Escolhi a Liberdade

by Victor Kravchenko

Neste livro há muito esquecido do nosso público, Victor Kravchenko (1905-1966), um antigo funcionário e engenheiro soviético nascido na Ucrânia, presta um extraordinário depoimento da sua vida sob o regime estalinista e das suas experiências enquanto membro do Partido Comunista da União Soviética, no qual se filiou em 1920.

Preso e torturado, viveu na primeira pessoa a colectivização e a "Grande Fome" (Holodomor) da Ucrânia, tendo visto morrer milhares à fome e ao frio, perseguidos pelo NKVD, a polícia secreta de Estaline. Conheceu os campos de concentração (o Gulag) na Ucrânia, na Rússia e na Sibéria, e empregou, nas fábricas que dirigiu, mão-de-obra escrava vinda das prisões políticas. Porém, conheceu também o que era ser da nomenklatura, com um gabinete no Kremlin.

Kravchenko “Escolheu a Liberdade” numa visita de prospecção aos EUA, em 1943. O seu testemunho, originalmente publicado em 1946 e traduzido para mais de vinte idiomas, foi um grande bestseller na sua época e um escândalo para os intelectuais comunistas, que então dominavam o pensamento nos países ocidentais. Em França, quando o livro foi publicado, Kravchenko foi acusado de difundir relatos falsos sobre a vida na URSS e de ser um agente norte-americano. Kravchenko processou então a famosa revista “Les Belles Lettres” por difamação, dando origem ao chamado “Julgamento do Século”, o qual viria a vencer e cujos detalhes acabaria por relatar no seu segundo livro, intitulado “Escolhi a Justiça” (1950).

Victor Kravchenko faleceu em 1966 em Nova Iorque, permanecendo a sua morte envolta em mistério. Afinal, apesar de a versão oficial indicar como causa o suicídio, subsiste ainda hoje a dúvida se terá sido envenenado por agentes do KGB, como acredita o seu filho.

Genres: Russia, Biography, Nonfiction, History, Memoir, Ukraine, Autobiography

490 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1946

About the author

Viktor Andriyovych Kravchenko, a Ukrainian-born Soviet defector, known for writing the best-selling book "I Chose Freedom", published in 1946, about the realities of life in the Soviet Union.

Kravchenko defected to the United States during World War II, and began writing about his experiences as an official in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

Reviews

[dina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book (the original Charles Scribner's and Sons 1946 hardcover edition) in the Harbin Hot Springs library, to which I solemnly intend to return it.
It is a mind-blowing story, told by a man who rose to near the very top of the Soviet Party and then defected to the US in the mid 1940's. You must look me in the eye and promise to READ IT RIGHT NOW. The translator is not named, but he is clearly a superb writer; the book is gripping, even though - I won't lie - it is long. The editing and the language is worthy of a great novel (I don't say that lightly), but it is entirely a true story, feverishly written in the months after the escape. A story like this was being heard in the West for the first time, and lead to a large libel trial in France, but it was corroborated by numerous others. He lived through fantastic man-made famines and Stalin's purges, first as an idealistic son of a revolutionary, and later as a "confirmed enemy of the regime". This man's strength and intelligence is otherworldly; his whole family and many friends were killed in revenge for his speaking out, so the least we can do is read his story. In it are also the stories of scores of friends, colleagues, aquaintances, lovers, and others he had encountered; the energy and frenetic pace of his life alone are staggering. It might seem obviously relevant to me and my family's history, but it needs to be read by everyone everywhere who has ever given a thought to the nature of power and evil or to the meaning of strength and goodness. It is also a profoundly compelling first-hand account of some of the key events in the 20th century history, and as we all know, those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it.


This article tells the story of his son and the aftermath, but don't let it be a substitute for the book itself, which will not disappoint you.

[Nataliya Borys · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must-read and a life-changer. Reading this book was really scary. After this book, nothing can make you like Stalin and the Soviet Union.

Kravchenko was one of the first defectors from the Soviet Union, persecuted, he killed himself in the USA. A powerful first-hand account of an apparatchik who survived the multiple Stalinist purges of the Communist party and Soviet leadership replete with echoes of words from the contemporary leftist political ranks uttered unknowingly of their prior life at the murderous hands of Josef Stalin.

A story like this was being heard in the West for the first time, and lead to a large libel trial in France, but it was corroborated by numerous others.

