Solzhenitsyn wrote that “Pride spreads on a man as easily as pride on a pig.” That is, spontaneously. , Solzhenitsyn in his longhard life, and from observing the lives of thousands of others, had firmly understood that the line separating good and evil “passes through the soul of every man.” It can never be determined in nations, societies, parties or sects.
Legacy of the Gulag Archipelago – 4
Solzhenitsyn has not shown himself to be a god by telling the truth to Russian citizens. He notes that before his arrest, when Captain Solzhenitsyn returned from fighting in World War II, and was taken prisoner as soon as he arrived (he remarked in a private letter to a friend that ‘In our country everything What is the point of adding ‘greatness of the party’! It was his crime for which he was arrested and spent twelve years in torture camps. In fact, many people were released after Stalin’s death. Solzhenitsyn also got away. That is, by chance.) But Solzhenitsyn writes that before he was arrested, he also considered himself superior, and at times he had behaved inappropriately towards his subordinates in the army.
And who knows, if he had continued to progress smoothly in his career as a military officer, then who knows what he would have done in his arrogance! He has written that “Pride easily spreads on a man in the same way as fat spreads on a pig.” That is, spontaneously. So, under the circumstances of the Soviet system, where denuclearization was a fundamental element, it is impossible to say who would have done or not done what in the future. After his arrest, Solzhenitsyn soon developed a tendency towards constant introspection, repentance and self-improvement, which is also reflected in the various accounts he wrote.
Solzhenitsyn has recorded one such decisive incident in ‘Gulag…’. With them was a Jewish prisoner, Boris Gummerov. Once it was reported that American President Roosevelt prayed somewhere. Solzhenitsyn commented dismissively, “Oh, this is just hypocrisy.” Hearing this, the weak Gummerov said, trembling with emotion, “Can no politician really be a believer in God?” Then Solzhenitsyn was shocked, and he realized that he had unconsciously accepted such a thing in Soviet teaching and life when he said such a thing not thoughtfully, but carelessly. From then on he began to pay special attention to which conclusions were sensible, and which were fabricated.
There is only one chapter on this subject in his book. “Upliftment” is the first chapter of the fourth part of the second volume, ‘Spirit and Barbed Wire’. In which, in misfortune and captivity, they inspire themselves for more and more serious and subtle thinking and contemplation. He noted that even in such horrific concentration camps, very few prisoners commit suicide. After all, there is something that is alive inside them and inspires them. Is there anything in humans that is different from mere survival or the pursuit of happiness?
Solzhenitsyn has written, “A difficult life clears a man’s vision, gives him wisdom”. But is that wisdom? Is survival at any cost the most important thing, even at the cost of others? At the juncture of this question, two different paths are formed. “One way will go up, the other down. In one you will lose your life, in the other your conscience.” At this point, people’s souls get divided. Most take the path that saves lives. But even in the torture camps, Solzhenitsyn found many prisoners who refused to take any facilities at the cost of conscience. He has also recorded the true story of some such characters in full detail. Like Anna Skripnikova.
Whereas Soviet education and morality taught people the common lesson that the interests and orders of the Communist Party are the first moral standards for citizens. The inevitable result of which was that at the individual level, only the work which is in one’s own interest is right. That is, there is no moral value independent of all of us, above the party and the country. Such people can be ready to do anything unreasonable who have accepted this miserable dogma that people’s life is meant only for happiness.
When Solzhenitsyn was expelled from the Soviet Union after the publication of ‘Gulag…’, Western intellectuals were enraged by his harsh criticism of hedonism in his statements. He hoped that Solzhenitsyn would praise the free life of people in Europe and America. But Solzhenitsyn considered humanity as one and considered it immoral to care only about one’s own happiness and progress, regardless of the condition of other people and countries, and only for national interest and nationalism. Also, such a country cannot be completely confident as long as there is oppression, tyranny, and inhumanity in other countries. In his view, justice and conscience cannot be divided across national boundaries. He is unbroken. On these matters, Western intellectuals called Solzhenitsyn a religious fanatic.
But Solzhenitsyn clearly understood from his own long, difficult life, and from observing the lives of thousands of others, that the line separating good and evil “runs through the soul of every man.” It can never be determined in nations, societies, parties or sects. Therefore, it is not the result of any work, but how, for what feeling and value someone does it – this determines the real meaning of that work. Then you can see your own weaknesses, and the weaknesses of others too. That is, then your character improves. “Your soul, which was dry earlier, now becomes mature after suffering. You examine your life and find out how many bad and shameful things you have done.”
Solzhenitsyn recalls that many times, while doing bad things, he was convinced that he was doing the right thing. Many times when they thought themselves completely blameless, they were actually mistaken. When they thought there was no God, God was with them! As Solzhenitsyn has written somewhere, “O Jagdishwar! I believe in you again. I rejected you, but you stayed with me.”
Solzhenitsyn ultimately found that, “The meaning of life does not lie in material progress, as we have become accustomed to believe, but in the rise of our soul.” He could not have found this truth without suffering terribly, for this he thanked the jail for coming into his life.
Therefore, it is somewhat strange that one does not feel dejected and disappointed after reading this book, which is full of descriptions of the oppression, endless tortures, atrocities, and pain of thousands and millions of people during the era of Soviet communism. On the contrary, ultimately a hopeful feeling arises in the mind of a sympathetic reader. Because when read from cover to cover, the message of ‘Gulag Archipelago’ is that even amidst the worst evils, a human being can recognize and choose goodness. This is a valuable legacy of this great book.