The first review about this book discussed the speeches given by Alexander Solzhenitsyn to the AFL-CIO union and the U.S. Congress. This review is about a speech he gave to the members of the Senate and House of Representative on July 15, 1975 and both an interview and a speech on the BBC. His first comment in the speech to Congress was to thank the Senate for “…twice endeavoring to declare me an honorary citizen of the United States.” He quickly transitioned to his warnings to the West. He pointed out that in 1973, the year the United States embarked on detente and “…was precisely the year when starvation rations in Soviet prisons and concentration camps were reduced even further. He then mentions that the United States had the burden of leadership “…for at least half the world.” “We do not look upon you as Democrats or Republicans…we see statesmen, each of whom will play a direct and decisive role in the further course of world history, as it proceeds toward tragedy or salvation.”

The next entry in the book is the text of an interview, which I read to be contentious at times, on the BBC March 1, 1976. Solzhenitsyn responded to a question as to why the Soviets had exiled him instead of sending him back to the concentration camps. He observed that this was an instance where the West took a strong stand, and “…the Soviet Politburo simply took fright.” “I think now …they do regret it–we must remember they …had no choice. This was a rare moment when the West demonstrated unprecedented firmness and forced them to retreat.” However, Solzhenitsyn expressed dismay about the West’s reactions in most circumstances. Russians believed that the West would help raise them from slavery, but the West separated their own freedoms from the fate of the Russians. The press is accused of participating by not understanding their responsibility to publish the truth instead of mediocre headlines. He accuses that the West stood by while several countries fell to Communist rule.

Michael Carlton, the interviewer, mentions that Mr. Solzhenitsyn was a teacher, decorated war hero, officer in the Soviet Army, a cancer patient, and a political prisoner. He then asks “…what is the central point, in all that you say, that you stand for?” Solzhenitsyn responded that his outlook on life “…has been formed largely in concentration camps–that part of my life which is reflected in The Gulag Archipelago.” The interviewer mentions that the book is full of overwhelming anger and bitterness, and inquires whether the aim of the book is the destruction of Communist ideology or something more than that. Solzhenitsyn answers that he wanted to “fight against untruth and falsehood…to fight against an ideology which is hostile to mankind…” The interviewer then observers “perhaps a similarity between” Solzhenitsyn and Lenin (in what I read was a nasty manner). Solzhenitsyn gives a short answer saying that he wanted to gather every grain of information “…to recreate him…” (in his speeches and writings). “I don’t attack Lenin. I describe him as he was for what he is worth.” He then mentions that Lenin used murder to consolidate his power.

Solzhenitsyn mentions that Capitalists and their technology are “saving the Soviet Union.” Then you have people such as Bertram Russell saying “Better Red than Dead.” The British Defense Minister says “…the Soviet Union is passing the test. I don’t know how many countries have to be taken, maybe the Soviet tanks have to come to London…”

Solzhenitsyn gave a speech March 24, 1976 aired on BBC. He mentions that British minister Herbert Morrison persuaded Pravda to let him publish an article without censorship. The Russians rushed to buy the paper, and were disappointed that the article was feeble and insipid. He also mentions that Lloyd George said, “Forget about Russia. It is our job to ensure the welfare of our own society.” Russia lost 44 million people in World War II. Those who fled to the West were handed back to the Communists to be killed or sent to the labor camps to be worked to death. Britain turned over a hundred thousand Soviet citizens. Then the leading liberal British newspaper observed that the spiritual regeneration that has begun in Russia “…with pigs trying to fly.” “For some twenty years Britain’s voice has not been heard in our planet; its character has gone, its freshness has faded.”

The book closes with, “We have become hopelessly enmeshed in our slavish worship of all that is pleasant, all that is comfortable, all that is material–we worship things, we worship products. Will we ever succeed at shaking off this burden, in giving free rein to the spirit that was breathed into us at birth, that spirit which distinguishes us from the animal world?”