Navalny & Solzhenistyn

The Gulag Archipelego Claims Another Victim

“Shall we sum up the whole history of Russia in a single phrase? It is the land of smothered opportunities.” —Alexsandr Solzhenitsyn, “The Gulag Archipelego”

There is a very odd dynamic currently at play within the Republican Party. For most Americans, approval of Russia is relatively low. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s approval rating is among the lowest of World Leaders’ approval, often hovering in the low teens or high single digits. That is, except for among the reddest of the Republican Party.

“One thing is absolutely definite: not everything that enters our ears penetrates our consciousness. Anything too far out of tune with our attitude is lost, either in the ears themselves or somewhere beyond, but it is lost.”—Solzhenitsyn, “The Gulag Archipelego”

Yes, the Republican Party of Ronald Reagan, who once called the Soviet menace “The Evil Empire” and made it his personal mission to break the communist state, yes, that party has a fetish on Putin. What is particularly interesting is that while most MAGA and Fox viewers tend to be older and clearly remember the Cold War of the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s, there appears to be no aversion to them of todays Russia. The Soviet system is dead, and Putin’s authoritarian hand is what the MAGA fanboys want nowadays.

“Unlimited power in the hands of limited people always leads to cruelty.” —Solzhenitsyn, “The Gulag Archipelego”

This past week, outspoken Putin critic and former Presidential candidate Alexei Navalny died. In his last public appearance, he was fine, jovially joking with a judge, and seemed in good health. Twelve hours later he would be dead at his penal colony prison north of the Arctic Circle. So far the only people who have been allowed to view his body are Russian prison officials, no doubt to prevent the actual reasons for his demise to become known.

Navalny came to notoriety by using modern communications streams to broadcast and expose the widespread corruption within Putin’s government. His posts became viral within Russia and the mantra of calling Putin and his party a gang of “thieves and crooks” took root. His YouTube video exposing Putin’s billion dollar villa became a huge sensation and received hundreds of millions of views.

“You can resolve to live your life with integrity. Let your credo be this: Let the lie come into the world, let it even triumph. But not through me.”—Solzhenitsyn, “The Gulag Archipelego”

Putin began subjecting Navalny to trumped up politically motivated charges of embezzlement and fraud, to prevent him from running for office again in 2018. His popularity still continued to rise. In 2020, Navalny experienced serious health issues and was hospitalized. After several days of stalling, the authorities allowed him to seek treatment in Germany where it was discovered he had been exposed to a Soviet KGB era nerve agent, Novichok. Putin had tried to have Navalny poisoned.

“Political genius lies in extracting success even from the people’s ruin.”—Solzhenitsyn, “The Gulag Archipelego”

He recuperated, but then returned to Russia, where he was immediately arrested at the airport and sent to jail under parole violations for going to Germany. Putin locked him up in a penal colony in Siberia.

“No, the old proverb does not lie: Look for the brave in prison, and the stupid among the political leaders! ”—Solzhenitsyn, “The Gulag Archipelego”

In March, 2022, he had an additional nine years added to his sentence for embezzlement. Earlier this year, he was missing from his previous prison for three weeks, until it was disclosed he had been moved to his current prison north of the Arctic Circle. And then on Sunday, it was announced he was dead.

“You only have power over people as long as you don’t take everything away from them. But when you’ve robbed a man of everything, he’s no longer in your power—he’s free again.” —Solzhenitsyn, “The Gulag Archipelego”

It remains to be seen if Russia is too far gone to fight back against this evil and injustice. Everyone recognizes it for what it was and for what occurred. To be sure, there have been times in Russia which have gone both ways on the matter. When Stalin died and an opportunity arose, Khruschev took the reins of power and stifled dissent again. But when hard-line Soviet leaders in the ‘80s thought Gorbachev had gotten soft and enabled a coup, the people rose up in definance of it. Putin’s grip on power still seems secure but his control over the masses less so. The war in Ukraine has touched every corner of the country with young men being conscripted and sent to their deaths, costs of goods skyrocketing in a war economy and overall morale at a 21st Century low. Putin seems for now content to maintain control, focus on a few internal threats and hope that keeps him in control.

“Nothing is easier than stamping your foot and shouting: ‘That’s mine!’ It is immeasurably harder to proclaim: ‘You may live as you please.’ ”—Solzhenitsyn, “The Gulag Archipelego”

But one thing is certain going forward. The cat is out of the bag. People know. Navalny shone a bright huge light on it, one that his wife seems eager to continue in his work. Should events inside Russia take a turn and force Putin from power, it will be the work of those like Navalny did to get the ball rolling.

As for The Republican MAGA Right’s” fixation on Putin, I think Navalny said it best in this series of quotes:

“People hate politicians. And I can understand why.”

“The party of swindlers and thieves is putting forward its chief swindler and its chief thief for the presidency. We must vote against him, struggle against him.”

“Putin and his advisers don't understand the power of public opinion in the West. They believe in conspiracy theories and that someone is orchestrating a malicious campaign against [them]. They don't realize that even conservative politicians have to react when newspapers and artists express their concern on such an issue.”

—Alexei Navalny

R.I.P. Alexei Navalny (1976-2024)

PurpleAmerica’s Recommended Stories

I don’t get many reasons to write about Solzhenitsyn’s “The Gulag Archipelego,” but it is one of my favorite books. It describes in great detail the ridiculousness of the corrupt Russian Soviet era system of prisons, penal colonies and gulags. The “archipelego” he describes are the series of penal colonies scattered throughout Siberia so far removed from society that the only thing for hundreds of miles is the prison itself and perhaps a small town housing the people who work there. The conditions inside the prisons are their own concrete circle of hell, constructed with leaking pipes, disgusting conditions and only other prisoners and rats to keep you company.

The constant double meanings behind everything everyone says and what they really mean are a constant reminder free expression and thought are forever stifled in the Russian society. The falsity of the charges handed out to people are more a matter of smacking down any iota of subversive thought and a motivation to work harder and stay in line for everyone else. I strongly recommend reading this book.

PurpleAmerica’s Cultural Corner

The CNN Documentary “Navalny” won the Oscar for Best Documentary and is worth your time to watch. Not only does it cover Navalny’s background and the story of his Novichok poisoning, it uses modern tech methods to actually track down the GRU operatives who conducted it.

“Navalny” is available on Max.

PurpleAmerica’s Obscure Fact of the Day

The network of the Gulag Archipelego was indeed vast within the Stalinist Soviet Union. It was estimated at one point that roughly 1/4 of all Soviets were in the system in one aspect or another, either as workers, prisoners or parolees subject to imprisonment and incarceration.

PurpleAmerica’s Final Word on the Subject

It would be a crime not to give it to Yulia Navalnaya, Alexei Navalny’s widow, who so eloquently talked about the death of her husband and the cause. Here is the video, translated into English by the BBC.

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Footnotes and Fun Stuff