My grandfather was a political prisoner in Soviet Union and he was tortured to make him sign a confession, he did sign it after days of beating and sleep deprivation. He was chosen to work as a recorder/accountant to keep track of the amount of work done by his brigade. After some time he was approached by one of the camp's administrators who offered him to be an informer against other prisoners. My grandfather refused. It was dangerous to refuse such an offer, but thankfully, they just left him alone and didn't do anything to him. My grandfather also told me that they had absolutely outstanding people among the political prisoners, famous writers, opera singers so on. He met a lot of brilliant people there.
Glory to the lord jesus christ the father and holyspirt filled belivers all who value freedom from sin nature sins penalty paid and sins future. I was also weak i wasn't ready for surveillance state I now know why a return to real and true miracles is needed to defeat starve or comply
And college kids, inspired by narcissistic professors, want to bring socialism/communism here. Education is failing when the most basic truths are ignored while political speak is promoted. smh
Thank you Jesus for your love for us and gift of salvation. Thank you for the grsndfather who kept his integrity - YOU OH LORD ARE MIGHTY IN NAME AND DEED MY GLORIOUS SAVIOUR I LOVE YOU SO MUCH
I find myself going through a rough patch right now in my life, so I've been reading and watching youtube videos from authors such as Jordan Peterson. Peterson introduced me to many brilliant thinkers like Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. I have never been, and probably will never be, in a gulag; but I have been re-examining my life. Although I was a product of a horrible parent and a less than stellar upbringing, there were times in my life where I could have reacted differently in certain situations. Acted my positively. Acted more honorably. I could have been a better husband, parent, son, friend, etc. Jordan Peterson does not know me, and we will probably never meet. But I thank him greatly for the wisdom he has shared throughout the years.
My grandpa was in Gulag. He told me about the terrible things that happened there. He said the camp was indeed run by the prisoners themselves. There were only few soldiers there. They were watching for food storage only. The next village was far enough that nobody would risk running away. What they say about death rate there is true. Not many survived few years he was there. He kept all the terrible memories to himself the whole life. He did not bother his wife with it, she had her own traumatic experiences when he was away. He told me his story shortly before his time came. I do not remember all the details, maybe I just do not want to, I do remember the horror that I felt when he was talking. Years later was the time that my father told me what he lived through. He also smuggled the book from the west. He was a translator so he could travel. I never found the courage to read it. Whatever that was that communists thought they did, nobody deserves this. I did not need these stories to know the system was rotten. I could see all the "the party with the folk, the folk with the party" posters everywhere. That is all one needs to know, that we were lied to. I find it extremely worrying what I see is happening in the West now. With the academia and media firmly in the hands of ideologues. The march through the institutions was successful indeed. The ideas look new on the surface but they have the same ugly inside. The worst thing is that we do not even have a massive oppression machine to force people into it. They seem to be already there. I hope this is not going where I fear it is going. How do we stop it?
@@cyberblock7619 welhumanity runs its drunken course from one wall to another. Maybe we get oppression without gulags and dozens of millions of dead this time. I am pretty sure however that I neither want one nor the another.
from what I've been able to gather, there hasn't yet been a full English translation of this work, only partial, but I also read a full translation is coming in the next year or so. Well that took a while! Might be difficult and unfair to speak about a book that you haven't yourself read.
Every 5 years or so I read The Gulag Archipelago......and every time I´m amazed and stunned over the callousness and brutality. But it sets me straight and reminds me to be kind to my fellow human being.
I read The Gulag Archipelago in the eighties and it profoundly affected me. I felt that the whole message of the book was that if they threaten to throw your daughter to the syphilitic rapists if you don't dob in your neighbour, you don't dob in your neighbour because they will anyway and then you have lost not just your family but the one thing you should never give up under any circumstances - your integrity.
@@skandakumar2457 Wendell Berry wrote a poem. I believe the title is "Do Not Be Ashamed" ( or something similar; has been a while since I referred to it)
he is in Florida with his family,resting from treatmant in Russia. there was very very short video how he played with a small dron in the backyard from his fb page(not run by him).
