The Gulag Archipelago, published in 1971, is a massive and exhaustively detailed work, published in two enormous volumes. In it, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn tracks the development and nature of the gulag system, and of Soviet state terror in general, from its origins under Lenin to the horror of Stalin's reign and beyond.
The Author meticulously details the experiences of typical prisoners, and presents many exceptional cases, including his own journey from World War II hero to slave prisoner. Solzhenitsyn makes the assertion that in the 1950s, half of the citizens of the Soviet Union had been somehow involved in the gulag system, either as prisoners or employees.
The Origins of the Name
The name Gulag Archipelago was meant to communicate the idea that the barren reaches of Siberia, and metaphorically the Soviet State, had become nothing more than a chain of forced labour prisons, like an archipelago in the middle of the ocean.
The victims of the gulag system were political prisoners only - Russia had a separate system to deal with criminals. Of course most of the gulag's victims weren't even political. The state terror networks gulaged people for any reason - owning certain writings, looking at someone the wrong way, being related to other gulaged people, being friends with them, or for no reason at all.
Outline of the Book
First Solzhenitsyn takes the reader through a typical arrest and interrogation, detailing how the agents always came in the dead of the night for maximum surprise and terror - and yet it was never a surprise, since everyone's neighbours, friends, and family were all being visited at night in the same way every night.
The detainees were denied sleep, clothes and food for days on end. They were subjected to torture to extract confessions. As an example of the extent to which the terror network was part and parcel of the Soviet state, scientists had actually been put to work designing a system that would prevent detainees from sleeping. One apparatus they came up with was a device that measured movement. If someone didn't move within a given period, they would be dumped into a vat of cold water.
After conviction people were sent to a gulag. The worst were the ones farthest North. In all, however, the prisoners did back breaking and dangerous labour in the swamps and mines of Siberia with little food, little clothing, and often no shelter. This in a region where winter temperatures hover around -60 degrees.
Escaping the Gulags
One of the most fascinating sections of the second volume deals with the escapes, of which there were many. Despite being so broken down, some of the prisoners carried out amazing feats of daring and survival. Often getting away would mean dodging bullets, overpowering armed guards, fighting attack dogs and living off the land with their bare hands for months or years.
Overall Impressions of ‘The Gulag Archipelago’
The Gulag Archipelago should not be taken as just a condemnation of the communist system, but of any system where power is entrenched in too few hands and propaganda systems are effective in stamping out dissent and information.
Source:
Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr. The Gulag Archipelago Harpercollins, 1971. ISBN: 0061253715
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