The Gulag Archipelago is not a historical document — political scientist

17.02.2021, Moscow.

The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn must not be called a historical document, Editor of the Skepsis journal, Leading Research Associate of the Political Science Department of the M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University Sergey Solovyov said on February 16 to a correspondent of the Rossa Primavera News Agency at the presentation of the book The Wings of Our Youth by Aleksandr Zinoviev.

A live historic process cannot be fitted to a pre-defined historic template, Solovyov believes. He indicated that every person has his own opinion on the milestones of the 20th century.

“There are several milestones, and they determine the worldview coordinates: the revolution of 1917 and the Civil War, the Stalin period including Stalin’s repressions, the Great Patriotic War, and the disintegration of the USSR. A person’s attitude to certain events is what determines his position,” the political scientist explained.

Any arguments on the historical milestones must be based on the entire information regarding these milestones, the scientist added.

“Therefore, one may love Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn very much, but today documents are available. Not all of them, but still a great number of documents. Today, one cannot insist any more that The Gulag Archipelago is a historical document,” Solovyov believes.

The researcher stressed that a discussion is necessary on the reason why the repressions happened and the number of those repressed.

Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency

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