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Part 1, Chapter 7: In the Engine Room
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Gulag Archipelago, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Oppression and Totalitarianism
Survival and the Human Spirit
The Dangers of Ideology
Power as a Corrupting Force
The Value of Religion and Spirituality
Summary
Analysis
Solzhenitsyn reflects on how easily people forget real history, retaining only what propaganda imprints on their minds. He observes that this forgetfulness makes Russians vulnerable to lies. For instance, people hardly remember widely reported events like the public trials. Solzhenitsyn notes that this pattern of forgetting dates back to the early years after the October Revolution, when trials operated without formal laws, guided solely by the revolutionary government’s needs.
Solzhenitsyn’s reflection on historical amnesia highlights a central mechanism of Soviet control: the manipulation of collective memory. By erasing or distorting historical events, the regime ensures that people internalize only the state-approved narrative, leaving them susceptible to lies. Solzhenitsyn emphasizes that this forgetfulness isn’t accidental but cultivated, a strategy used since the early Bolshevik years.
Themes
The remainder of the chapter, excised by the editor, describes the public trials that took place between 1918 and 1920 following the success of the Bolshevik Revolution. Solzhenitsyn’s account portrays these trials as trails as inherently corrupt, with the defense and prosecution both working against the interests of the accused.
Solzhenitsyn’s portrayal of the early Bolshevik trials as corrupt showcases the Soviet legal system’s disregard for justice from its inception. By framing both the defense and prosecution as complicit in condemning the accused, Solzhenitsyn reveals a system designed to crush dissent rather than seek truth.
Themes
