The Gulag Archipelago [Volume 1]: An Experiment in Literary Investigation

by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Notwithstanding the tortures he had endured, Smirnov had preserved his resounding voice and tranquil righteousness. This broad-shouldered man with a simple face and light-brown hair answered slowly, and the whole hall heard every word he said: “Since all appeals to organizations in the provincial capital had failed, I instructed Vlasov to write a report to Comrade Stalin.” “And why didn’t you write it?” (They hadn’t yet known about it! They had certainly missed that one!) “We did write it, and I sent it by courier directly to the Central Committee, bypassing the provincial leaders. A copy was kept in the District Committee files.” The whole courtroom held its breath. The court itself was in a commotion. They shouldn’t have continued questioning, but nonetheless someone asked: “And what happened?” And, indeed, that question was on the lips of everyone in the courtroom: “What happened?” Smirnov did not sob, did not groan over the death of his ideal (and that’s what was missing in the Moscow trials!). He replied loudly and calmly: “Nothing. There was no answer”