[Marim · Rating 5 out of 5]

لكي تعرف ما قد يكون مسار حياتك عندما تكون شخصا منتجا، في ظل حكومة تقمع الحرية، و تقلل من أهمية الفرد، و تتظاهر بأنها تساوي بين الجميع، في حين أن الحقيقة هي أن أفراد المجتمع لا يجدون القمح، و الرؤساء يدخنون السيجار! لكي تعرف ما قد تصل إليه المبادئ من سامية، إلي ملطخه بدماء الأبرياء. فلتنظر إلي روسيا الشيوعية، و باقي الإتحاد السوفيتي

[Kateryna Martynenko · Rating 5 out of 5]

Одна з найкращих книг, які я читала у своєму житті, важлива на рівні "Одного дня Ивана Денисовича" та інших викривальних творів радянського періоду - книга Віктора Кравченка "Я обираю свободу". Віктор Кравченко народився в 1905 році у Дніпропетровську. Він дійшов до найвищих щаблів радянської номенклатури, ставши представником технічної еліти 30-х - 40-х, він керував металургічними комбінатами і заводами, а під час війни був посланий в США працювати над поставками по ленд-лізу. Кравченко ненавидів радянську владу, за свою тривалу кар'єру він бачив численні порушення прав людини - він був у виморених голодом українських селах, на заводах, де працювали раби з Гулагу, його друзів знищували в чистках. Кравченко залишився в США, щоб написати про всі ці речі і відкрити світові те, що вібувалося у сталінському СССР. Всю його родину включно з далекими родичами, всього близько 30 людей, знищили після того, як він відмовився повертатися. Його книга була перекладена на понад 20 мов і опублікована величезними тиражами у багатьох країнах світу. Комуністична партія Франції подала на нього в суд за клєвєту на рядянську дійсність, але цей суд виграв Кравченко, зумівши довести свою правоту, з допомогою численних свідків, які так чи інакше втекли із пекла таборів та голоду із СССР.

Книга Кравченка - це те, про що я мріяла увесь час поки вивчала історію радянського союзу. Це шедевр мемуарної прози, який дає неймовірно точний, об'єктивний огляд розвитку СССР від початку і до часів війни через досвід людини, яка змогла вибитися у найвищі ешелони номенклатури, залишившись при цьому вірним правді і своєму народу.

Мене надзвичайно вразила, книга і сама особистість Віктора Кравченка. Це надзвичайно сильна, незламна, вільна людина, яка не втрачає можливості критично мислити і аналізувати у найжахливіших умовах, людина, яка готова ціною власної смерті або смерті близьких боротися із режимом.

Книга Кравченка доступна для скачування англійською і у скорочено варіанті російською. Ця надзвичайна, сильна, правдива і смілива книга була написана задовго до 20 з'їзду, задовго до Відлиги, вона була по суті однією із перших рішучих спроб викрити брехливий і підлий радянський режим. Я б дуже хотіла, щоб ця книга була перевидана у сучасній Україні і особливо Росії і щоб кожна людина її прочитала. Ця книга - свідчення адекватного очевидця про жахи і саму лицемірну огидну суть Совка, яку в наш час багато хто забуває.

[Jacqueline Stagg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. I had this recommended to understand what's going on with Russia and Ukraine (this review written during the war in 2022) and boy, does it do that. I honestly think I understand Putin (=Stalin in his own head), how things work in the Russian system of government and why Ukraine would rather be totally destroyed than submit.
On top of that it's a really readable story. I don't usually read autobiography so I was expecting a hard slog but it reads like a novel and each chapter leaves you wanting to know what happens next. So, an excellent author and also an excellent translator. Kravchenko explains very clearly why and how you need to work inside the system if you want to even survive, let alone get on in life. I thoroughly recommend this book

[AKMENTINA · Rating 5 out of 5]

To be truthful, I was not prepared how greatly this book will affect me, nor was I ready to read something so thoroughly absorbing and historically enlightening as I Chose Freedom. I was simply highly curious as to what a Soviet defector has to say, and ended becoming deeply fond of Victor Kravchenko's bravery and personality.

I was hoping to come across a propaganda-free source of information that could educate me on the history of Russia and its people before Communism. Author being a son of an active Ukrainian revolutionary, grandson of a soldier of Tzar's cavalry and himself being excited and optimistic Komsomol born in 1905, he had a lot to say about the matter. Kravchenko eventually got deideologized due to what he saw and went through, and in consequence despised Stalin and his regime.

Until his defection, Kravchenko was holding high positions as an engineer. Eventually, his talents and capabilities were noted, granting him position in government, which allowed him to learn first hand the real modus operandi, nature and intentions of the Soviet leadership. Once he gained back his own mind and become free of the ideology he was brainwashed into since young age, only the thought of defecting his loved country and telling the world about the sufferings of his people gave him the strength to continue to pretend and comply. From now on, all his efforts were dedicated to arrive at the right time and the right place where an opportunity to escape the heavy hand of the tyrant would arise. Life granted him this precious chance.

Kravchenko had insightful and beautiful soul that at times experienced straightforward miracles which saved him on several occasions. His account impacted me deeply. There are feelings and thoughts I was left with that rationale cannot explain. I cannot help but see Kravchenko as destined to be where he was and eventually write his book that considering the circumstances is an ultimate gift and sacrifice to the society. When the world and film industry will finally give its due to victims of Marxisms and Communism, as it has to the victims of Hitler's regime, I Chose Freedom is an absolutely perfect place to start with. I hope—in my lifetime.

[Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kravchenko was one of the first defectors from the Soviet Union, at a time when defecting from the Soviet Union wasn't cool.

It doesn't bring any new information on the situation in the Soviet Union, but it does point out a lot of the Soviet bureaucracy as well.

In the last pages it does point out the American handling of the relations with the Soviet Union during the second world war: The Americans refrained from any criticism towards the Soviet Union, because of the Soviet sensitivity.
The author states that during that time almost every ally of the United States was criticised except for the Soviet Union.

[Filipe Charters]

Além de tudo o mais, há uma conclusão a retirar deste livro: não há palavras para descrever o mal. Stalin era mau, como os pneus do carro são maus. Há stress comunista, e há stress do trabalho.

Falta escala para o Mal. Este livro explica pq faltam palavras para a miséria humana.

https://t.co/Bj3APLdQdo

[Erich C · Rating 5 out of 5]

Victor Kravchenko was an extremely courageous man who managed to avoid becoming one of the 20 million people who died due to Joseph Stalin. I almost wrote that he avoided becoming a victim of Stalin, but as the book makes clear, every one of the people in Russia was a victim in one way or another. This "lucky" man managed to survive purges, torture, and famine; he was "lucky" enough to escape from the country that he loved, to never see his friends and family again, and to invite repression and revenge on those dear to him.

p 32: Death - bloated, cadaverous, ugly death - was the commonplace fact in our lives. All of us were too deeply concerned with our own survival to notice or, at bottom, to care about the others. Good people who normally could not bear to see others suffer now buried their food to prolong their own lives by a few weeks or months, without a thought of neighbors who swelled and died of hunger all around them.

pp 76-77: Floods of personal data and denunciation, some of it self-righteous, some of it vengeful and cynical. Tons of dossiers. Millions of spies. All of it sorted and studied, filed and cross-indexed. Copies to the Prosecutor, to the disciplinary officials of the Party, to the secret tribunals of the G.P.U. when immediate action was warranted. Deadly ammunition against backsliders or doubters for future use. Tens of thousands of filing cabinets, each of them an arsenal of intimacies, indiscretions, lies, flatteries, errors.

p 91: To spare yourself mental agony, you veil unpleasant truths from view by half-closing your eyes - and your mind. You make panicky excuses and shrug off knowledge with words like exaggeration and hysteria. Then something happens that startles you into opening wide both your mind and eyes. For the first time you look without blinking.

p 113: "I will not tell you about the dead," she said. "I'm sure you know. The half-dead, the nearly-dead are even worse. There are hundreds of people in Petrovo bloated with hunger. I don't know how many die every day. Many are so weak that they no longer come out of their houses. A wagon goes around now and then to pick up the corpses. We've eaten everything we could lay our hands on - cats, dogs, field mice, birds. When it's light tomorrow you will see the trees have been stripped of their bark, for that too has been eaten. And the horse manure has been eaten." / I must have looked startled and unbelieving. / "Yes, the horse manure. We fight over it. Sometimes there are whole grains in it."

p 118: On a battlefield men die quickly, they fight back, they are sustained by fellowship and a sense of duty. Here I saw people dying in solitude by slow degrees, dying hideously, without the excuse of sacrifice for a cause. They had been trapped and left to starve, each in his home, by a political decision made in a far-off capital around conferences and banquet tables. There was not even the consolation of inevitability to relieve the horror. / The most terrifying sights were the little children with skeleton limbs dangling from balloon-like abdomens. Starvation had wiped every trace of youth from their faces, turning them into tortured gargoyles; only in their eyes still lingered the reminder of childhood. Everywhere we found men and women lying prone, their faces and bellies bloated, their eyes utterly expressionless.

p 297: The truth is that even the most faithful and unthinking Communists in their heart of hearts despise and are ashamed of the slave-labor system. In the very heat with which some of the more fanatic comrades defended the system I often sensed an uneasiness. In calling the victims foul names - kulaks, wreckers... scum... dirt... they seemed to be shouting down their inner disgust. Every one of them knew quite well that another turn of the political wheel, another purge or crisis, might easily put them among the outlaws whose toil was fortifying our curious brand of socialism.

p 312: It was not enough to suffer the whipping, they had to kiss the strap and shout hurrah.

p 356: It got so that people were afraid to mention that they were hungry, lest they be accused of reflecting on Stalin's wisdom or ignoring wartime difficulties.

p 404: The war industries of the U.S.S.R., like those of Germany, rested primarily on slave labor. The main difference was in the fact that Berchtesgaden enslaved conquered foreigners whereas the Kremlin enslaved its own people. At a time when hunger stalked the land, the horrible conditions under which the prisoners lived and labored can readily be imagined. They were "expendables" and the N.K.V.D. did not have to account for casualties.

