EDITORIAL: Alexander Solzhenitsyn - Russian of the century
Alexander Solzhenitsyn was born fatherless, but found a strict paternal figure to raise him: it was his long-suffering country.
Stalinism, the war, prison camps, censorship, deportation, and finally the chaos and soullessness of the new system turned Solzhenitsyn into a unique interpreter of Russia’s stormy 20th century, putting him on a par with the great Russian classical writers of the previous century.
The power of the word is born in silence, but it can move mountains - or cause walls to crumble. Although contemporary headlines did not say as much, Solzhenitsyn was also a part of the worldwide rebellion of 1968. In the spring of that year he put the finishing touches to The Gulag Archipelago and delivered it secretly out of the country, where it was published five years later.
The depiction by a former labour camp prisoner decisively altered perceptions of the true nature of the Soviet Union everywhere. In Finland, there is reason to keep in mind now and in the future that for years the book was seen to be too frightening by a large Finnish publishing company and by many libraries.
Sincere authors are rarely without conflict. In the West, Solzhenitsyn was a hero of the struggle against totalitarianism, but he sparked confusion by criticising America, Mikhail Gorbachev, and Boris Yeltsin, and by accepting a prize from Vladimir Putin.
The Christian nationalistic thinking of Solzhenitsyn’s later years appeared to be very far from the reality of the new millennium.
However, for ordinary Russians it had a familiar ring. They were not surprised that the main value embraced by Solzhenitsyn was not instant democracy, but rather morality - the voice of conscience that paid little heed to the spirit of the times.
The great man leaves behind two different legacies, one in the West, and one in the country of his birth. Anyone who wants to understand Russia should study both of them.
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 5.8.2008
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 5.8.2008 - THIS WEEK |
 EDITORIAL: Alexander Solzhenitsyn - Russian of the century |
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