Stephen Kotkin on Solzhenitsyn

Historian and author Stephen Kotkin of Princeton University and Stanford University's Hoover Institution talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the historical significance of the life and work of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Solzhenitsyn's birth.

Stephen Kotkin on Solzhenitsyn

“Many people believe the Soviet system had redeeming features. For example, Hitler—Nazism—was absolutely beyond redemption. The Holocaust and what Hitler did made it seem that if you said anything nice about the Nazi system, you were apologizing for it. In the case of the Soviet Union, people imagined that there was a better revolution inside the Stalin regime, somehow. That 1917 was a purer, better form of Socialism that had been usurped or degraded by Stalin’s rule. Solzhenitsyn proved the contrary. Not only did he prove the contrary, but he did it in a way that tens of millions of people were interested to read. So, that’s an incredible accomplishment now on his centenary.”

Christopher Caldwell review of Between Two Millstones, Book 1

In the forthcoming National Review, Christopher Caldwell reviews Between Two Millstones, Book 1.

“Solzhenitsyn had become convinced that, far from being a reliable defender of others’ liberty, the West was at risk of fumbling away its own. He saw in the rich nations a “blindness of superiority,” a “decline in courage,” relativism, litigiousness, and a sense of responsibility to God that was growing “dimmer and dimmer.” The [Harvard] speech was a turning point in the Cold War, redrawing all its lines in a way that would anticipate the conflicts of our own time. Indeed it was with this speech during the Carter administration, not with the Putin ascendancy in the first decade of this century, that one first began to hear the progressive complaint that “the true Russia, as opposed to the Soviet Union, is a far greater danger to the West,” as Solzhenitsyn lamented. That foolish but durable view is the cornerstone of elite Western thinking about Russia today.”

— Christopher Caldwell

Brand-new translation: Solzhenitsyn's "Golden Matrix" speech

National Review website has just published a brand-new translation of Solzhenitsyn's "Golden Matrix" speech, delivered in Zurich on 31 May 1974 in accepting the Italian journalists’ “Golden Matrix” prize. This thoughtful speech, prefiguring many of the key themes of the Harvard Address, has never before appeared in English. Happy reading! (Bonus: see short clip below of the prize ceremony from that day.)

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn receives the “Cliché d’Oro” (“Golden Matrix”) prize on 31 May 1974 in Zurich.

Letters Between Town of Cavendish and Russian Embassy

See here for a recent exchange of letters between Solzhenitsyn’s adopted town of Cavendish, Vermont and the Russian Embassy in Washington, D.C. on the occasion of Solzhenitsyn’s centenary.

Mahoney on Radio Free Acton podcast

On today's Radio Free Acton podcast, John Couretas talks with Daniel J. Mahoney, of Assumption College, about the legacy of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. The segment is about 20 minutes long, beginning at timecode 1’48” and running until 22’20”.