[ريم والي]

الأدب الروسي مفجع ولكن يواسيك وانت تتقدم فالقراءة أنهاربما مبالغات المؤلف، فما بالك وانت تقرأ سيرة ذاتية لرجل كان في الحزب.. فكتور كرافتشنكو الذي استطاع أن يرغمك على حبه واحترامه وعلى الانبهار بمبادئه ومواقفه المخلصة الصغيرة قبل الكبيرة، وهو فوق هذ عقلية فذة استطاع ببراعة أن ينفذ ما طلب منه من أعمال استحالت على غيره سواء في المزرعة الجماعيةأو في المصنع بالأورال..
توقفت كذلك عند شخصية أبيه، يجوز لأنها المعين الذي استقى منه كرافتشنكو صلابته النفسية وإخلاصه واستوقفتنى مواجهته مع أبيه ومقارنة القيصرية بالاشتراكية من فيه ثائر أصلي لم تغيره السنون
يزيد من جمال النص ترجمة د. زكي نجيب محمود

مختارات من الكتاب
إن العالم الخارجي لم يدرك قط مدى ما عانته البلاد من فزع، بل ربما كان ذلك الفزع أوسع مدى من أن يتاح للعالم إدراكه بأية وسيلة من الوسائل، فقد كانت الروسيا حومة بعثرت في أرجائها جثث القتلى، وانتثرت في أنحائها حظائر حبس فيها الملاين ممن ساء حظهم من «سجناء الحرب» فأخذوا يشقون هناك بعملهم ويعانون الآلام ويلاقون الحتوف، ولكن أيمكن لعني الخيال أن تمتد لترى كل هذا املدى الفسيح؟ إن كل ما يستطيعه الإنسان هو أن يرسل بصره إلى هذا الركن أو ذاك، ثم يعمم الحكم بناءً على هذه الأجزاء


وهذه الأرقام على جسامتها لا تلخص المأساة تلخيصا وافيًا، فهي أرقام جسيمة لكنها أرقام باردة، بل إن جسامتها في ذاتها تخلع عليها شيئًا من الخيال غير الواقع، فعليك أن تفكر في هؤلاء الضحايا بغير لغة الأرقام التي لا تعني ناسا من البشر، بل على أنهم أفراد، وعليك أن تتذكر أن كل فرد من هؤلاء الأفراد الكثريين له أقاربه
وأصدقاؤه وأبناؤه ممن كانوا يشاطرونه آلامه، وأن لكل فرد منهم آماله وأمانيه وأعماله التي يصيبها الهدم والتحطيم، هذه إحصاءات لمؤرخ الغد وللعالم الاجتماعي اليوم، أما بالنسبة لي — أنا الذي عاش في غمرتها — فهذه الأرقام لها عندي أبدان وعقول وأرواح،
ٌّكل منها أصيب بالأذى أو بالاعتداء أو بالإذلال

إن جنكيز خان لم يكن بالقياس إلى ستالين إلا بمثابة الهاوي إذا قيس إلى المحترف، أو المبتدئ اللاهي إذا قورن
َ إلى من مهر في صناعته، إن عصابة الكرملن قد أثارتها حربًا شعواء
على بلادها وعلى بني وطنها

"وختاما أهدي هذا الكتاب إلى أبناء الروسيا وأنا واحد منهم، وأهديه إلى ذكرى الملايين الذين قضوا حياتهم وهم يجاهدون للتخلص من الاستبداد السوفيتي، وإلى الملايين من الأبرياء
الذين يقضون زهرة العمر في سجون الكرملن وفي معسكرات السخرة التي يخطئها الحصر، وإلى ذكرى الملايين من مواطني الذين ضحوا بحياتهم دفاعا عن أرض الآباء
ًوالأجداد وهم يحلمون بأنهم يهيئون لأبناء وطنهم مستقبلا ً مجيدا خيرا من حاضرهم.
أْهدي هذا الكتاب أخيرا إلى الشعوب الراقية المتحضرة ذات النزعة العقلية والاجتماعية التي تؤيدنا في الجهاد لإقامة صرح روسيا الديمقراطية التي لا يرجى للعالم
سلام دائم بغري قيامها."

فيكتور كرفتشنكو أخيرا لم يمت برصاص السوفييت لكنه أطلق الرصاص على نفسه ١٩٦٦ عندما قودت أحلامه في الحرية والعدالة أمام وجه الرأسمالية الأمريكية الحقيقي وبعد اتهامات في فرنسا أن الكتاب دعايا أمريكية -إلا أن القضاء برأه - وبعد عدة محاولات للإصلاح الزراعي في بوليفيا، مما يؤكد للقارئ أنه صادق في مبادئه وليست الوقائع التي سردها مبالغات ربما لأنها حياته وسيرته من وجهة نظره.

