The Gulag Archipelago

The basic starting premise was the threat of imprisonment and forced labor by the imprisoned were required to maintain the Soviet system which was supposed to be healing the ills of man (Eliminate all evil by creating and maintaining an evil system). The Gulag Archipelago is a three volume book based on the experiences of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Georg Tenno, and fellow inmates who had been imprisoned in the Gulag system. The history of the forced labor camps is chronicled. It describes how ordinary criminals were additionally sentenced to forced labor and subsequent purges and show trials were initiated to build this labor force. The development of the intricate legal and bureaucratic system is detailed as it parallels the experiences of a fictionalized character, Ivan Denisovich; his arrest, show trial, first internment; transfer to the "archipelago", internal exile, and eventual release. Along the way, treatment of inmates, living conditions, slave labor gangs, uprisings, and strikes are experienced. "Internal exile" began after an inmate had served their sentence. There was no guarantee of release for a prisoner just because their sentence was up. Solzhenitsyn also inserts philosophical statements as himself speaking to the reader. Georg Tenno wrote a chapter in the 3rd volume based on his own experiences as an inmate (Tenno declined to be named a co-author). After this brief following of another character, a now possible released Denisovich converses with Tenno and "the books author" (Solzhenitsyn) about the truth of the account. The most heinous practices of the Gulag system were discontinued in 1956 but only by voluntarily means; the bureaucracy and legal basis remained fully intact and thus the full threat of every Gulag method remained intact. Furthermore, the details were denied and suppressed by the USSR, making it a system that could operate with no oversight by anyone. The Gulag system came to be thought of as Stalin's and to have dwindled with his rule ("Stalinist aberration"). Solzhenitsyn, however, blamed Lenin and offered detailed proof that it was Lenin's Gulag system that Stalin and the USSR named and expanded upon.

Solzhenitsyn, after having experienced the Gulag, was imprisoned in them again for subsequently writing about them. Tenno and fellow inmates provided further testimony for his book. His book is an moral and logical indictment of communism and especially Leninism in the Soviet Union, focusing mainly on the Gulag. It was written in secret from 1958 and 1968 in Moscow while under constant surveillance and from prison. During this time, the writings were distributed between conspirators to keep them hidden. In prison, he managed to pass fragments to his lawyer (that's right boys and girls, even communist countries had lawyers). He made 'social calls' to various friends and 'upstanding' citizens who were not suspected of "anti-Soviet activities". In some cases, these locations could not be searched, even by the KGB; the home of Mstislav Rostropovich for instance. He would leave parts of his book with them, or even write parts while visiting. These locations were not independent, it was an organized network that kept the pieces hidden and in motion when required. The KGB confiscated parts of the written, typed, pressed, and microfilmed writing between 1965–1967 but failed to prevent a "master copy" and equivalent fragments from ultimately reaching completion in the USSR and publication in the western world (1973-12-31 in France, Russian version). A second complete copy was also smuggled out via an independent effort. Each and every page of both copies were signed. This was mainly to establish authenticity to the work and prevent alterations (the two copies could later be compared and the USSR could not claim it was an 'outside job' of propaganda). A trusted typist, Elizaveta Voronyanskaya, was one of the very few who knew exactly where all the book's parts were. She was interrogated by the KGB who gathered a complete 3rd copy for themselves (that still exists to this day) and released her. She was found hanged three days later (1973-08-03). The overwhelming number of indisputable first-hand accounts and documentation of interrogation routines, in-human practices, massacres, historical events, details about the legal and bureaucratic system, and efforts to maintain authenticity meant that the USSR could not disprove the truth of the Gulag and everyone knew it. This truth was especially damaging to the government within the USSR.

Although English and French (and other) translations were not published until summer 1974, the book had immediately caused a stir in political circles and beyond. Many nations and even communists outside the USSR changed their policies regarding USSR relations. Solzhenitsyn went into exile six weeks after initial publication. The book was smuggle back into the USSR as an underground publication with Gulag imprisonment threatening anyone caught with it. Quite ironically, the book was also illegal in certain states in the USA until the late 1990s (it may still be illegal in California, though this prohibition would likely cease if it was ever brought to court, But then again, maybe not).

Sales income of the The Gulag Archipelago were transfered to the Solzhenitsyn Aid Fund. A secret charity foundation that operated in secret in the USSR. It was dedicated to helping Gulag inmates and their families to survive their ordeal and then recover from it. They also funded legal defenses and dealt with psychiatric imprisonment as well.

In 2009, The Gulag Archipelago became mandatory reading for high school students in Russia. Individual high schools had already mandated it in the 1990s.