Secret Story: The Gulag Archipelago
Social Interest
Research revealed that the manuscript was such an accurate report, engaging readers so strongly with its content that they were unable to distinguish between their own traumatic experiences and the incidents in the book. Secret Story: The Gulag Archipelago emphasizes the importance of collective struggle which led to the commendation of Soviet Communism. It shows that literary works can function as a powerful tool for the indictment of a political regime.
Historic Relevance
The Gulag Archipelago is considered one of the most revealing documents, containing primary source material, which have disclosed the horrors of the Russian prison camps. GULag, is an acronym for the Russian term ‘Gulag’, Glavnoye Upravleniye ispravitelno-trudovyh Lagerey, Russian for ‘Chief Administration of Corrective Labor Camps’ In these corrective labor camps prisoners were forced to work under extreme conditions that eventually killed millions of captives.
Political Relevance
This three volume literary work of Alexander Solhenitsyn still serves as an authoritative condemnation of the Communist system in Russia. It shows a continuation of systematical and arbitrary correctional measures used by this one-party regime. In Western Europe the book forced a rethinking of Leninism and Communism in general, discrediting Western communist parties.
Scenes
- The beginning of an idea
- The experiences of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn compelled him to write the novel One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. This book describes a single day of a prisoner in a Soviet labor camp. The terror and discrimination that haunted the USSR and that culminated in the gulag system created numerous victims among the Russian people. Solzhenitsyn decided to change the perspective within his writing to give a voice to those who suffered and perished in the labor camps. This idea eventually became the basis of The Gulag Archipelago.
- De-Stalinization and witness correpsondence
- After Stalin’s death in 1953 a process of de-Stalinization took place. This mild modernization included the release of prisoners from the gulag camps. Nikita Khrushchev publically denounced the dictatorial rule and cult of personality of Stalin. Within Khrushchev’s reign Solzhenitsyn was able to publish his book on Ivan Denisovich, and started to receive letters from witnesses who experienced gulag cruelty. The images and stories of these victims formed the foundations of “The Gulag Archipelago”.
- The Invisibles
- When Khrushchev was ousted in 1964 the post-Stalinist period of limited freedom came to an end. His successor Leonid Brezhnev began reversing the process and the KGB, led by Yuri Andropov, increased the suppression of dissidents. Solzhenitsyn began conducting his work in secrecy with the help of a group of “invisible” helpers that conspired to complete “The Gulag Archipelago”. In 1995 paid tribute to his co-conspirators who helped preserve the past by publishing Invisible Allies.
- Concealment in Estonia
- Solzhenitsyn decided to go into hiding in order to finish his book after the arrest of two fellow writers. The iron-fist policy of Brezhnev took its toll. He travelled to Estonia where Arnold Susi and his daughter Heli assisted him concealing the chapters of the book in the Estonian woods. For three winters the writer stayed in hiding.
- The Complete Volume Microfilmed
- The three sections of “The Gulag Archipelago” were typed out in the Moscow region in 1968 and the finished volume was completely microfilmed by Valeri Kourdioumov for safekeeping.
- To the West
- The microfilm was given to Sacha Andreev who worked for UNESCO in Paris. He attended an international conference in Moscow and Solzhenitsyn asked him to smuggle the microfilm to France. In the West it would be safe and Solzhenitsyn’s allies awaited his signal to publish “The Gulag Archipelago”. The writer was afraid that an hasty publication would endanger his other activities within the Soviet Union.
- Nobel Prize Lecture
- In 1970 Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for his book “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich”. He was afraid that if he left Russia he would be unable to come back because of the increased security against his person. He gave his acceptance speech to Stig Fredrikson who smuggled this Nobel Prize Lecture to Estonia and sent it to a publisher in Switzerland. This lecture was homage to the victims of the gulag camp system.
- Exposed and Published
- The “invisible” ally Elizabeth Voronyanskaya had kept a paper copy “The Gulag Archipelago”. When the KGB arrested her it was this copy that triggered the premature publication of the book. Elizabeth was found hanging in her apartment. After this horrible incident a press release was issued and the book was translated in Zurich. The Russian edition was published in Paris on 28 December 1973 by Claude Durand. The publication became headline news all over the world.
- Solzhenitsyn Arrested and Expelled
- On February 13, 1974 Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was arrested and expelled from Russia.
- Powerful Translations
- The translations of “The Gulag Archipelago” made a difference in a changing world. The book attacked to Soviet regime though eye-witness accounts and gave a glimpse of the reign behind the iron curtain. Many people gave their life and their freedom to make the horrors of the gulag prison camps known all over the world, such as the Lithuanian Balis Gayauskas.
Likes: 0
Viewed: 10