[Danny Perez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Este libro trata sobre la vida política personal de un funcionario soviético y desertor ucraniano Viktor Kravchenko. El libro abarca temas como la colectivización en la URSS por el cambio de régimen al comunismo y sus implicaciones, así mismo el ataque a dicho régimen y a Stalin, los crímenes llevados acabo por la policía (NVKD o GPU), en particular la hambruna de 1932-1933, y la cooperación de los gobiernos de Joseph Stalin y Adolf Hitler. Sin duda es un relato crudo; al inicio, nos presentan a un joven entusiasta con el Partido Comunista, que tiene fe y que cree que formará parte de la generación que cambió a su nación, pero conforme avanza la historia, vamos viendo como pierde la fe en su partido y se cuestiona si realmente hace lo correcto. Hasta nos demuestra que los campos de concentración existían mucho antes de la Segunda Guerra Mundial y cómo Hitler fue ganando simpatizantes a su causa. Sin duda es una lectura que vale la pena. Es una historia verídica que ejemplifica que el hombre está condenado a repetir su pasado si no lo conoce.

[José Lopes · Rating 5 out of 5]

"O que eles não poderão, porém, é destruir este documentário dedicado ao torturado povo russo de onde provenho. Ouso esperar que chegue a gozar algum dia a verdadeira liberdade que aspira".

Não há muito que dizer. Apesar da má qualidade da edição do livro por parte da Aletheia, o testemunho que aqui pode ser lido é uma autêntica aula de História e o relato de alguém que viveu efetivamente sob o jugo soviético e escapou dele.

[Rachel Hirstwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Please note - I read an abridged version of the book - only 240 pages not 560.

I chose freedom, despite it's dreadful cover and the smell of dust emanating from my copy, was such a powerful book. It is the life of Victor Kravchenco. He describes how he became involved in the communist party and eventually became a most trusted member of the Soviet govenment.

I would love to quote big sections of the book, but I will try and resist. Kravchenko was born in the Ukraine (when it was part of Tsarist Russia), and had a revolutionary father who spent many years in prison. But Kravchenko inherited a basic socialist ideal from him.

As Kravchenko grew up he became invoved in the youth communist party, and then was accepted into the party proper when he was in twenties. Since Kravchenko had some agricultural experience (growing up in the countryside) he was sent out to supervise the collectivisation of farming. It was perhaps here, that Kravchenko has his forst doubts about the party as he saw for himself that collectivisation had a result of famine and death. He says "we denounced as 'anti-soviet rumours' what we knew as towering fact".

Despite these doubts Kravchenko stays in the party - indeed, what choice did have, you don't leave the party. And the book continues to describe the years of Stalin's purges (cleansing the Soviet Communist Party from within), forced labour camps, child forced labour... The list is sickening and seemingly endless.

In chapter 13 he describes a new rule to be enforced - if a workers (who lives in barracks that he/she shares with up 350 other people along with bedbugs and lice and vermin) is 20 minutes late for work, they will be sent for trial and sentenced to forced labour or if it's their third offence, they will be killed. I came across this rule in Solzhenesyn's The First Circle, and A Day in the Life... To be honest I was unsure whether to believe the reason why a sick worker wouldn't go to the dr to be excused work. Here is the answer. If the worker queued to see the doctor it could make them late for work, if the dorctor then said they were fit for work, then they were in for forced labour in Siberia or worse.

By the time the USSR was brought into the second world war with Hitler invading them (despite their friendship pact), the Soviet Union was woefully unprepared. Kravchenko is promoted to the government level of the Party to oversee the production of equipment for the war effort. He describes the luxuries available to his level of government, while the citizens/peasants are starving and living in shared barrack huts. But he also describes how in his position he has all the responsibility and no ability to share his load downwards. He is constnantly monitored by the NKVD (secret police) both at home and at owrk they search his possessions his furniture, looking for anything incriminating.

Eventually as the Soviet Union cannot produce munitions quicky enough, they enter into an agreement with the USA to be supplied with raw materials and products. Here Kravchenko sees his chance to get away. He is sent to oversee the aquisition of products under the agreeement, and after seven months, manages to defect.

I read this book after it was mention by Doris Lessing inher autobigraphy. She said it would change anyone's view if they were pro-communist, and she is right. Despite having studied Stalin's policies for myself many years ago, I still have a communist leaning - one that I know in my heart is naive, knowing that power corrupts, and knowing the evidence of every country that has tried communism has become a dictorship totalitarian state - which wasn't the point of communism, but always the result. I am glad to have read this side of the story. I have read all of Solzhenytsins books (still cant spell his name though!), and I've read a lot of books by various workers and prisons of the Soviet regime, but this is the first I have read by someone in the regime, and I am impressed by his candour, and thoroughly disgusted and upset by his description of life under Stalin. Unfortunaztely I can also quite believe that the story has been sanitised to an extent for the mass market.

