"The Gulag Archipelago" is the immortal work of A. Solzhenitsyn

Article 58 of the Criminal Code has ruined a lot of law-abiding citizens of the RSFSR. At least four million political prisoners in the Stalin era became acquainted with a kind of concentration camps - GULAGs. I must say that most of them did not conduct counter-revolutionary activities. However, even insignificant "misdemeanors" such as a negative assessment of a politician were considered as such.

Writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn was one of those who met the harsh fifty-eighth article. To the charge of "counter" he was led by letters, which he sent from the front to his friends and relatives. They were often attended by a covert criticism of Stalin, whom AS called "pahan". Naturally, the censorship could not miss such letters. Moreover, she seriously became interested in them. Soviet counterintelligence arrested a freethinker. As a result, he lost the rank of captain, received 8 years of correctional labor without the right to return from exile. It was he who decided to lift the veil over part of the Stalinist punitive system, writing the immortal book "The Gulag Archipelago." We will understand what the meaning of its name is and what its content is.

The Gulag Archipelago is a system that connected thousands of penitentiary Soviet institutions with each other. A lot, and according to some information, most of the prisoners of this huge punitive monster are political prisoners. As Solzhenitsyn himself wrote, many of them, even at the stage of arrest, cherished the vain dream that their case would be carefully examined, and the charge would be lifted from them. And they could hardly believe in the marketing of such ideas, having already fallen into places not so remote. "Political arrests differed in that people were taken innocent and unable to resist," noted Solzhenitsyn. The author described several of the largest streams of prisoners: the victims of dispossession (1929-1930), who suffered from the repression of 1937, as well as those who were in German captivity (1944-1946). The Gulag Archipelago hospitably opened its gates to prosperous peasants, priests and generally believers, intellectuals, professors. The injustice of the Stalinist punitive machine speaks only the very fact of the existence of plans for the total number of prisoners (which were most often expressed in round numbers). Of course, the "Enqavedists" overcame them zealously.

Torture

A large part of Solzhenitsyn's book is devoted to this question: why did those arrested almost always in those terrible years sign "confessions", even if their guilt did not exist? The answer will not truly leave the reader indifferent. The author lists inhuman tortures, which were used in "organs". The list is incredibly wide - from a simple conviction in a conversation before the injury to the genitals. Here one can also mention sleep deprivation for several days, knocking out teeth, torture with fire ... The author, aware of the whole essence of the hellish Stalinist machine, asks the reader not to judge those who, not carrying out the tortures, agreed with everything that they were accused of. But there was something pohlesche self-incriminations. For the rest of his life, those who could not resist slandered their best friends or relatives were tormented by remorse. At the same time there were also very courageous individuals who did not sign anything.

The power and influence of the "encadavists"

Workers of the bodies were often real careerists. Statistics "disclosure of crimes" promised them new ranks, increased salaries. Using their power, the Chekists often allowed themselves to take their favorite apartments and favors. Workers of "security agencies" could easily remove their enemies from the road. But they themselves were involved in a dangerous game. None of them was immune from accusations of betrayal, wrecking, espionage. Describing this system, Solzhenitsyn dreamed of a real, fair trial.

Life in prison

The author of the book "The Gulag Archipelago" spoke about all the vicissitudes of imprisonment. In each cell there was to be a snitch. However, the cons learned quickly to distinguish these people. This circumstance led to the secrecy of the inhabitants of the cells. The entire diet of prisoners - bald, black bread and boiling water. Of the pleasures and small joys were chess, walking, reading books. Solzhenitsyn's book The Gulag Archipelago reveals to the reader the characteristics of all categories of prisoners - from "kulaks" to "thieves." It also describes the relationship between cellmates, sometimes uneasy.

However, Solzhenitsyn wrote not only about life in prison. "The Gulag Archipelago" is also a work in which the history of the legislation of the RSFSR is set out. The author consistently compared the system of Soviet justice and justice with the child when it was still undeveloped (1917-1918); With a young man (1919-1921) and with a mature man, while laying out a lot of interesting details.