A book that can change you: The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

in #literature6 years ago (edited)

It's been a while since I read a book that changed me. My first (can you ever forget your first?) was White Fang by Jack London. I read that as a very young child. The anthropomorphised wolf-dog kindled within me excessive feelings of empathy for creatures. To this book, I endow partial blame for my 17 years of vegetarianism. Another was Michael Shermer's Why People Believe Weird Things which helped me shake my shame of being atheistic. Also, If This is a Man by Primo Levi which was my first ever glimpse into the horrors of concentration camps during WWII.

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I've read a lot of books since but this one has to be mentioned. The Gulag Archipelago is one of the most incredible books I've ever read. By this, I don't mean the author had a really good grasp of the grammar or worked in a few great plot twists. No. This is non-fiction and his mastery of language goes without saying; he won the Nobel Prize in Literature. I say this because I've never felt so close to the truth of humanity and inhumanity. This is probably the most honest thing I've ever read.

We know when we're being spun a story and we know when we're gazing into the abyss. This book was the latter. Solzhenitsyn witnessed and experienced suffering beyond our wildest nightmares. I'd say he's also experienced a transcendence beyond that of any martyr. And he's pissed off. He was sent to the Gulags for the crime of writing a letter to a friend who was critical of Joseph Stalin. After his imprisonment, Solzhenitsyn was later exiled from his country.

Years of captivity and denial of his very humanity stripped away all to the point where he had nothing left but bare existence. First were his possessions, family, friends, community, career, freedom. Then came the trust of others. Next to go was the ego. Finally, meaning. Taken back to the bare bones of survival, there was no more pretence, just naked being and the burning need to share the stories of those who had suffered or perished alongside him.

This work is more than mere remembrance; it begs us to be aware, to notice, to learn. I felt a great foreboding whilst reading this, one that shakes me to my core. Already the seeds of ideology are taking root and I'm scared. Anyway...

Solzhenitsyn originally composed this magnificent work in verse, during captivity, in his head, to enable him to memorise it all! Can you imagine memorising hundreds and hundreds of pages of prose? I can barely remember a short shopping list. So important was it, to him, to recount what had actually happened, to challenge the propaganda, that he bent his mind to this epic feat and I feel it is only just that we honour him for doing so.

The history of the Gulags and the dangers of rampant and unfettered ideology serve as a warning to future generations. We are, as humans, capable of the most extreme depravity. No more so was this realised than in the Gulag.

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Joseph Stalin

But, before anybody experiences the Gulag, there is the fear. Citizens in Stalin's Russia were in fear of offending the Dear Leader, whilst obliged to voice their love and adoration of Him. They were in fear of their own thoughts and afraid to voice them in front of even their closest family members and friends. Everybody was listening and everybody was afraid. Even rolling one's eyes at the wrong moment could land one in trouble.

So, what crimes could have you sent to the Gulag?

There were numerous examples but the ones that stood out for me were the peasants following the grain truck as it left the fields. These poor starving people would scrabble around in the dirt tracks left behind by the vehicles that transported their harvest for the communal good, and gather stray grains that had fallen from the lorries which would otherwise have rotted where they fell. Gathering these grains for personal use was considered theft, a crime against the state, and resulted in a stretch of time in the Gulag. Maybe five or ten or twenty-five years, depending on what else they could pin on you.

There was another unfortunate man, a craftsman, who'd made the mistake of hanging his jacket on a statuette (of Stalin) while he finished off some woodwork. Others committed the crime of worshipping a god or were caught giving a sideways cynical glance in response to sycophancy.

The officials could raid your home at any time, turning everything upside down in their efforts to find something to use against you. One family, recently bereaved of their beloved child, watched on, silent and impotent, as officials upturned the child's open coffin, dumping the small corpse onto the floor to search for incriminating evidence in the shroud. These same officials would then, like vultures, pocket whatever they wanted for themselves.

If you were picked up for questioning, you were soon to sign a confession. And sign it you would! But that wasn't the worst part. After admitting your guilt you were ordered to provide names of co-conspirators. Your interrogators were relentless. Often, the poor victim would be tortured until he had, in extreme agony, gasped out the names of friends, co-workers, family. Anything to put an end to the pain.

What would you say if someone were slowly crushing your testicles beneath their jackboot until they popped, or beating you senseless with a baton. Their methods were surgical. They knew that to beat a prisoner's undernourished skinny buttocks would excite the sciatic nerve causing the victim to experience excruciating pain, every nerve fired so that it felt as though one's very brain was exploding.

