From inside the KGB archives that were unsealed temporarily after the USSR fell, it was ‘widely known’ that NKVD members would watch to identify the first in a crowd to stop clapping, before party officials installed devices intended for the purpose of signaling when it was appropriate to stop clapping. Presumably this is why Stalin often received ostentatious ten, fifteen, or twenty minute standing ovations before and after certain speeches.
Outside of direct evidence to corroborate Solzhenitsyn’s claim, there is a wealth of circumstantial evidence widely known which is perhaps why this story was almost something of ‘lore’ among Soviet citizens. For example, the NKVD was known to interpret benign arbitrary actions as political disloyalty. Stalin, likewise, would sign what was the equivalent of death warrants without even reading the charges — much less affording the condemned anything that would resemble due process. Stalin was likewise famously paranoid, often killing off those who worked under him ‘just to be on the safe side’. In that way, there are a lot of circumstantial facts which would tend to suggest that this is something that would be likely to occur.
Sadly, most of Russian language primary source archival records respecting NKVD conduct in general, and NKVD conduct during the Stalin era respecting crimes against the Russian people, have since been closed since Putin came to power. While this is surely an unsatisfying answer, it is also a reality of the Putin government. However, what readers should realize is that while the “kill or imprison the first to stop clapping” notion was well known in among Soviet citizens, what is truth and what is rumor are sometimes but not always the same thing. Speaking candidly of the regime, or even a past regime, could cause very real trouble for a Soviet citizen, although to be on the safe side, people would clap until they were told otherwise just to be safe.
It is my view based on my knowledge of Soviet history that readers should consider that while Solzhenitsyn may not have been relaying first hand information, there is very little reason to doubt it’s accuracy when considering the surrounding circumstances as well as the nature of how the NKVD conducted its “affairs”. (Note: were the Russian government to take a position on the issue of Solzhenitsyn’s account’s validity, it is likely that they would be able to produce something which purported to be evidence to disprove the claim.)
Yawn.
“although to be on the safe side, people would clap until they were told otherwise just to be safe.”
The official position now on FR with regard to our idiots and liars on the “short thread” we gave them, LOL!