Now, that term – meant originally to refer to the concentration camps run by the Soviet Union, that imprisoned huge numbers of dissidents, wrong-thinkers, schlubs, and others caught up in the madness of a Fully-Leftist-Society-Run-by-Ideologues – was popularized in The Gulag Archipelago, written by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. (I had to check my spelling multiple times to make sure I got that right).
It’s not a cheap book; just Vol. 1 is $9.99 on Nook, for the e-book. You’ll want to read Vol. 2, as well.
I read it thanks to having been dating a young man with Eastern European heritage; he recommended it, and, as I was eager to impress him, I bought a paperback copy (readily available at the local bookstore and drugstores, as I recall).
It’s a bit of a hard slog, at first. The Russian style of writing is one that takes some adjustment. And, my previous was detective stories and ‘fluff’ novels (hey, that’s what was available at home). I did manage, while in high school, to methodically work my way through Fitzgerald and start on Hemingway. But, other than Les Miserable, which I picked up after a reference to it in another book I had read, that was it for serious literature.
I can never thank him adequately for that assistance in finding one of the most powerful and foundational books of my life. After reading it, I had immunized myself against a too-easy acquiescence to the Leftist seduction. I strongly recommend buying a hard copy or two, and distributing it around your family.
Even now, after much of the truth has been admitted to, after confirmation of the conditions of the Gulag in subsequent investigations, and from information mined from the Venona Papers, Leftists continue to discount the reality.
Unfortunately, our own government seems to be heading in the direction of criminalizing dissident thought, behavior, and organizing to resist the oppressive hand of the Deep State. Many arrested in the aftermath of the Capital Hill protests still are imprisoned, without bail. Efforts to raise funds to free them or procure them an adequate defense have been verboten (to use the appropriate word) by Deep State Allies, such as PayPal, GoFundMe, and other crowd-driven means of raising money. Those means have been used by admitted criminals, convicted felons, and Domestic Terrorists of the Leftist Kind without a problem, so it seems clear that the distinction is political.
What’s the answer? Hell if I know.
We’re in uncharted territory here. We’re the guys that EVENTUALLY put together the Colonial Rebellion, but we’re nowhere ready to break out the muskets. Other than quiet discussions, prepping and practicing potentially necessary skills, and identifying local support, should it be necessary, I haven’t a clue. Social media, at this point ,is more likely to paint a target on our backs. There are a few online tools that have some potential, but I wouldn’t bet my continued freedom or existence on them.
2 comments
I read The Gulag Archipelago when it first came out all that many years ago and highly recommend it to anyone interested in where the country is headed and why. Seems all Russian writing is a bit of a chore but persevere and it will be worth it.
We are presently entering, some call uncharted territory. But I would submit that we have been here multiple times before. TPTB are reading the same script out of the same books Hitler, & Stalin used, Pol Pot, Mao, Maduro, clear back to King George and even further back to the Roman Empire…..
The tyrannical emphasis on controlling the populace has raised its ugly head throughout history in numerous ways, the difference in modern times is we should know better but are to weak to individually stand against it. All it takes is a single person to take the stand and simply say NO….. NO More…. Don’t look to your neighbors to do it, they re looking for you to lead…….
Yep – digital gulags first, then the real ones after things go kinetic. As for what to do, I started early on a project I figured I’d be doing a decade from now – buying land and building a homestead on it. I will continually build it up and make it a place where I and my family can go, and not need any of their BS.30 acres of my very own. Grow my own food, pump my own water, make my own power… and when I’m gone, I’ll have something to pass on to the nephews and grand-nephews, if I don’t find myself someone and raise some kids of my own.
I say decouple from the insanity, make oneself as self-sufficient as possible; build and join supportive local communities of like-minded folks for trade and such. Based on their current nonsense, the technocrats and their pet morons will either screw it up for themselves, or over-reach and reap the whirlwind… possibly both.
Outlast ’em, build something independent, and when their shit breaks down, we’ll pick up what pieces are worth keeping, and clean up the rest of the mess from there. And it will be a mess. I cannot begin to express how costly and wasteful this exercise will be in terms of man-hours and material, let alone dollars.
The best time to plant an oak tree was twenty years ago. The second best time is now.