[Paula · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dit boek vroeg mijn moeder voor jaar verjaardag begin jaren vijftig van de vorige eeuw. Haar ouders vonden lezen tijdverspilling, maar gaven het haar toch. Het gaat over een Sovjetfunctionaris die de ‘zuiveringen’ onder het bewind van Stalin overleefde en gezien werd als een ideale kandidaat om in de VS aan het werk te kunnen gaan. En daar ontsnapt hij aan zijn werkgever en duikt onder. Heel vreemd om deze geschiedenis te lezen in een tijd van de Russische inval in Oekraïne waarin het voor mensen weer gevaarlijk is om in het openbaar vragen te stellen aan de machthebbers.

[T · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic. It is an autobiography. Stalin is 10x Hitler. The closed society was very good at turning their own people against each other and creating such an environment of fear that nobody would dare speak out against the most insidious decisions from Moscow. I would read this again, and recommend it to anyone.

[Mohamed Fares · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was my grandfather's gift to my mom ,Reading such a heritage meant a lot to me especially when it belongs to a dear person ,.

[Abeer Galal · Rating 5 out of 5]

آثرت الحرية
،، كتاب تتوارثه الأجيال ،، تمت قرائته مرتين وفى كل مرة كان هناك أبعاد اخرى تكونت لدى

[Fer Lis · Rating 5 out of 5]

How can this book been so forgotten? It´s definitely a must in any "totalitarianism bookshelf".

[Fernando · Rating 3 out of 5]

Es una mezcla de 1984 de Orwell y de El Cero y el infinito de Arthur Koestler. Como novela de ficción política está muy interesante pero demasiado pasional y virulento como para tomarlo como relato histórico. El autor tiene un verdadero resentimiento y repudio hacia el régimen soviético, es tal el econo que lo compara con el nazismo e incluso señala que llega a ser peor que éste, no sólo eso, también lo compara con el zarismo y ahí dice que al menos en la rusa imperial había qué comer y desliza la idea de que la gente era más feliz y había más abundancia, no sé si ambas comparaciones estén en lo cierto, pero me parecen sospechosas. Lo más inquientante es que al narrar la guerra entre la Alemania nazi y el totalitarismo soviético, es que Kravchenko sólo se lamenta por la continuidad de Stalin, pocas palabras le dedica a la derrota nazi, es más, culpa a Stalin de los millones de muertes rusas a manos de los nazis. Para el autor el nazismo es poca cosa comparado con el régimen de vigilancia y la tortura de la Rusia staliniana y se queja de que ésta persiguió y condenó a quienes colaboraron con los nazis. Esto me suena demasiado familiar si lo llevamos a la actualidad, a la Ucrania de Zelensky y su simbología neonazi, marchas con antorchas ultraderechistas y grupos skinheads incorporados a su ejército, persecusión y aniquilación de "colaboracionistas prorrusos", ¿acaso la historia se repite? Me atrevo a sobreteorizar y señalar que el odio a Stalin dentro de los nacionalismos reprimimos de la URSS fue tal, y por extensión a Rusia como centro de poder, que sin atreverse a decirlo, muchos como Kravchenko, tácitamente deslizan la idea de que hubiesen preferido que el nazismo derrotara a la URSS con tal de ver desaparecer el régimen soviético, por eso lo primero que señala al hablar de esta guerra es que lamenta la victoria o la continuidad de Stalin, una forma más soterrada de decir que hubiese preferido la victoria nazi.
Kravchenko hasta caracteriza a Stalin como bajito, feo ,negro y supersticioso y tiene la ingenua idea de que sin la URSS el mundo sería más pacífico, más libre y más democrático. No sólo eso, el autor cree que la URSS hubiese usado la bomba atómica para hacer triunfar el comunismo, aún sabiendo que EEUU fue el único país del mundo que lo hizo en ese período y... hasta ahora. Al final no hay que tomarse esta biografía tan en serio pues el mismo autor al terminar el libro advierte que ha "alterado" algunas circunstancias para proteger a personas inocentes, probablemente nunca sabremos la magnitud de tales "alteraciones". Como dice el dicho, no hay peor fanático que un converso. Proabablemente Kravchenko sin proponérselo quizo estar a la altura de un Bartolomé de Las Casas al caracterizar todos los males de su propio imperio urbi et orbi.

[Michał Hołda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This autobiography is honest and easy to keep remembering for the way Viktor Kravchenko life happened.

Viktor Kravchenko belonged to the Komsomol and went on to study engineering after a lump of rock fell on him while working in a mine and he lost consciousness in the icy water of the mine.

The Komsomol gathered young people aged 14 to 28, while the officials of the organization (the so-called activists) were often much older.

