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

by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

But political genius lies in extracting success even from the people’s ruin. A brilliant idea was born: after all, three billiard balls can be pocketed with one shot. So now let the priests feed the Volga region! They are Christians. They are generous! 1. If they refuse, we will blame the whole famine on them and destroy the church. 2. If they agree, we will clean out the churches. 3. In either case, we will replenish our stocks of foreign exchange and precious metals.