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Part 3, Chapter 5: What the Archipelago Stands On
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 entirely excised and replaced by a brief description from the editor. The description describes the arrival of political prisoners to the labor camps following the Japanese surrender in World War II.
This phase shows the Soviet government’s persistent reliance on the Gulag system as a tool to isolate and control dissidents, marking the continued use of the camps as an instrument of state terror well beyond the end of the war.
Themes