What of the long journeys, crammed into railway cars, food and drink withheld because, well, you'd only need to piss or shit if you were given any? And if you did need to go it would be under the resentful gaze of an official, hurrying you because there were plenty others crying to relieve themselves. How you longed to be at your destination only to find it to be even more hellish than the journey.

What about the standing torture where you'd be placed in a space so narrow one could not sit down? The only respite would be to rest one's knees against the wall to ease your screaming feet. But even then you could not close your eyes. Sleep was denied. And the lightbulb burned bright, 24 hours, day after day. Many days would be spent in these cold, damp standing places with round-the-clock watch, with beatings thrown in for good measure.

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Women were toys for those officials. New inmates would be paraded, naked, under the watchful and lascivious gaze of officials who would decide amongst themselves which 'lucky' girl would be given the opportunity to share his bed. It would, after all, be better and more comfortable than the cells. And what of those women who were openly and publicly raped in full view of other prisoners? Sport, entertainment. Officials made no attempts to hide their activities. How desperate would a woman have to be to swap her meagre bread ration for hair dye in a last ditch attempt to hide her advancing age and remain relevant or useful in some pitiful way?

What of the crowded cells in which it was impossible to fully lie down, huddled on the bare floor with strangers half on top of you. How could one sleep when devoured by bedbugs, covered in blistering sores caused by these cramped and unhygienic conditions? Who could ever imagine what it would be like to realise the person lying next to them had just died by witnessing astonished head lice frantically scampering across his face?

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And the starvation? Tiny rations of bread and watery gruel coupled with backbreaking 15-hour work days, descending with ravenous hunger on the corpse of a fallen horse. What can a body endure, let alone the mind?

What of those worked to death, in the frozen forests? Strong young men in their prime, huddled back to back in their hypothermic death throes. Proud men, doing their best.

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What did this do to decent people? Those millions who fell prey to the system? Did they remain strong in their humanity? Could you imagine a pack of teenaged prisoners knocking over an old man and stealing his meagre ration? Can you imagine their response when he pleas to them for mercy. What do they say? 'Why moan? You'll be dead soon anyway.' Then they eat his ration. You die today. I die tomorrow. Might is right.

But it's not all misery. There is triumph of the human spirit. Enough is enough. Rebellion. Escape attempts. When they are so broken and crushed that all they have left is indignation and the right to die on their own terms.

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Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. Image Source

This happened within the last hundred years. That's not so long ago – our grandparents' or great-grandparents' generation. We're still the same stock and species. Could you commit these atrocities? Not I, you may say. But why not you? What makes you so different? The answer, if we're to learn anything from history, is 'nothing'.

Thanks for reading.

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This is inspiring beyond words. The first thing i did when i finished this post was to kiss my loved one, reminded of the horrors that humanity can inflict upon itself and that we are not that removed from such acts.

I must read this book, thank you for sharing.

Thanks @colinhoward

Yes, it's good to remember to cherish our loved ones while we can <3

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The communist international revolution is but an extension of that first revolt of the ignorant against their legitimate rulers: the Revolution of 1792 arose the Channel. All the terror tactics of the Russian communists are but derivatives of the Reign of Terror and their ludicrous "Declaration of Rights of Man and of the Citizen," which virtually negates all their wish lists when the interest of the state is in conflict with that of the individual. 1792 France was the birth place and date of such concepts as "thought crime," "counter-revolutionary," "mass levy," "religion is superstition," "tradition is irrelevant," etc. These are the arrogant who redefined measure (metric system), time (10 day week), and established customs (traveling on the right side of the road).

During the Terror, a man could be killed for cheering too loudly, cheering too softly, attending too many functions/gatherings, attending too little factions/gatherings, speaking negatively about the glorious revolution, speaking too positively about the glorious revolution, and so on. That merciful invention of execution - the Guillotine - failed to lop-off the heads of the sacrifices of the Revolution by mid-day because the blade became too dull, due to the sheer number of men killed.

The French repeated their orgy of blood in 1871 Paris commune revolt, which was the inspiration for that most evil of all men - Karl Marx - to write his poison to corrupt generations of men into participating in his hatred for humanity and creation. When recalling the Russian civilization's dissolution into madness of communism, we should also remember that the birth place of the insanity is just across the Channel, where the ignorant continue to unthinkingly sing La Marseillaise.

