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Part 1, Chapter 8: The Law as a Child
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
This chapter is excised entirely and consists only of a brief summary from the editor. The note describes several trials from the 1920s against Church leaders, which ultimately lead to the leaders being killed. Solzhenitsyn argues that laws Lenin put in place allowed the Church leaders to be persecuted in this way.
The trials of Church leaders in the 1920s exemplify the Soviet regime's early campaign to eliminate religious influence, which it viewed as a threat to its control. By targeting Church leaders, the regime sought not only to undermine religion but also to replace spiritual authority with state ideology.
Themes
