History 1C

Solzhenitsyn wrote this book based on his own experiences as a victim of the Stalinist purges in a Soviet Gulag. Published in November 1962, it was the first portrayal of everyday life in a Stalinist camp that gave the public a glimpse of the agony of an average inmate reduced to animal level for survival. Ivan Denisovich symbolized the courage of the Russian people in their continuing struggle for freedom and human dignity, and touch millions who had suffered similar fates.

As you read the book, please keep in mind the following facts:

What has come to be know as the Great Terror began under Stalin in 1934 and the most intensive phase lasted until 1938. In these four years, half the urban population of the USSR was on police lists, and 5% had actually been arrested. Large-scale terror lasted until Stalin's death in 1953.

In 1989 a Soviet biographer of Stalin estimated that 4.5 to 5.5 million people were arrested--800,000 to 900,000 received the death penalty, and many of the rest died either at the Gulag or en route to it. Another 1994 study argues that 2.5 million people were arrested in 1937 and 1938 and that 2-3 million overall died in the purges.

Whatever the exact figures, the purges had several results:

--destruction of talent, character, and experience of a whole generation of Soviet citizens.

--fostered psychological insecurity and fear throughout the entire population

Why do you think Solzhenitsyn wrote this book? What does it tell us about Soviet society and the Stalinist state? How do you think the average Soviet citizen reacted when they read it?