Thanks for your brilliant, informative comment, Soo!

I remember reading a bit about the French Revolution some years back, but not enough. OMG: the dull guillotine blade! Can you recommend any good books?

Ah, Karl Marx. When I was a teenager, I got involved with the Militant Tendency for a couple of years. My eldest son is called 'Karl' because of my brainwashing. Get them while they're young, enthusiastic and angry! Anyway...

I definitely need to read more on the French Revolution.

cheers

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Hilaire Belloc's French Revolution would be a good read.

One of the main reasons for the young leaning towards communism may be because intelligence does not equal wisdom. Young, intelligent people tend to believe that their external reality can be easily changed and all problems have easy solutions. Once these ambitious, eager youths encounter reality and recognize that their idealism, intellect, and hubris have little impact on the world's problems that has plagued humanity since the dawn of consciousness, then they can "evolve" into mature, wise men who recognize and accept their limitations and their proper place within the universe. The few petulant youths who continue to reject the hard lessons life (or God) attempts to teach, become social reformers, producing such travesty as the recent BBC 1 show Troy: Fall of a City prominently featuring a black Achilles, which in effect pisses on Homer, the ancient Hellenes, entire classics departments in universities throughout this world, as well as sensibilities of any thinking, rational human being.

Thanks for the book recommendation. And bonus -- it's free online in The Guttenberg Project.

Yes, encountering reality tends to smash that youthful dream of being in a position to change things. This quote supports it:

Not to be a republican at 20 is proof of want of heart; to be one at 30 is proof of want of head. ~ François Guizot

Churchill said something similar too.

I haven't seen that BBC show but past experience has taught me to avoid their dramas :P. They are quite liberal with the facts and with original author intentions, bending material to suit their agenda.

God? That's a big topic. I've yet to find one that teaches anyone anything. Apparently, he's written a few books with various pen names, jiggling the plots, names, places a bit :D

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The Western conception of God is the god with personhood. Most of humanity and history perceived god or gods as impersonal force of the universe, given a conceptual image. In my experience, many in the West conceptualize God, and their relationship with God, as idealization, magnification, and myth of their childhood experiences with their parents. It is difficult to engage in conversation regarding a personal god because the experiences of human interactions seem to always cloud such discussion.

We tried to help another family regarding their finances, but was met with extreme hostility. Apparently, earning money using financial investment vehicles is "dishonest." The ingrained childhood experience regarding their perception of the world prevented this couple from understanding the reality of the world. And so with God and religion. It is quite true what the Christian God says, when he declared that He will hide truth from men, in order that "they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven."

In the modern world, most so-called Christians I've encountered either perceive God as Santa Claus or an accountant, divorced from sociocultural history that is Europe. Their personal God is reduced to some imaginary rabbit's foot to be called upon when they want something from life. For few others, God is mere intellectual exercise to "debate" with others; though, if God can be reduced to mere logic exercise, He would be quite unimpressive as a god.

That's interesting. Lol, yes, God is Sky Daddy, rabbit foot or Santa. I once asked God to function as a pimple remedy before a first date (it didn't work). Seems a bit silly to me and I can never understand why adults subscribe to it. It's all so obviously contrived.

Wow, that family sound pretty ungrateful. Yes, they let their so-called morals get in the way of a leg-up out of their misery. That reminds me of the joke...

There's a massive flood. A religious guy is standing on the roof of his house, already the water is lapping at his heels. The water keeps rising. He prays to God for help. Soon, a boat chugs towards him. The crew throw him a lifebelt but he says, 'No thanks. I've prayed to God. He'll rescue me.' The boat chugs away. Soon, the water is up to his chest. Then comes a helicopter. The crew throw down the rope ladder but he says, 'No thanks. I've prayed to God. He'll rescue me.' All the time the water is rising. He drowns. When he gets to heaven he asks God why He didn't rescue him. God says, 'I sent you a boat and a helicopter; what more do you want?' :P

I think it's true that humans will always have difficulty understanding; there's so much we don't know about the universe. It's a big mystery for the most part.

God as a logic exercise: yes, it's difficult to translate ideas of what is a god into language or communicate it successfully to others, hence the embarrassing attempts we've seen so far. The same can be said for 'spirituality' or 'the soul' or anything else beyond our limited brain power. If it can't be described or understood or it doesn't shape our reality, it's as good as nothing. Maybe god is nothing, whatever 'nothing' is. It's impossible to know that too.

