Welcome to Douglas Murray’s column Things Worth Remembering, in which he presents great speeches from famous orators we should commit to heart. To listen to Douglas read from Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s 1978 speech at Harvard, scroll to the end of this piece.
I have been thinking a great deal about Russia these past few days in light of Thursday’s dramatic prisoner swap, which culminated with Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich emerging from an airplane at Andrews Air Force Base, outside Washington, D.C.
More to the point, I’ve been thinking about those courageous Russian souls who, like Gershkovich, escaped from the authoritarian darkness and found their way to America.
At the top of that list is Alexander Solzhenitsyn—the author of one of the few books that actually changed the world. The Gulag Archipelago, a three-volume nonfiction account of life inside the notorious Stalinist penal system, first appeared in French in 1973, and the next year in English.
It created an audible and devastating crack in the Iron Curtain.
Maintaining The Free
Press is Expensive!
To support independent journalism, and unlock all of our investigative stories and provocative commentary about the world as it actually is, subscribe below.
Subscriber Benefits:
- Unlimited articles including weekly columns
- Early access to live events
- Access to the comments section
Already have an account? Sign in
our Comments
Use common sense here: disagree, debate, but don't be a .