Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn
"We know they are lying,
they know they are lying,
they know we know they are lying,
but they are still lying."
He was a Russian novelist and one of the most famous dissidents. Solzhenitsyn was an outspoken critic of communism, in particular propaganda state media and the Gulag system.
He was born into a religious family active in protesting the Soviet Anti Religious campaign in the 1920's. In spite of his religious upbringing he became an atheist and Marxist-Leninist.
Gradually he became a philosophically minded Christian because of his families experience in the Soviet prison system and camps.
During World War II he served in the Red Army. He was arrested by Stalin's secret police SMERSH for criticizing Joseph Stalin (a joke about his mustache) in a private letter. He was sentenced to eight long years of hard labor in a Siberian Gulag.
Eventually Premier Nikita Khrushchev came to power and he was released. During his years of imprisonment he fully embraced Christianity. He began to write several books critical of the Communist system.
This was tolerated until Khrushchev was removed from power when Solzhenitsyn was stripped of his citizenship and sent into exile in West Germany.
He then moved his family to the United States, continued to write and speak on college campuses where he was still welcome.
I do not believe he would be welcome today because of his criticism of Marxism and support for Christianity. Sad how things have changed.
His books are a tough read but there are plenty of his speeches on line. It is disturbing how pertinent his observations of the Soviet system and the use of propaganda are today.
He speaks bluntly about our ignorance and naivety. Today I'm sure he would have long ago lost his social media rights because of his thoughts and opinions about government corruption, media lies, the need for faith and exercising freedom......Hmmmmm sound familiar?
This guy was a brave bad ass, he spoke his mind to power and was willing to pay the price. He did not yield to threats, imprisonment and physical punishments.
He warned us in order to keep what we have we need to understand it, embrace it and defend it. He was not an optimistic feel good motivational speaker, he was frank, honest and blunt. This is a trait I admire, no bull shit truth backed up with a track record.
After his years of speaking to Americans he said that he didn't think the majority of Americans understand what they have and how easy it is to lose.
These are some hard truths, I myself intend to prove him wrong.
Nothing to do with bicycles today. Just a rainy day of reading.
