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Forward to The Gulag Archipelago (People not accepting truth (Many called…
Forward to The Gulag Archipelago
Effects of
The Gulag Archipelago
The whole world was briefly rocked on its side. All the facts that people thought they knew about the gulag and the Soviet Union were falsified, and a new wave of horrendous thoughts rolled in.
"In France, it is no exaggeration to say that the book effectively ended the long-standing French intellectual flirtation with Soviet communism" - This is huge. His book allowed for the people of another country to see the wrongs of communism and socialism, and taught them to not follow in the footsteps of Russia.
"its horrific portrait of Soviet terror certainly contributed to the development ... of an American foreign policy which recognized 'human rights' as a legitimate element of international debate" (4).
This is another huge deal. His book gave way to one of the most important talking points in today's society in America.
Initial response to
The Gulag Archipelago
Many were astounded when they learned the whole story of the Soviet gulag, especially people in the West
Why didn't the people in the West accept the reports that came in earlier about what happened? Why did they doubt them?
Why did the Russian people have to hide the fact that they were reading
The Gulag Archipelago
?
They had to hide their behavior because the Soviet government did not want them to read the book, and, if caught, they would most likely be sent to a concentration camp.
The destruction of lies by truth
"Instead of speaking vaguely abut 'repressions,' as some other books did at the time, [Solzhenitsyn] was blunt and specific" (1).
Why did no one talk out like this before? Was it because they didn't want to face any repercussions?
"No one, however, had attempted to put it all together, to tell, in effect, an alternative history of the Soviet Union" (2)
The writer says "alternate history" here because, before this book, the history proposed by the government was that the camps were nice, prisoners were not mistreated, and that Socialism was the greatest form of government
People not accepting truth
Many called Solzhenitsyn's first book too "bleak, too 'amoral.'" People constantly said that he had surrendered to the Germans, that he had been convicted of criminal charges. Why would people try and discredit his work when they know it's true?
They would want to discredit his work because, as said in The Four Quartets, people do not want to face reality. There were also government officials who said that it was inaccurate because they wanted to keep Socialism prosperous.
Why did the Nobel Committee fail to read a section of his speech? Was it again because they didn't want to look at and acknowledge the harsh realities of what it meant?
I have a feeling that this was again because they did not want to face up to the realities that have been spread before them.
"Thus
The Gulag Archipelago
is a history, but it is also an interpretation of history, and one which many at first found shocking"
Many from the West did not know the atrocities that were occurring in the gulag
Doing what is right
Why did he risk his life by continuing to publish, even when the KGB was watching him?
Why did he show up to lectures if there was a possibility that the KGB could take him?\
Was it because he didn't realize they were there? Or because he wanted to get the story of the people known to the world?
Tyranny
Because his first book and his Nobel Prize acceptance speech called out the Soviet government for what it truly was, the government was quick to disown him, saying that he was "the darling of 'reactionary circles in the West'" (2)
The governments' invalidation of Solzhenitsyn's claims truly shows how they were still unjustly ruling the people, and how they still wanted to keep the persona to the outside world that Socialism was perfect
"authorities decided they could no longer tolerate Solzhenitsyn's presence at all. As a result of its publication ... Solzhenitsyn was expelled from the country"
Why could they not handle his presence? It was because he undermined the facts that they had been giving the world for decades, and did so in a way that they could not be built back up