Solzhenitsyn, the West, and the New Russian Nationalism

Present events in the Soviet Union have brought about changes which not long ago would have been thought of as pure fantasy or extravagant futurology. Well-entrenched institutions have been shattered or abolished; new forces have appeared in the social and political arena; currents of ideas considered yesterday as marginal have moved to centre stage. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's views belong to this category. Their examination has now acquired a particular interest as a result of two main developments. First, because various right-wing groups in Russia, including Pamiat and other anti-semitic nationalists, repeatedly use Solzhenitsyn's name and moral authority to boost their political propaganda. Second, because some of Solzhenitsyn's works, fictional as well as non-fictional, are now published in the USSR.' The ensuing debate in the Soviet public iias focused not only on the literary merits and aesthetics of these works, but also on the political, social and ethical ideas of their author. Of course, some Western intellectuals feel differently; not long ago John Bayley observed in the New York Review of Books

Ancient history · Nationalism · Political science · Politics · History · Law · Soviet and Russian History

• Misconceptions about Russia Are a Threat to America

  Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr Isaevich Solzhenit︠s︡yn•Foreign Affairs•1980

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