Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn speaks

Today it is 06.06.06.

I just finished reading Warning to the West, a series of lectures that Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn gave in the U.S. and Britain after his exile from the Soviet Union. He speaks of Communism, the suffering of Russian and Eastern European peoples, and the danger that the West faces in growing weak and complacent in the face of the rising nuclear power of Russia, a power that seeks supremacy over the West. (Though the Soviet Union has dissolved, I would say its values and ideologies are still very much alive in Eastern Europe.) Here are some interesting quotes:

"The primary, the eternal concept is humanity, and Communism is anti-humanity. Whoever says "anti-Communism" is saying, in effect, anti-anti-humanity. A poor construction. So we should say: That which is against Communism is for humanity. Not to accept, but to reject this Communist ideology is simply to be a human being. Such a rejection is more than a political act. It is a protest of our souls against those who would have us forget the concepts of good and evil." (July 9, 1975)

"The true antipode of peace is violence. And those who want peace in the world should remove not only war from the world but also violence. If there is no open war but there is still violence, that is not peace." (July 9, 1975)

"Alas, such is human nature that we never feel the sufferings of others, and they never darken our temporary well-being, until they become our own." (July 15, 1975)

"...But I return to that terrible statement of Bertrand Russell's: "Better Red than dead." Why did he not say it would be better to be brown than dead? There is no difference. All my life and the life of my generation, the life of those who share my views, we all have had one viewpoint: Better to be dead than a scoundrel. In this horrible expression of Bertrand Russell's there is an absence of moral criteria. Looked at from a short distance, these words allow one to maneuver and to continue to enjoy life. But from a long-term point of view it will undoubtedly destroy those people who think like that." (March 1, 1976)

"Just as mankind once became aware of the intolerable and mistaken deviation of the late Middle Ages and recoiled in horror from it, so too must we take account of the disastrous deviation of the late Enlightenment. We have become hopelessly enmeshed in our slavish worship of all that is pleasant, all that is comfortable, all that is material - we worship things, we worship products. Will we ever succeed in shaking off this burden, in giving free rein to the spirit that was breathed into us at birth, that spirit which distinguishes us from the animal world?" (March 24, 1976)