage in the \u2064third chapter: \u201cEvery act of resistance to the government required heroism quite \u200cout of proportion to the magnitude of the act. It was \u2063safer to keep dynamite during the rule of \u200cAlexander II \u2063than it was to shelter the orphan of an \u200denemy of the people under Stalin. Nonetheless, how many such children were taken in and saved.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Third Volume<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Volume three is divided into three parts: \u201cV Katorga,\u201d \u201cVI Exile,\u201d and\u2063 \u201cVII Stalin Is No More.\u201d These chapters explain the transition of penal labor (<em>katorga<\/em>) from Tsarist rule to the Soviet version \u200bas well as the occasional resistance\u200b and escape.<\/p>\n<p>One meeting in part V\u2019s 11th chapter erupted into confrontation:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>One of the foremen, T.,\u2063 rose and spoke slowly, almost inarticulately, whether because that was natural to him or \u200bbecause he was extremely agitated. \u2018I\u200d used to agree \u2026 when other\u2064 prisoners said \u2026 we live \u2026 \u00b7like dogs \u2026\u2019 The brute in the presidium\u200b bristled. T. \u2062kneaded the cap in his hands, an ugly crop-headed convict, his \u200dcoarsened features contorted\u200d by his struggle to find the \u2064right words. \u2018But now 1 see that 1\u200d was wrong \u2026\u2019 The brute\u2019s\u2064 face cleared. \u2018We live-much worse than dogs,\u2019 T. rapped out with sudden \u2062emphasis, and all the foremen sat bolt upright. \u2018A dog has \u200donly one number on his collar; we have four. \u200dDogs are \u200bfed on meat; we\u2019re\u200c fed on fishbones. A dog doesn\u2019t get put in the\u200b cooler! A dog doesn\u2019t get shot at \u2063from watchtowers! Dogs don\u2019t get twenty-fivers\u2062 pinned on them!\u2019 They could \u2064interrupt whenever they liked \u2064now \u2014 he had said all that mattered.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>In part VII\u2019s third chapter, Solzhenitsyn excoriates apologists for \u2063Soviet misrule: \u201cAll\u200d you freedom-loving \u2018left-wing\u2019 thinkers in the West! \u2026 As far as you are concerned, this whole book of mine is a waste of effort. You may suddenly understand it all \u200csomeday \u2014 but only when \u200byou yourselves hear \u2018hands behind your backs there!\u2019 and step ashore on our Archipelago.\u201d He knew his disclosures would meet \u2062that era\u2019s version\u2062 of\u2064 cancel\u2063 culture.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Reception<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>American and European intelligentsia dismissed testimonies of Russia\u2019s socialist utopia. Can\u2019t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs. (Among all the eggshells, where\u2019s\u2062 the omelet?)<\/p>\n<p>In 1978 following <em>Archipelago\u2019s<\/em> publication, at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.americanrhetoric.com\/speeches\/alexandersolzhenitsynharvard.htm\">Harvard University<\/a> \u200cSolzhenitsyn excoriating Western leaders: \u201cA decline in courage may be the most striking feature which an outside observer notices in the West in our days. \u2026 Such a decline in courage is particularly noticeable among the ruling groups and the intellectual elite, \u2064causing an impression of loss \u200dof courage\u200c by the entire society. Of course, there are many courageous individuals, but they have no determining influence on public life.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In 2004, the late Joseph Ratzinger (the future Pope Benedict XVI) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.communio-icr.com\/articles\/view\/introduction-to-christianity\">lamented<\/a> \u200cthat even after the\u200c fall of the Berlin Wall \u201chow little \u200cwas said \u2064about the horrors of the Communist Gulag, how isolated\u2063 Solzhenitsyn\u2019s voice remained. \u2026 It\u200d was about justice\u200d for all, about\u200c peace, about doing away with unfair master-servant relationships, and so on.\u2063 Marxism believed that it had to dispense with ethical principles\u2062 for the time being and that it was\u2064 allowed to use terror as\u2064 a \u2062beneficial means to \u200dthese noble ends. Once the resulting human devastation became visible, even for a moment, the former ideologues preferred to retreat to a pragmatic position or \u2064else declared quite \u200dopenly their contempt for ethics.