Of course, he was featured at the party congress during the purges, and many did not manage and lost their affiliation to the party, Viktor Kravchenko was still a communist and still liked.

Later on even questioned and imprisoned in another purges, but didn't singed anything and was released. Its another matter that he was often under pressure to sign papers and even during war with Germany when he was captain and political officer he was acting with reason not to set somebody up. Uncommon but this man was mature in politics and could even deceive other party officials who had to decide if he can go to USA, to represent metal industry at lend-lease policy.

Much earlier in life when he was factory manage, with five-room apartment, a car with a driver, and a large refrigerator at home.

Got a letter from Vladimir Groman, who wrote privately that he had to flee the country because if he didn't, they would lock him up again, or he would have to serve his torturer.

The state services even locked up and interrogated peasants, the Kulaks. And most people couldn't take it anymore. Many fled abroad or got bullets in the head. And so in the west, Soviet agents came to ordinary Americans and persuaded people to join the party and "help" people after signing the party book. Hypocrites.

Abroad he was astonished that people there has what they promised them in Russia way back in time, before reformations.

[Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finished the autobiography I CHOSE FREEDOM (1946) by Victor Kravchenko (1905-1966), a prominent Russian engineer on a Lend-Lease assignment when he defected in April 1944. With an engineer’s attention to detail, Kravchenko describes his life as a hopeful Communist rising in political and economic ranks. As he becomes more exposed to the horrors and terrors of the Stalin regime, his optimism transforms into hatred towards the government system’s brutal exploitation of its citizens, its hypocrisies, and above all the terror of its sadistic enforcers, the NKVD (forerunner of the KGB). Kravchenko is especially appalled by the naivety of Americans and pro-Stalin attitudes of American liberals towards the Communist reality of “slave labor [the Gulag], police dictatorship, the massive periodic purges, the fantastically low standards of living, the great famine of 1932-33, the horrors of collectivization, the state-organized child labor” (p. 468).

His defection and later memoirs were a great embarrassment to the Soviet government. I CHOSE FREEDOM is an important insider’s view of the Soviet Union, written a decade before Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s THE GULAG ARCHIPELAGO. The American ambassador to Russia, Joseph Davies, wanted Kravchenko deported back to Moscow, but President Roosevelt, to his credit, refused. Though written 80 years ago, Kravchenko’s warnings are valid today concerning the treachery and duplicity of Russian dictators and the stupidity of American sympathizers and liberal mouthpieces of socialism.

Kravchenko abandoned his wife in Russia, then met a wealthy American heiress with whom he had two children. He allegedly committed suicide, but his son Andrew has argued his father was a victim of Soviet assassination.

[Dana · Rating 5 out of 5]

كتاب #اثرت_الحرية يعتبر سيرة ذاتية للكاتب #فكتور_كرافتشنكو
يحكي سيرة حياته منذ ان كان طفلا و والده شارك في ثورة ضد القصير ، منذ ان حمله والده بيده قال انظروا لهذا الثائر ، الى ان صار شابا يجد نفسه منخرطا تلقائيا مع الحزب الشيوعي ..
( فكان سبب كتابته لهذا العمل انشقاقه عن رفقاء الثورة في الحقبة الستالينيه الوحشيه المرعبه )
يجب قراءة هذا العمل فهو لايصف حاله فقط بل من خلاله ترى المشهد من قريب وبعيد ، مشهد ان تكون فقيرا لاتعبأ بك الدولة و مشهد ان تكون مواليا للحزب لدرجة التطرف و الظلم ..
نشأ في فترة الطفولة مع جدة وكان يقول :يدربني على الاغتسال والاستحمام بالماء البارد في الهواء (كما يفعل الجنود والرجال) -هذه من ضمن بعض الامور التي رسمت شخصيته منذ الطفوله-

كان يسمع جدة يتحدث لوالده : " اما ماتعتقد انك مخلصا في عدالة قضيتك فلتعمل بما يمليه عليك إيمانك " اذ زُج في السجن وأخرج بعفو اصدره القيصر.

يقول والد فكتور " أن الحياة بلا حرية هي الفناء بعينه .. فإما ان نكون آدميين فليس في مقدرونا ان نكون عبيدا اذلاء.."
اذا القضايا تُورث بقدر ايمان اصحابها 👍

فعمِل مع الجيش وعمل في المناجم و انضم الى الحزب مخلصا لمبادئه و لإقامة عالم اشتراكي جديد.

فمن ضمن نصائح والده له عند انضمامه للحزب : لاتعش بالألفاظ تتخذها لك شعارا و احكم على الساسة بأعمالهم لا بأقوالهم ..

