Solzhenitsyn: A Documentary Record

by Leopold Labedz (Editor)

Literature that is not the breath of contemporary society, that dares not transmit the pains and fears of that society, that does not warn in time against threatening moral and social dangers - such literature does not deserve the name of literature; it is only a facade', wrote Solzhenitsyn in an open letter to the fourth Soviet writers' congress in 1967.

Genres: Russia, Biography, Nonfiction

320 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1971

About the author

Leopold Łabędź was an anti-communist journalist and one of the principal champions of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn in the West. After a period of imprisonment in a Soviet gulag, he served in the Polish Army during WWII, afterward settling in London, where he attended the London School of Economics and later served as Editor of the journal Survey. He frequently campaigned for the Polish Solidarity (Solidarność) union and for political prisoners in the Soviet Union.

Reviews

[Tyler · Rating 4 out of 5]

An eye-opener into how an individual can dissent in the face of Soviet power. The Soviet State was massive and its machinery was brutal, but it was not omnipotent, and resistance was possible. This book is a fascinating look, based on first hand documents, of Solzhenitsyn's struggles as a writer in the USSR, and how he used his fame, within and without the USSR to resist the Soviet literary machine.

[Ryan Young · Rating 5 out of 5]

primary documents related to solzhenitsyn's life from about 1965 to 1974, including open letters, minutes of union meetings, newspaper articles, and interviews. many writers from within and from outside the ussr protested against the censorship, and the party organs responded obliquely, charging solzhenitsyn with treason etc. it was particularly interesting to read some letters to the editor regarding the novel 'one day,' as there were many soviet citizens who were firmly on the side of the state. it's easy to forget that the nation would have been sharply divided, not unified in opposition to the regime.

[Smiley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I recall whenever I picked up this book to read I nearly fed up with reading this ‘documentary record’ related to Solzhenitsyn’s intrepid fight for creative freedom in the Soviet Union. Published in 1962, his “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” should be read since it had been acclaimed and he was awarded the 1970 Nobel Prize so I kept reading in search of better understanding on what went on as we could see from its six sections followed by each section’s first three topics (‘Introductory Note’ excluded):
LITERARY DEBUT
Solzhenitsyn’s rehabilitation (6 February 1956)
A biographical note on Solzhenitsyn (28 November 1962)
Solzhenitsyn’s Autobiographical Note
… etc.
NEW TROUBLES
Khrushchev on Solzhenitsyn (12 March 1963)
Meeting of Moscow writers (19 March 1963)
Attacks on Solzhenitsyn (22 March and 2 April 1963)
… etc.
THE STRUGGLE INTENSIFIES
Solzhenitsyn’s manuscript seized (October 1965)
Moscow writers on ‘Cancer Ward’ (17 November 1966)
Jaures Medvedev on the fate of Solzhenitsyn’s wife
… etc.
MANUSCRIPTS ABROAD
Solzhenitsyn to writers and newspapers (18 April 1968)
Author denies authorization (4 and 26 June 1968)
Announcement by editorial board of ‘Grani’ (30 April 1968)
… etc.
EXPULSION
New attack on Solzhenitsyn (26 June 1968)
‘Samizdat’ defends Solzhenitsyn (27 June-4 July and 28 June 1968)
Solzhenitsyn expresses gratitude for congratulations (12 December 1968)
… etc.
NOBEL PRIZE
Nobel Prize Citation for Solzhenitsyn (8 October 1970)
Solzhenitsyn’s statement (8 October 1970)
French communists on Solzhenitsyn (9 and 14 October 1970)
… etc.