I'm not crying.
While his exposes of the gulags were very important, Solzhenitsyn was a nationalist, an Orthodox bigot and even an anti-semite.
Solzhenitsyn Dies
I did say he was difficult! Doubt if he was the last word in feminism either. 
So i do not disagree with yer comments.
But that does not take away from the fact that his writings were a wakeup call for those who romanticised State communism.
And on a more personal level, i just liked his whole writing style.
The warm valenki from Ivan Denisovic stick in my mind, too; but this guy was a mouthpiece for the forces of reaction. In the coming wave of Solzenhitsyn fever, that's the thing communists need to emphasize, I think.
As you can see from the background of the picture I posted, he even hung out with Kiefer Sutherland, from the famously reactionary '24'.
Steggsie wrote:
The warm valenki from Ivan Denisovic stick in my mind, too; but this guy was a mouthpiece for the forces of reaction. In the coming wave of Solzenhitsyn fever, that's the thing communists need to emphasize, I think.As you can see from the background of the picture I posted, he even hung out with Kiefer Sutherland, from the famously reactionary '24'.
I did like the picture!!! 
lol
Btw i won't be getting the fever!! Just like the guys courage and writing style and the important contribution he DID make, but i agree any kind of fever or hero worship or uncritical evaluation is not good. It is, in fact, entirely damaging to society. What i find ironic is his greatest achievement imho was debunking the myth of state communist idealism, now some communists will... idealise his mythology. But, as you say, that does not nullify his contribution in its entirety. It is just a question of balance - something communists have always been great at.
That's a good point. Solzhenitsyn's criticism of Stalinism and the gulags were valid but they were used by reactionary forces as well as the good old human-rights liberals. That doesn't influence what he said, but being a critic of one type of social injustice does not make you an enemy of social injustice.
I've been banned from Green Brigade for calling someone a Stalinist Spastic or maybe even for just being sarcastic. They were celebrating the death of Solzhenitsyn and it pissed me off, they didn't provide any proof or anything that he was a nationalist. This happened the other day, have only just found out, can't say I'm too bothered though.
red and black riot wrote:
I've been banned from Green Brigade for calling someone a Stalinist Spastic or maybe even for just being sarcastic. They were celebrating the death of Solzhenitsyn and it pissed me off, they didn't provide any proof or anything that he was a nationalist. This happened the other day, have only just found out, can't say I'm too bothered though.
What is wrong with you? Visit wikipedia.
Cheering over the death of a survivor of the Bolshevik holocaust is a tad disgusting, no? I don't agree with Viktor Frankl, but I wouldn't have crowed over his death.
"red and black riot" -- He certainly had strange views Russia's supposed destiny as a world power. That said he was in favour of local direct-democracy and federalism, so you could see him coming out of the same ambiguous tradition as Herzen, Tolstoy and Bakunin.
Cheers
Personalist wrote:
Cheering over the death of a survivor of the Bolshevik holocaust is a tad disgusting, no? I don't agree with Viktor Frankl, but I wouldn't have crowed over his death."red and black riot" -- He certainly had strange views Russia's supposed destiny as a world power. That said he was in favour of local direct-democracy and federalism, so you could see him coming out of the same ambiguous tradition as Herzen, Tolstoy and Bakunin.
Cheers
Don't be idiotic: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleksandr_Solzhenitsyn#Historical_and_political_views
He doesn't have anything to do with Herzen, Tolstoy or Bakunin. He was reactionary vulgar anti-communist monarchist who, for ex. supported US war against Vietnam.
Wikipedia wrote:
Solzhenitsyn argues Tsarist Russia did not have the same violent tendencies as the Soviet Union. For instance, in Solzhenitsyn's view, Imperial Russia did not practise censorship (while it in fact did); political prisoners were not forced into labour camps (although punitive labor katorga system of prerevolutiohnary Russia was similar) and the number of political prisoners was only one ten-thousandth of those in the Soviet Union; the Tsar's secret service was only present in the three largest cities, and not at all in the army.
Well that's bullshit.
I guess the sucking up to Putin was a bit of a giveaway. But just for the record, ain't nothing wrong with anti-communism unless it's a euphemism for fascism.
He was a nationalist to the core.
An avid supporter of Mother Russia and a "celebrity" for western democracies.
I liked his books though; Cancer Ward was good and "A day in the life..." was a good account of the Gulag - it reminded me of my situation going to work - I was that prisoner.
I read somewhere a while ago that he was in the NKVD and was part of the contingent following up the main Russian thrust into Germany towards the end of WWII. Their purpose was to shoot or bayonet anyone who turned or tried to desert. I don't know if it's true or not but it fits the nationalist character of the man.
Quote:
I read somewhere a while ago that he was in the NKVD and was part of the contingent following up the main Russian thrust into Germany towards the end of WWII. Their purpose was to shoot or bayonet anyone who turned or tried to desert. I don't know if it's true or not but it fits the nationalist character of the man.
I dont know but i think he expressed regret for his actions during the war.
Renowned Russian dissident, poet and author Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn has died in his Moscow home of heart failure aged 89. He is survived by his second wife and three children.
He is best known for his roistering and informed critique of state communism, his most famous work, "The Gulag Archipelago" (detailing the horrific acts sanctioned under the regimes of Lenin and Stalin) was instrumental in disabusing many a Western leftist intellectual of any romantic and misplaced ideals they may have had about the nature and effects of state communism.
He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1970 which he was banned from collecting.
Imprisoned, expelled from his beloved Russia for many years, and slandered in turn, he never wavered and inspired millions with his message of personal courage and intellectual reasoning in the face of totalitarian atrocity.
Whilst known to be a difficult man perhaps on a personal level, noone could question his integrity and implacability; the West offered him support and shelter, which he stiffly declined, despising also, as he did, what he termed Western decadence and consumerism. He did not waver in his views even at the end, despite their growing unfashionable nature, making him a rare beast indeed.
This excerpt from his response when summoned for deportation to West Germany in 1974 summarises him well:
"Given the widespread and unrestrained lawlessness that has reigned in our country for many years.....I refuse to recognise the legality of your summons. Before asking that citizens obey the law, learn how to observe it yourselves. Free the innocent and punish those guilty of mass murder."
It is not likely that we will see his like again.
Love
LW XX
PS true story - the very last thing i read before learning of his death was a quote from him.