The Conscience of Russia

Let your creed be 'Let the lie come into the world, let it even triumph, but not through me.' "
-Alexander Solzhenitsyn

Alexander Solzhenitsyn, author of The Gulag Archipelago and Cancer Ward- both scathing novels dictating the evil of communism- passed away this past Sunday (please read here). Described as the "conscience of Russia", Solzhenitsyn merely wanted to be a voice heard rather than The Voice. The Soviet Union, with the help of people like Walter Duranty and weak-willed Western politicians, could not recover from Solzhenitsyn's Gulag. Having failed to get rid of all the witnesses, all the Soviets could do was exile Solzhenitsyn, which they did in 1974. Praise and pardon for Solzhenitsyn came from Gorbachev and Putin but such hollow gestures merely expose the Russian tendency to deflect blame, something that puts Russia behind other nations politically and spiritually. In the end, younger Russians, who would have benefited from Solzhenitsyn's works, cast him aside. Maybe his death might restore the interest in him and let the Lie be exposed once more.