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jesus condemns this human\u200b lack \u200cof perception in comparing motes and logs (Matt. 7:3-5). We refuse to\u200b recognize evil and hence are paralyzed to confront its manifestations when they arise.\u200d That deficit \u2064can and often does result in massively deadly consequences.<\/p>\n<p>The will to dominate runs deep in the human psyche. <em>Archipelago<\/em> reminds us such <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=j-gqJdKJPR0\">despotic\u200b cruelty<\/a> became commonplace \u2063in living memory\u200d with few held accountable.<\/p>\n<p>Moreover, such atrocities continue \u2064today behind barbed wire in western \u200bChina, North \u200dKorea, and elsewhere on the globe. Solzhenitsyn warns us all of the consequences should resistance to totalitarianism fail.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"> <\/p>\n<h2> In what ways did Solzhenitsyn&#8217;s revelations about the gulag system and Soviet labor camps challenge the\u2062 prevailing perception of\u2064 the Soviet Union&#8217;s regime?<\/h2>\n<p><span>  Iated the West for its naivety and\u200c willful \u200dignorance about the true nature of communism. He criticized the intellectual elites for their blind support of socialist ideologies, despite the overwhelming evidence of the atrocities committed under communist regimes.<\/p>\n<p>Solzhenitsyn&#8217;s work was met with both praise and criticism. While many hailed him as a\u200c <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/buffy-actress-michelle-trachtenberg-there-was-a-rule-joss-whedon-couldnt-be-alone-with-me\/\" title=\"\u2018Buffy\u2019 Actress Michelle Trachtenberg: \u2018There Was A Rule\u2019 Joss Whedon Couldn\u2019t Be Alone With Me\">courageous truth-teller<\/a>, exposing the dark side of communism, others dismissed him as a reactionary or anti-communist propagandist. Western intellectuals, particularly those with leftist \u200dleanings, \u2062found it difficult to accept the reality of\u2062 the Soviet Union&#8217;s repressive\u2062 regime.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the initial skepticism, Solzhenitsyn&#8217;s revelations about the gulag system and the horrors of Soviet labor camps eventually gained recognition and respect. His \u2062work received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1970, further solidifying his impact on the literary world.<\/p>\n<p>Today, <em>The Gulag\u2064 Archipelago<\/em> \u2062stands as a powerful testament to the resilience\u2063 of the human spirit in the face of oppression. It serves as a stark reminder \u200cof the dangers of\u2064 collectivist \u200bideologies and the importance of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-two-candidate-race\/\" title=\"The two-candidate race\">preserving individual freedom<\/a> and human rights.<\/p>\n<p>In conclusion, <em>The\u200d Gulag\u2063 Archipelago<\/em> remains a significant and influential work that exposes the dark side\u2064 of \u2064communism. Solzhenitsyn&#8217;s courage in\u2062 sharing the truths \u200dof his own experiences and those of other prisoners shines a necessary light on the\u200c brutality and inhumanity of totalitarian regimes. It is a testament to the strength of the human spirit, and a reminder of the importance of \u2064<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/federal-judge-blocks-parts-of-new-maryland-public-carry-gun-ban\/\" title=\"Federal judge halts portions of Maryland's new public carry gun ban.\">upholding individual freedom<\/a>\u200b and dignity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The first two parts of The Gulag Archipelago were published in the original Russian edition just after Christmas 50 years ago. French and English translations came out the following year. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn dedicated his book &#8220;to all those who did not live to tell it.&#8221; The second and third volumes were released in 1975<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1618,"featured_media":2135013,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2135012","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2135012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1618"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2135012"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2135012\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2135013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2135012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2135012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2135012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}