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

by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Having gotten the floor with this maneuver, Vlasov explained willingly. “The prohibitions on selling flour and baking rye bread were instituted by a decree of the Provincial Executive Committee. One of the permanent members of its presidium is Provincial Prosecutor Karasik. If that’s wrecking, then why didn’t you veto it as prosecutor? That means you were a wrecker even before I was!” The prosecutor choked. It was a swift, well-placed blow. The court was also at a loss. The judge mumbled. “If necessary [?] we will try the prosecutor too. But today we are trying you.” (Two truths: it all depends on your rank.)