Alexander Soljenitsyn - a true socialist must know about him

[Gergely]

I respect socialism and I hate capitalism by all means but you have to see the bad sides of s. too (at least what happened in the Soviet Union).
There is not a better book and you'll get to know Stalin better. I don't want to describe him right now cause I don't like writing cusswords down.

[Revolution Hero]

That is allright, when communist criticize stalinism. But, Soljenitsyn hates not just stalinism, but the whole socialist idea. Soljenitsyn is a defender of capitalism, I also don't want to write cusswords down.

[ComradeJunichi]

I was just about to make a new topic about right wing books. I was looking to get some, it's good to know the other sides opinion. And I can practice debating with myself...hehe.
Thanks a lot, I'll make sure to buy/borrow that.

[Gergely]

WEll, Soljenitsyn may support capitalism but what do you expect? If you are in a working camp for 20 years working under terrible conditions, being hungry and ill just because you said that you don't like Stalin, what would you say?
Don't get me wrong, I don't like capitalism neither but you have to know the whole picture of socialism, as it was in Russia, too. Besides I have not read a passage in his books where he definately supports capitalism and America.

[Revolution Hero]

Quote: from Gergely on 9:59 pm on Aug. 1, 2002
WEll, Soljenitsyn may support capitalism but what do you expect? If you are in a working camp for 20 years working under terrible conditions, being hungry and ill just because you said that you don't like Stalin, what would you say?
.

This proves Soljenitsyn's subjective point of view. That's about psychology. His emotions and anger result in the lies about the Soviet Union after the Stalin's age.

[suffianr]

In "A day in the life of Ivan Denisovich", Solzhenitsyn's opus, was remorselessly vehement towards the Soviets because he felt he had been betrayed as a patriot. Twenty years in a Siberian labour camp is no mean feat, imho, I can empathise with his anger.

You can't really blame the poor man...

[Nateddi]

well said, RH.

I actually have some books by him, he is no socialist.

[Gergely]

Soljenitsyn probably was a socialist, otherwise he would have not fought for 4 years in the 2nd world as an officer. He just made a joke about Stalin and got 8 years of labour camp and unfortunately he's not the only one. And show me a passage where he says that he likes the capitalistic system? He just criticizes Stalinism but that doesn't mean that he is a capitalist.

[EricDHobo]

Anyone who was under the Stalin rule though of Stalin as the total Communist and began to hate what they thought was communism. solzhetyn is a good read for commies cuz it teaches them how not to fuck up communism and see why people fear it. These are the misconceptions that need to be explained to those who've fallen victum to American propaganda.

[Revolution Hero]

Quote: from Gergely on 12:04 am on Sep. 10, 2002
Soljenitsyn probably was a socialist, otherwise he would have not fought for 4 years in the 2nd world as an officer. He just made a joke about Stalin and got 8 years of labour camp and unfortunately he's not the only one. And show me a passage where he says that he likes the capitalistic system? He just criticizes Stalinism but that doesn't mean that he is a capitalist.


He is not socialist, but anti-communist. I have read many of his interviews and seen him on TV. He always says that Russian capitalism, is much better than USSR's socialism.
Soljenitsyn is the reactionary thinker of the century. I don't respect him and I never will.

[IHP]

i think most of soljenitsyns views of socialism are evident in "odin dyen Ivan Denisovich" "a day in the life of ivan denisovich". this more than clearly states his dislike for stalinism anyway.

--IHP

[suffianr]

Oh, that, and few years too many working like a dog in the gulag...

[IHP]

lol! oh, yes of course there is that!

--IHP

[Cassius Clay]

Soljenitsyn a 'Genuine Socialist' and I suppose Churchill was a great anti-colonial fighter. The man was a fascist pure and simple who was clearly not right in the head.

[suffianr]

Winston Churchill an anti-imperialist? (anti-colonial = same difference). Where did you get that information from? Just curious, but are you sure?

[Gergely]

To RH!!
I know why you don't like Solj. He has revealed the atrocities of that bastard and you can't live with the truth. If you would be in power, you would still bullshit the Russians by saying that there is no Gulag or that it is ok to have one. (Is it really ok to kill 50m people for the sake of an ideology? - Think about it.)
I think it shouldn't be a question whether he is a capitalist or communist but he deserves our acknowledgment for his braveness to face a terrorist system under Stalin. If there is not such a man as Solj. the Gulag machinery system would still be there today, still killing people in hundreds.

[Cassius Clay]

Ronald Reagen, er I mean Gergely just what bit of the FACTS do you not understand? Soljenitsyn was a cowardly fascist. Why do you not check up on his interview with Spanish TV in 1976? You will then see what his views are, he is a open supporter of Franco and despised even the small democratic changes happening at the time calling them 'Dangerous'. Danger from what you might wonder, well Soljenitsyn believed that the 'Jews had murdered 100 million of my countrymen'. If that is not enough for you then look at the testimony's of those Red Army troops who served under him according to them he thought Russia (in 1944) would be better of making peace with the Nazis.

'Is it really ok to kill 50m peole for the sake of an ideology?'. If this is supposed to be a reference to the Soviet Union between 1924-53 then all I can say is Goebbells would of been proud of you. Now the archives CLEARLY state that some 799,445 people died (for all reasons a important one being the lack of modern medicines) in the Soviet prison system in that period and that at no time in the history of the Soviet Union was there more than 2.4 % of the adult population in prison. To compare as of 1998 the U$ had 2.8% in prison. Yet you take the word of a Nazi who was clearly not right in the head for a accurate portrayal of the Stalin/Soviet Union.

[Maaja]

Some days ago I was looking a Soviet time published children's encyclopedia. There was written about German concentration camps. There was a long story and also photos about the cruelties that Germans had done there. But no word about similar camps also in the USSR! This is the high end of hypocrisy! Guess why I don't like the USSR

[Gergely]

Where did you have those figueres? Well of course the ARchives.
They didn't give a damn to record all those millions who died. It was enough to just say that he's a kulak, an anti-sowjet, a capitalist, a betrayer and who knows what (fascist is very popular to) to put him into Gulag. Of course then you cannot put that kind of stuff in the Archives.
Hell, none of those crapy assholes in the communist party has gone through Gulag but a lot of the simple man in a great country may it be a farmer, a soldier or even one from the working class.
But go on and curse Soljenitsyn for telling the truth. I don't care if you still believe in that shitty bolshevik system. If you believe it was ok that way, well then I'm not surprised that there are still fascists in this world who believed Hitler did a good thing.

And please don't convict me of favoring Reagan or Goebbels.