Ahmaud Aubrey Good Boy Jogger And Home Inspector Yes, but hard to get a copy. There’s a pdf file on the net but not all the chapters are translated, at least not when I looked a few years back. Do you know where to get a copy?
“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.” ― Alexander Solzhenitsyn
There is a clear reason why this book is forbidden in America. If it was allowed, even dunces would then recognize that the same Bolsheviks who ran Russia, are now running America, they just swapped the blouse and cap for the business suit/dress and tie. They are now in Congress and Senate, and every corridor of power. Unless they are rooted out,you can bet top dollar they are planning the next holodomor, dozens of millions will die if they are not stopped 😤.
At 4:02 he states that after the KGB got ahold of the text, "the typist committed suicide". I highly doubt this, as the KGB assassinations were routinely written off as suicides in the USSR.
Okay so I must say, gotten my life semi-together these days, but I’ve spent many moon 🌙 in jail, I have 2 felony convictions, barely graduated high school, highest education 12th grade, done some good things in my life I’ve also done some outright evil/wicked things as well, but Jordan, you really have helped me the last few months in understanding the ugly side of myself, and being okay with it. And learning how to keep it under control. And the benefits of having such personality traits, can be immeasurable if used correctly, and idk if it means something to others, but there is something SO profound about understanding your fundamental nature. Thank you for all of it JP
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's admiration of his fellow prisoners who kept their integrity in such troubling times is the same expression that Viktor Frankl made about his kinsmen in his autobiography "Man in Search of Meaning" where he also described seeing "saints" among him despite the horrendous situation they were in as well.
Thank you. I read the first two volumes when I was in my early 20's and they make a huge effect upon my life. I also recently read A Concise History of the Russian Revolution by Richard Pipes and throughly enjoyed the detailed yet easy-to-read and easy-to-understand this marvelous history of both the Russian Revolution of February 1917 and the Bolshevik coup of October 1917. May it be a lesson to the world.
For us Roman Catholics, here is the reminder that Our Lady of Fatima appeared in October 1917 to say that Our Lord was deeply offended and that we must pray the holy rosary daily. For non-Catholics, this is a meditation on the life of Jesus, for our sakes, rather than for His. If we failed to immerse ourselves into the love and mercy of Christ, then Russia would scatter her errors throughout the world, and there would yet be another more horrible war to come with much suffering. One point here is that the individual soul is made in the Image and Likeness of God, and that the Collective is always against the soul and is instead based upon the great sin of Envy. Also until the fact that the Roman Catholic faith and Communism have been recognized as being diametrically opposed, even from the inception of Communism in 1917.
I could listen to Jordan speak for hours. Notice not single pause or um and his entire monologue weaves perfectly from introduction thru to conclusion. If nothing else, he is an amazing speaker and excellent teacher.
I admit myself to be fearful of what might come these days, but I must say this - that if it is merely reading the horror of communism you seek in Solzhenitsyn’s work, you will miss the deeper points of his words - that even in suffering there is hope in life and that the beauty of existence is real and found through spiritual growth, and not materialism or ideology.
It’s happened here already in the UK. We are no longer a free state. Covid has brought us under the shadow of authoritarianism and totalitarianism, but tragically and worst of all, it is supported by most of our people 😔
Just bought a copy of 'The Gulag Archipelago' and I may return to 'Ivan' one day (read it as a teenager and was absolutely hooked to the story that I needed to know). Thank you for this.
Jordan Peterson is one of the most brilliant minds. His orations remind me of Joseph Campbell. Listening to Peterson speak is like reading profound literature.
