“It gets on the nerves of decades, and is confiscated in one night” – Weekend
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55 years ago, in June 1968, Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s manuscript of The Gulag Archipelago, a chronicle of Soviet repression from 1918 to 1956 based on the stories of prisoners and the author’s own experience of eight years in the camps, was shipped to the West. In December 1973, the first volume of a monumental work on the lack of rights of Soviet citizens and the methods of Soviet authorities was published in Paris. In January 1974, they began to read it on Radio Liberty (included in the register of foreign agents). In February 1974 Alexander Solzhenitsyn was arrested and deported abroad. We re-read his books, speeches and interviews and compiled a brief guide to survival before and after the arrest.
1
Don’t chase after the illusory – after property, after titles: it gains nerves for decades, and is confiscated in one night.
“The Gulag Archipelago”
2
When I was in the camp, I even wrote on masonry. I wrote on a piece of paper with a pencil, then I will remember the content and destroy the piece of paper.
Interview Der Spiegel
3
I have always had optimism. Like the beliefs that pushed me. Of course they have evolved over the years. But I have always been convinced of what I did, and never went against my conscience.
Interview Der Spiegel
4
A person who is not internally prepared for violence is always weaker than the rapist.
“The Gulag Archipelago”
5
In other countries mass exits turn the course of their history. In the meantime, they are not capable, then here is the rule: act where you live, where you work!
“Russia in collapse”
6
In the camp, that’s who dies: who licks the bowls, who hopes for the medical unit, and who goes to the godfather to knock.
“One day of Ivan Denisovich”
7
The hardest life is not at all for those who drown in the sea, dig in the ground or look for water in the deserts. The hardest life for someone who every day, leaving the house, beats his head against the lintel – is too low.
“Cancer Ward”
8
This is a terrible indifference when a person sees his life not punctured, not with a broken corner, but so hopelessly fragmented, so up and down filthy, that only for the sake of alcoholic oblivion is it still worth living.
“In the first circle”
9
No “they” are to blame for everything – we ourselves, only we!
“Live not by lies!”
10
We are not called upon, we are not mature enough to go to the squares and thunder the truth, to say out loud what we think – no need, it’s scary. But at least we refuse to say what we do not think!
“Live not by lies!”
eleven
And in those massively corrupted eras, when the question arises: “for whom to try? and for whom do you offer sacrifices? – you can confidently answer: for justice. It is not at all relative, like conscience.
“Response to three students”
12
Still, it’s time to remember that the first to whom we belong is humanity. And mankind separated from the animal world – by thought and speech. And of course they should be free. And if we shackle them, we return to the animals.
“Open Letter to the Secretariat of the Writers’ Union”
13
Sentenced to imprisonment, I will not obey the sentence except in handcuffs.
“In case of arrest”
14
In order to do evil, a person must first realize it as good or as a meaningful, lawful action. Such, fortunately, is the nature of man that he must look for justification for his actions.
“The Gulag Archipelago”
15
Macbeth’s excuses were weak, and his conscience gnawed at him. And Iago is a lamb. A dozen corpses cut off the fantasy and mental strength of Shakespeare’s villains. Because they had no ideology. Ideology! – it is she who provides the desired justification for villainy and the necessary long firmness to the villain.
“The Gulag Archipelago”
16
Our way: do not consciously support lies in anything! Realizing where the border of lies is (for everyone it is still visible in different ways), — step back from this gangrenous border! Do not glue the dead bones and scales of Ideology, do not sew together rotten rags – and we will be amazed at how quickly and helplessly the lie will fall, and what should be naked will appear naked to the world.
“Live not by lies!”
17
How much more ineradicable rudeness in our population! And how to lead him with this burden into a new society!
“Cancer Ward”
18
In a daytime arrest, there is bound to be that brief, unique moment when you are being led through a crowd of hundreds of equally innocent and doomed people. And your mouth is not shut. And you can and certainly should have screamed! Screaming that you are under arrest! that they seize on false denunciations! that there is a deaf massacre of millions! And, hearing such cries many times a day and in all parts of the city, perhaps our fellow citizens would bristle? Maybe arrests wouldn’t be so easy?!
“The Gulag Archipelago”
19
Now, with a late mind, you understood: life is such that every time you parted, you had to persuade and clearly remember: what did we talk about today? Then, during any interrogations, your testimony will converge. But you didn’t agree. You still have no idea what kind of jungle it is.
“The Gulag Archipelago”
20
Here, guys, the law is the taiga. But people live here too.
“One day of Ivan Denisovich”
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