RKS Literature: The Never-Ending Prison Sentences in Stalinist Soviet Union

“Shukov stared at the ceiling and said nothing. He no longer knew whether he wanted to be free or not. To begin with, he’d wanted it very much and counted up every evening how many days he still had to serve. Then he’d gotten fed up with it. And still later it had gradually dawnedContinue reading “RKS Literature: The Never-Ending Prison Sentences in Stalinist Soviet Union”

RKS Literature: Freedom of Speech in the Gulag (Solzhenitsyn)

“The good thing about hard-labor camps is that you have all the freedom in the world to sound off. In Ust-Izhma you’d only have to whisper that people couldn’t buy matches outside and they’d clap another 10 on you. Here you could shout anything you liked from a top bunk and the stoolies wouldn’t reportContinue reading “RKS Literature: Freedom of Speech in the Gulag (Solzhenitsyn)”

RKS Literature: Everyone Taking Their Cut of Bread at the Gulag (Solzhenitsyn)

“Shukov had drawn a few thousand bread rations in jails and prison camps, and though he’d never had the chance to weigh his portion on the scales, and anyway was too timid to kick up a fuss and demand his rights, he knew better than most prisoners, that a bread cutter who gave full measureContinue reading “RKS Literature: Everyone Taking Their Cut of Bread at the Gulag (Solzhenitsyn)”