Discussing "The Gulag Archipelago Vol. I" Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
In this episode of Canonball we discuss Volume I of "The Gulag Archipelago" by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, which was published in 1973.
One correction: Since recording this I have found reports that Solzhenitsyn did apply for U.S. citizenship in 1985. I cannot see that he ever received it, though his wife and children did.
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00:00 Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's Life
13:18 The Function Of A Prison System For A State
16:20 The Skeptical Approach To Complex Political History
19:45 How To Approach "The Gulag Archipelago"
20:37 Beginning Of Passages
28:54 The Various Waves Of Arrests
32:47 "Limb By Limb, Beginning With Its Owl Tail, The Ravenous Maw Would Devour Itself"
34:34 The Weaponization Of A Word
39:44 Article 58 Section 10 "Propaganda Or Agitation" And The Notions Of Guilt And Innocence
42:37 Interrogation And Solzhenitsyn's War Diary Burned In The Lubyanka
45:47 The Motivations And Status Of The Secret Police
48:09 "Do What You Want Without Me, I Want No Part Of It"
50:22 "As Though It Were A Natural Phenomenon"