Yes, your comment about Solzhenitsyn being "the conscience of the 20th century" is quite apt. I would add to that, as you have pointed out, he was also one of the great prophets. Many of the things he pointed out in his 1978 speech loom ever larger today, just as he predicted.
I am reminded of the phrase, "one does not make history, one merely survives it".
I just finished reading Philip Howard's 1994 book, The Death of Common Sense, and much of what Solzhenitsyn said about humanism/rationalism and the legal structures of our society are amazingly profound when cast in the light of more recent events.
You know, for hairy-backed, knuckle-dragging gun-loving neaderthals, we sure do some interesting reading, dontcha think? $;-)
Yeah - for a bunch of right-wing extremists, we do manage to put two and two together on occasion.
I thank that for all the brutality and horror that we're likely to face in the future, we're fortunate to be here in this place and at this time. This one's going to be for all the marbles