He has been asked a couple of times one is quite dodgy and dismissive, the other interview shows a Jewish guy actually giving him a copy of the book and asks to review it since even he didn't know about the history. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-mLnP0nJLl0E.html Jordan denied to anwser
So what is the answer? How do you stand when you are weak and sensitive to pain, when people you love are still alive, when you are unprepared? What do you need to make you stronger than the interrogator and the whole trap? From the moment you go to prison, you must put your cozy past firmly behind you. At the very threshold, you must say to yourself, "My life is over. A little early, perhaps, but there is nothing to be done about it. I shall never return to freedom. I am condemned to die, -now, or a little later. But it will be harder later on, so the sooner the better. I no longer have any property whatsoever. For me, those I love have died. To them, I have died. From today on, my body is useless and alien to me. Only my spirit and my conscience remain precious to me." Confronted by such a prisoner, the interrogation will tremble. Only one who has renounced everything can win that victory. .... "There is nothing you can do to me even if you cut me to pieces. After all, you are afraid of your bosses, you are afraid of each other, you are even afraid of killing me. But I am not afraid of anything. I would be glad to be judged by God this minute." -A. I. Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago, Vol.1, pp130,131
@Ann Nifödova Yes, the Soviet regime was kind and benevolent. The Bolsheviks were native Russians who had no animosity towards the native populace, and despite me despising what Hitler did, I am a Nazi. Prove me wrong. Prove me wrong about what I think, that you know better what is in my mind than I do, you arrogant prick.
It's never been translated to english, it mentions the juice, and it probably would derail the subject completely by making people hyper-focused on that instead of tackling what the issues with the systems the bolsheviks used to destroy the country which can be abused by anyone. There's a reason the label referred to as the "hostile elite" was later applied to these actors. Not everyone involved wears a tiny hat, and as Aleksandr himself noted, not everyone wearing a tiny hat is involved with these agendas to dominate people. Klaus Schwab is basically the figurehead of Davos and I believe he's actually German. Don't get hung up on ethnicities and risk caricaturing yourself into exactly who they want other people to believe you to be.
I have the Gulag Archipelago and One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. Finished One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich and now I'm moving on to Animal Farm by George Orwell.
Using a select handful prisoners as guards and administrators is a classic way to prevent them from banding together and revolting, just like the Roman Empire treated its colonies unfairly to prevent them from forming an alliance against Rome. Divide et impera.
Making my way through the novel. Finding it tough going in terms of style and content. I am persevering as I can see it is an important book and also out of respect for those people who went through this and weren't heard. The descriptions of the prisons, interrogations and trials reveal people in the grip of ideology that became more important than honoring what it is to be human. Some people see it as an indictment of Communism but I think it is more about the human condition. It took me about 35 yrs to get around to reading this so not stopping now.
Left wing activists who think everyone else is bad should read this book, they might learn to become more tolerant to those who don't share their views
Very unlikely any of them would take the time to read a work as substantial as _The Gulag Archipelago_ - they'd be too busy with their Twitter feeds and going on Antifa protests etc.
@Ann Nifödova This is exactly what Peterson talks about. Truthful speech is the only way. Ann, you are vicious and speak only lies. If you're trying to advocate for Communism you're doing a poor job. Look everyone, this is who wants Communism. Bitter, resentful, hate filled liars like Ann.
It's never been translated to english, it mentions the juice, and it probably would derail the subject completely by making people hyper-focused on that instead of tackling what the issues with the systems the bolsheviks used to destroy the country which can be abused by anyone. There's a reason the label referred to as the "hostile elite" was later applied to these actors. Not everyone involved wears a tiny hat, and as Aleksandr himself noted, not everyone wearing a tiny hat is involved with these agendas to dominate people. Klaus Schwab is basically the figurehead of Davos and I believe he's actually German. Don't get hung up on ethnicities and risk caricaturing yourself into exactly who they want other people to believe you to be.
Morally walking down 'a straight line' in life is right and noble but one cannot ignore obstacles. When you are confronted with obstacles such as communism or fascism, what do you do? Try to survive or die?
IT is what we are not doing. to go along is an easy road to comfortable tyranny. As I understand his one and only point is "SAY NOTHING< DO NOTHING, will give you what you deserve".
Interesting, I haven't read the book, but Viktor Frankl describes the same phenomenon, the inmates-made-guards were usually more brutal than the actual guards. Frankl attributed it to the fact they were picked for this very reason. Maybe Jordan is mixing the books? Or it occured in the same way in both cases.
Great observation Peterson: the Gulag archipelago destroyed socialism/communism state central planning. Hayek only theorized it. And Karl Marx contradicted himself: "Power is corrupting". Stalin centrally planned Russians to death, aided by his friend, massmurderer Yagoda.