فقد حصل على منحة لأستكمال دراسته و اصبح مهندسا ذا مكانه محترمه ، شهد خلال فترة دراسته العديد من المشاكل والتغيرات والاراء المختلفة شكلت كل هذه الامور شخصيته ليكون انسانا حقيقيا لا مُخادع ولا جاسوسا رجل يحب وطنه وعمله و إنسان .
ففي فترة دراسته ادرك ان حرية التعبير و إبداء اي رأي معارض للنظام الستاليني يؤدي ذلك الى القتل او القتل ..

فكان يرى جثث الموتى من الجوع والاهمال على مد النظر في المزارع الجماعية وغيرها ، اذ كانوا الاحياء يأكلون جثث الاموات إن لم يجدوا مايأكلون ، فكان فكتور ممن يرى هذه الامور والسلطة لاتأبه بذلك .

(كانت في فترة ارتفاع شعارات الحزب الشيوعي و التمجيد لستالين هناك من كان يطهو روث الخيل للأكل في قرى ومزارع بعيدة عن عاصمة السياسيين)
فهذا بإختصار ماكان يراه فكتور وهو مازال عضوا في الحزب الشيوعي .

ثم تلي مشاهد العذاب في حياته مرحلة التطهير في هذه المرحلة كان في نفسه اعتزال الحزب فكان يعلم انه ليس بمقدوره ترك الحزب بهذه السهولة ..

فمن ضمن محاكم التطهير التي شملت الألاف كلمة ذلك المسكين الجائع الذي يعمل ولايستطيع سد حاجة وجوع اسرته عندما وصفوا شكواه على انها مهزله : " ان كانت هذه مهزله إذن فكيف تكون المأساة" !

كان فكتور يرى الجوع والجثث والظلم ويرى المسؤلين يتمتعون بنعيم يمنعهم من رؤية لذلك الفقر ، كل ذلك يبقى في قلبه الى ان ساقوا له التهم كما الابرياء السابقين لكن لحظ فكتور انه نجى بأكثر من مرة من هذه التهم الباطله

[AURORA RU · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Каждое произносимое мною слово лжи вскрывало полузажившие раны моего собственного потрясающего опыта в период коллективизации и последующего голода. Мне казалось, что я издеваюсь над детьми с распухшими животами, среди которых я работал, и беспокою тела мертвых, разбросанные по деревне. И все время, пока я говорил, я не сомневался, что мои слушатели также знали, что я лгу. Мои слова и их апплодисменты были одинаково серьезны: мы все были актерами, игравшими предписанные нам роли в трагической политической комедии.
Почему я, почему аудитория, подчинались этому безобразию? По той же причине, почему вы вручайте бумажник бандиту, направившему на вас свой револвер. Пусть ни один иностранец, уверенный в своих человеческих правах, не посмотрит сверху вниз на русских, вынужденных "читать лекции", как я это делал, и аплодировать, как это делала моя аудитория."

[Julia Makogon · Rating 5 out of 5]

(Український переклад вийшов у 2021 році у видавництві Смолоскип.)
It was a sudden gift from a friend. I read the book in Ukrainian translation in the autumn of 2022, and it was the first one I managed to read with full attention after returning back to Kyiv (many Ukrainians lost the ability to read for some time after the beginning of the full-scale war). I was hooked and spent nights reading. It worked like bitter medicine: our grandmas and grandpas survived that horror and terror, and so can we. Many of his memories completed the stories of my late elders.

[Hürdem · Rating 3 out of 5]

Çok eski bir baskıyı okudum bazı yerleri anlamadığım da oldu. Okurken dehşete kapıldım. Bilmediğim bir dönem o kadar korkunç şeylerden bahsediyor ki acaba Amerika’ya kaçtıktan sonra anti Sovyet propagandası için olayları abartarak mı yazdı diye
düşündüm. Mümkün ama gerçek olması da çok mümkün.
Kullanılan Türkçe ile ilgili: o kadar eski bir bakı ki Ekvator çizgisi için ‘hattı üstüva’ kullanılıyor. Şimdiye kadar sorduğum hiç kimse bu tanımı duymamış bile.

[Antonio Jorge · Rating 5 out of 5]

Um livro escrito por um não-escritor, que no entanto consegue passar todos os sentimentos inerentes a uma pessoa que foi violada nos seus ideais políticos. A angústia e a impotência, são por demais evidentes. Uma obra fantástica, que deveria ser de leitura obrigatória em todas as faculdades de ciências humanas.

[Doug Hauser · Rating 5 out of 5]

Should be a must read for all those who are enamored with Socialism & Communism.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you can find it, read it.

The Cincinnati library has 4 copies but at least 1 of them is all marked up—fortunately, at least 1 of them is not marked up.

[Юра Мельник · Rating 5 out of 5]

Читаєш і розумієш, що нічого кращого ніж "оце що зараз" в Москві точно не могло б відбуватись. Я не читав 1984, але думаю що Орвелл надихався книжкою Віктора Кравченка.

[Данило Гончар · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story of the man who was ready to build bright socialist future, but had to escape from a totalitarian regime.