Unclebananahead
5th July 2011, 16:25
I was just skimming through Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's "Gulag Archipelago" as a lark, and noticed in the chapter "a history of our sewage system" (or something to that effect) a number of claims regarding the nature of the Soviet Union pre-Stalin period (1925-1953), in particular the criminal justice system, the cheka, and a number of Lenin quotes. After reading a bit of this, I found myself without any immediate response in my mind to this stuff, though perhaps It's simply because I'm not sufficiently apprised in Soviet history.
Specifically, Solzhenitsyn claims that the Soviet govt. was systematically locking up all socialists not of the bolshevik variety (for not being members of the correct party according to him), and sentencing many to ten or more years of hard labor, as well as doing the same to the cadets (Russian liberal democrat types). He quotes Lenin making a remark about "cleansing the Russian countryside of insects."
He mentions the extrajudicial (as in no formal arrest, and no trial) killing of somewhere between 8,000 and 9,000 persons by the cheka in 1918 or 1919 (sorry, don't recall exact specifics), and claims this is mentioned in Soviet documents, citing a particular official report.
I was wondering if I could get a thorough response to these charges from a Leninist comrade better versed in Soviet history than I myself am.
Specifically, Solzhenitsyn claims that the Soviet govt. was systematically locking up all socialists not of the bolshevik variety (for not being members of the correct party according to him), and sentencing many to ten or more years of hard labor, as well as doing the same to the cadets (Russian liberal democrat types). He quotes Lenin making a remark about "cleansing the Russian countryside of insects."
He mentions the extrajudicial (as in no formal arrest, and no trial) killing of somewhere between 8,000 and 9,000 persons by the cheka in 1918 or 1919 (sorry, don't recall exact specifics), and claims this is mentioned in Soviet documents, citing a particular official report.
I was wondering if I could get a thorough response to these charges from a Leninist comrade better versed in Soviet history than I myself am.