@@NiallM333 i don't think anyone really thinks that if Russia will be communist again it will be similar to the Soviet Union. To be honest Solzhenitsyn is kinda a liar since he doesn't use any statistics to support his numbers and arguments, he also is not referring to any documents in Gulag Archipelago.
@@nikitag1376 Probably not but there do seem to be a lot of them that romanticise about the old days and wish to go back to it. He's maybe not giving any sources but that doesn't mean that he's a liar.
@@NiallM333 lol, if he doesn't give any sources then his work can't be used as an argument and taking in consideration that he was extremely antisoviet he wasn't objective and honest in Gulag Archipelago
@@nikitag1376 Fair enough sources for numbers and that, but that still doesn't mean he's a liar. I'd say you'd be anti-soviet too if you'd went what he went through. I don't think it's any secret that people who spoke out against the regime were persecuted. Or for basically anything.
Alexander became a born again Christian, after the Lord used an unknown man to stop him from committing a suicide run to the fence one day in camp. It turns out, that our dear Alexander was liberated three days later, and he realized that Jesus kept him and rescued him. Never give up ❤
Aleksandr also said that if the populace would have used violence at the start of the revolution against police, etc, there may not have been a revolution. Just like this corona communism. _"What would things have been like if every security operations man, when he set out at night to make arrests, was uncertain whether he would return alive, and would have to say his good-byes to his own family? Or, if during mass arrests, as for example Leningrad, when they arrested a quarter of the entire city, people had not just sat there, growing pale at every bang of the downstairs doors and at every step and staircase, but a boldest set up ambushes in their entrances, consisting of several persons with axes, hammers, and pokers, or whatever else was at hand. The police organs very quickly would have suffered from a shortage of officers and transport, and notwithstanding all of Stalin’s thirst, the cursed machine would have ground to a halt. If…if…"_
This is why, as an American, I am grateful for the foresight of our great forefathers who blessed us with the U.S. Constitution, and more specifically the 2nd Amendment: "The right to keep and bear arms _shall not be infringed."_ in 2019 and 2020 firearm sales broke records. People are not fools, they know what is happening, and they are not going to go down without a fight.
His literal point was that the prisoners had a choice, and chose to stay. He implies this was due to a psychological weakness of some kind. No doubt there were many motivations in the camps, but to suggest that the prisoners had any realistic chance of escaping is both false and ridiculous. Therefore his consequent psychological point is also false. The utter despair broke even the strongest people.
Of course, and I don't disagree with his points about that. But his first points about it somehow being a choice to stay are false and ridiculous, as I said.
This sir so excited to explain the great lie of communism in the Book, Gulag Archipelago of solzilestyne But he forgets the chapter which speaks about the treachery of the Westerners who delivered Russians to the USSR and of course he spoke well about the unequaled perfidy of English policy is not it?
Was he actually there? We are all guilty from time to time of relating stories we have only read about as if they were our own personal experiences. I'd have more respect for this guy if he spoke about his own boring life.
Thank you, John, for posting this. I'm a big fan of you, Dave Rubin & Dr. Peterson. Have been following each of you 3 for 2+ years. Came across this clip 2-1/2 years after you posted it. What a treasure!!! Ars longa, vita brevis! (Art is long, life is short!)
We see the same suspicions against the 'intelligentia' now as in Aleksandr's days. People use the same words about teachers and students. Grudgingly accepting that engineers are still needed but all the other are expendable. Sound familiar? Because they understand that they don't understand how their phone works. So yeah we need those! But most people don't understand that they don't understand how a country is run in all its subtleties. Or why anthropologists are useful. Let alone social studies. When the proletariat emancipates, horrible things happen. We only blame the communist leaders, but it's the people that did the day-to-day cruelty we should be focusing on. The fool who locks up the poet. People like me and you.
Jordan Peterson is but balls, all talk. While Solzhenitsyn is a lifetime's experience, hard labor, ruthless gut and expression. Pathetic these discourse, decades later and from a cushioned privileged world of white men.