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Awesome review! I will let my friends to read your review (he'd been creating meme about gulag this, gulag that), he's a funny guy that could find a lot of jokes about capitalism, communism, soviet, and so on...

By the way, have you read books by Pramoedya Ananta Toer? He was writing his famous tetralogy, in a miserable prison where he would use anything to write, because he's not allowed to write...

Some even say that he was creating story of the whole 4 books, orally...

Thanks @gibic

Wow, he sounds like an interesting author. I've got it in my search engine, ready to go. Thank you for the recommendation :D

cheers

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yay! you got a curie!! im so happy for you anj :)

Thanks Eagle. I couldn't believe it when I saw the numbers just now. Had to check myself for eye-bogies! Yay! XD

<3

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yeah awesome! i think E and Mav had something to do with it, they were chatting about it in Crypto. Yay again!

Oh? I had a look in Crypto and didn't see anything about it.

But thanks, yay :D
xx

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yeah it was that morning, but no big deal. it was still so very nice of you and i am truly happy for you too! big hugs :)

Fantastic review. Really well done. I remember reading the book in college and even after all these years I can't say I've managed to forget much of it.

Thanks Deirdy :D

Yes, it's unforgettable stuff. Awesome.

cheers

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I loved this book. I teach Senior English and parents always say 'I want my boy to read more fiction but he only likes history.. so I recommend this and A Day in The Life of Ivan. I. ... they LOVE it.

Thanks @riverflows

Awesome! Thanks, that other book is on my to-do list now :D

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Nicely done review, only if we will learn something from that.
We are nowhere to far from that. Things like those are happening today all over the world. To men, womens, children all together. I bet the author of this book intended something else than change your life.
I went in some dark corners of the internet in my curious days and all I want today, is to forget every piece of what I know and how fucking shitty this species I am part of, it is.
I know for a fact, there are some people reading this book and fantasize about being those officials. And that's what make me sick.

Thanks... I've been to those dark places online too. Some things just can't be unseen, eh. And I agree... there are people that would really enjoy those official 'perks' and some that are doing that in this very day and age. Horrible stuff.

Thanks for your comments :)

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I didn't read the book but I think I will add it to my list, so maybe this is already answered but... Is the book the prose that he memorized? Or is that contained somewhere else?

Sorry, I wasn't too clear in there. He memorised it in verse to make it easy to remember, then translated that into prose. The book is prose (not verse). And it's awesome. I hope everyone reads it, if anything to make sure this type of thing doesn't take root again.

cheers

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Awesome review! We visited auchwitz recently and it was so sad. I had no idea about how extreme the crimes were! I think ill add this book onto my long list of books to read.

I am reading hitlers book mein kampf at the moment it is truly fascinating it gives an insight into how he thinks

Thanks Conradt. I remember reading your piece on Auschwitz. Incredible stuff!

I've never read Mein Kampf. I'll wait to read your review :D

Thanks for reading and commenting :)

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Yeah it was a sad place - and now i have become interested in knowing more about it - my knowledge of history is very poor!

Haha - yeah I should probably put some reviews on here!

Always a pleasure to read your work @anjkara

Yes, I hated history when I was younger but I can't get enough of it now.

Reviews: Deffo you should. It's good to get tips on what books are worth bothering with :D
cheers

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Yeah me to. I wish I could go back and tell myself to learn history lol!

I stopped reading it - it was poorly written and I didnt understand alot of the political jargon!

Same here :P

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I had heard the word Gulag, but I had never actually read about it in detail, and it sounds terrifying! Even more terrifying than Venezuelan prisons, which I thought were the most terrifying thing beyond Guantanamo and other torture centres.

It seems like that book would be worth a read. I'll try to find a .mobi version somewhere. Thank you for the review!

Oh, I've not read anything about the Venezuelan prisons. Have you done a blog on them yet? I'd be interested to read about that.

Thanks for reading and commenting and good luck in your search for the .mobi :)

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WOOOO, NICE CURIE! <3! :D <3 :D <3

Congratulations. :3

OMG! I thought my eyes were glitching when I saw that.
Fkn yay! XD

Thanks <3

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I haven't, and I may sometime, but right now I don't have enough information about them to make a post. And thanks :3 It's on my to-do list but I'm doing so much stuff!

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