Posted on 05/04/2021 4:00:37 AM PDT by Kaslin
A colleague recommended I read Solzhenitsyn's The Gulag Archipelago, a long and deep look into the abyss of Soviet communist oppression in the first half of the 20th century. In her opinion, "everyone should read this book." I must agree — the world would probably be a better place if the book was required reading in universities, especially in the West. It should also be taught in high schools, at least in excerpts. Sadly, in the age of the tweet, Solzhenitsyn's 700-odd agonized pages are probably doomed to general neglect. More's the pity.
Mark Twain said long ago: "The past does not repeat itself, but it rhymes." The Gulag Archipelago, though intended by its author as a forlorn memoir to the hundreds he saw ground up by the Soviet state, is also the most powerful of warnings. Communism is still with us. Its central themes have never been extinguished. Its salespeople are still out on the street. The seductive lies of dead ideologues have never lost their power to persuade. They have changed a little, adapted to new cultures, new eras, and new technologies — but in the end, the Devil's siren song still rhymes.
One hardly knows where to begin. Let's start with the political usefulness of the common criminals — people Solzhenitsyn summarizes as "thieves." In Soviet prisons and labor camps, the truly antisocial elements were made the jailers of the rest. They could torture, rape, and sometimes kill their fellow prisoners with near impunity. "Thieves" were officially designated as a victim group, a people wronged by capitalist oppression. They were not to blame for their own actions. They were, in the terminology of communism, "socially friendly elements."
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
My older brother went to a Liberal college in the 70s. He is still Leftwing. A professor assigned “Gulag archipelago” in one class. I think the basic idea — 40+ years ago — was that “We want to be Leftwing, but here is what we DON’T want to do.”
Today, I suspect the attitude is a little more: “Gulag Archipelago? You know, there are a lot of good ideas in that book.”
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich is much shorter. It was taught in my high school.
^
700+ pages is just the first of three volumes.
ML/NJ
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