They would have both been Democrats. Democrats didnt used to be Marxist Communists and Fascists, but times have changed and so has the ideology the Marxist Left has embraced. The Democrats started embracing Marxism in the late 60s, and now those chickens have come home to roast as those Baby Boomers Marxist Dems are now in charge of the country.
I think Jordan Peterson always encourages his audience to read about gulag camps in Russia. Because life was miserable in that situation, and we are way better than them. For me I have watched about the documentaries in gulag camps and also watched the horror which Migrants are going through from all parts Africa who want to go to Europe are stuck in Libya in camps. It reminded me of Alexander Solzhentysn sufferings. Guys please remember we are way better than them. Pray for them God to rescue and Thank God we are in pretty good conditions. In today's generation people who are working men have a very bad perspective on life. They like their life is freaking but in actual sense it's not. Because we have the power to chose whether we are going to play the victim role or master role. Circumstances cannot define our life and future.
By implementing such measures in such camps, Stalin was in direct contradiction to the doctrine or communism. the doctrine of communism (as put forward by Marx) is 'everyone works for the common good.' Stalin betrayed that ideal obviously. communism does not promote starvation, torture, or kidnapping. what took place in those years ought be called 'Stalinism.'
Communism = the means of production being owned in a collective order. aka, if you have something that I deem valueble, since all means of production is collective; i will then have the right to take that from you for me and my cronies. nevermind the several years you worked to finally afford a house, there is someone who doesnt have a house, ill rampage your house for ''his sake.' Communism is a licience to steal from the rich, with no accountability if ever given to the poor, and no set boundries on whos rich to to be taken away. if there is one business owner among a hundred of workers, its easy to point whos the rich to be exploited, but keep that up, then then no one is a rich businuess owner. So what to do? lower the definition of rich. now its the those who have a house and the farmers(they have a lot of land). ........So what happen if they are all exploited? Lets target those who have something to eat today .... and what then, eventually we'll target the poorest among us. And what if someone rejects our communist ideal? for one person may have mercy, but to a mob drunk in greed and cruelity with the licience and moral highground to take away? i doubt. They will hunt down those people. Human nature is the problem with comunism. it is not compatible. If there is a alien without the moral depravity and evil within them like humans do have, perhaps communism may work for them. But for us whoa are human, let us not relive the past mistakes of our grand fathers. Do not put high expectection on a man weak moral. Everyone is evil if given the right circumstances. it is absoulutely critical your read the definition of something complex and play it out. what sounds like good intentions != good results. The economists and scholars who read the definitions and ideas proposed by marx saw his ideals in contempt, they didnt need to see the soviets and the gulags. they knew what was written and what it had implied hiddenly. because they have the fore thought. Marx wrote his theories in the comfort of capatalist london.
@@easygoing2479, even from the beginning. Caps were not running by the prisoners. He doesn't know what he is talking about. Here in Russia even the biggest anticommunists don't quote Solzh, coz he was compromised. In GULAG archipelago there is not a single word of true. And Solzh was a rat in prison. If you want to believe a traitor, rat and liar, your choice.
@John Wallace without realizing you just did an ad hominem attack instead of sticking to the topic. Ask me why I think he is a narcissist Instead of attacking me as a person.
@John Wallace I'm aware of narcissism. The reason I say it is I see it. Not a sideways reason. Tell me the traits of a narcissist. You probably only know a dictionary definition.
@John Wallace Telling a person what they think and feel instead of asking. He says atheists are not really atheist. Says that would mean they are immoral. He cannot face he is wrong about anything. So two traits of a narcissist I pointed out.
@John Wallace Christians thinking they have the only valid religion or one true religion is a narcissist stance while being ignorant of other religions. They cannot face they might be wrong. Of 100 creation stories only theirs is true. Only my beliefs are valid is egocentric and narcissist. Jordon Peterson is ethnocentric and his opinions are not worldly. They don't include Asia. So he calls someone an atheist for nor believing in the abrahamic god while not seeing he does not believe in 99.9 percent of the gods in the encyclopedia of gods. 2500 of them. Hindu gods, ancient greek gods, roman gods, Mayan, Aztec, etc.