Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn on “A Decline In Courage” *must read*

A powerful and thought-provoking excerpt from “A World Split Apart” – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn‘s Commencement Address delivered at Harvard University in 1978 (Hat Tip: Palahalli; emphasis mine):

Pl substitute “India” for “West”

A Decline In Courage

A decline in courage may be the most striking feature that an outside observer notices in the West today. The Western world has lost its civic courage, both as a whole and separately, in each country, in each government, in each political party, and, of course, in the United Nations. Such a decline in courage is particularly noticeable among the ruling and intellectual elites, causing an impression of a loss of courage by the entire society. There are many courageous individuals, but they have no determining influence on public life.

Political and intellectual functionaries exhibit this depression, passivity, and perplexity in their actions and in their statements, and even more so in their self-serving rationales as to how realistic, reasonable, and intellectually and even morally justified it is to base state policies on weakness and cowardice. And the decline in courage, at times attaining what could be termed a lack of manhood, is ironically emphasized by occasional outbursts and inflexibility on the part of those same functionaries when dealing with weak governments and with countries that lack support, or with doomed currents which clearly cannot offer resistance. But they get tongue-tied and paralyzed when they deal with powerful governments and threatening forces, with aggressors and international terrorists.

Must one point out that from ancient times a decline in courage has been considered the first symptom of the end?…

The Direction of the Press

The press, too, of course, enjoys the widest freedom. (I shall be using the word “press” to include all the media.) But what use does it make of it?

Here again, the overriding concern is not to infringe the letter of the law. There is no true moral responsibility for distortion or disproportion. What sort of responsibility does a journalist or a newspaper have to the readership or to history? If they have misled public opinion by inaccurate information or wrong conclusions, even if they have contributed to mistakes on a state level, do we know of any case of open regret voiced by the same journalist or the same newspaper? No; this would damage sales. A nation may be the worse for such a mistake, but the journalist always gets away with it. It is most likely that he will start writing the exact opposite to his previous statements with renewed aplomb.

Because instant and credible information is required, it becomes necessary to resort to guesswork, rumors, and suppositions to fill in the voids, and none of them will ever be refuted; they settle into the readers’ memory.

How many hasty, immature, superficial, and misleading judgments are expressed everyday, confusing readers, and then left hanging?

The press can act the role of public opinion or miseducate it. Thus we may see terrorists heroized, or secret matters pertaining to the nation’s defense publicly revealed, or we may witness shameless intrusion into the privacy of well-known people according to the slogan “Everyone is entitled to know everything.” (But this is a false slogan of a false era; far greater in value is the forfeited right of people not to know, not to have their divine souls stuffed with gossip, nonsense, vain talk. A person who works and leads a meaningful life has no need for this excessive and burdening flow of information.)

Hastiness and superficiality – these are the psychic diseases of the twentieth century and more than anywhere else this is manifested in the press. In-depth analysis of a problem is anathema to the press; it is contrary to its nature. The press merely picks out sensational formulas.

Such as it is, however, the press has become the greatest power within Western countries, exceeding that of the legislature, the executive, and the judiciary. Yet one would like to ask: According to what law has it been elected and to whom is it responsible? In the Communist East, a journalist is frankly appointed as a state official. But who has voted Western journalists into their positions of power, for how long a time, and with what prerogatives?

Continued below…

A_solzhenitsin

Image Courtesy: Wikipedia

Socialism

I hope that no one present will suspect me of expressing my partial criticism of the Western system in order to suggest socialism as an alternative. No; with the experience of a country where socialism has been realized, I shall not speak for such an alternative. The mathematician Igor Shafarevich, a member of the Soviet Academy of Science, has written a brilliantly argued book entitled Socialism; this is a penetrating historical analysis demonstrating that socialism of any type and shade leads to a total destruction of the human spirit and to a leveling of mankind into death. Shafarevich’s book was published in France almost two years ago and so far no one has been found to refute it. It will shortly be published in English in the U.S.

*** End of Excerpt ***

Read Solzhenitsyn‘s speech in full here.

B Shantanu

Political Activist, Blogger, Advisor to start-ups, Seed investor. One time VC and ex-Diplomat. Failed mushroom farmer; ex Radio Jockey. Currently involved in Reclaiming India - One Step at a Time.

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7 Responses

  1. Uma says:

    Fantastic read! Its a solace to know that West too suffers from the same cowardice that has become a second skin to Indians.

    I was under similar impression, but then I saw a flood of fishermen and farmers come out and protest against the construction of Thermal power plants in their fertile lands and finally managed to get the project to a stand still. They suffered the lathi and bullet but did not give in (4 people died in the process, but the number is only 2 according to the government). This has increased my optimism somewhat significantly.

    The ‘Chalega’ attitude is the cause for this. That stems from Selfishness. So, if each individual can set that selfishness aside once in a while and think for the country and its fellow citizens, change can happen!

    Once again, fabulous and thought provoking article, thanks for posting!

  2. OverTheHill says:

    Smt. Radha Rajan (vigilonline.com) had a recent series of articles on this speech. Her elaborate analysis of its fallout and its effect on Solzhenitsyn himself was met with undeserved criticism (from the usual naysayers).

  3. Sid says:

    @Overthehill,
    A link would have helped.

  4. seadog4227 says:

    Imagine being exiled from the USSR, living in Vermont, biding your time and preparing to return home. Ultimately, choosing to return to Russia for national rebuilding.Solzhenitsyn’s clarity is astonishing and an object lesson.
    Indians living in the USA watch the US economic and political system crumble and an entirely new system take it’s place, which runs contrary to all that the founders envisioned. Yet, they hang on in quiet desperation.
    On the other hand,India is bereft of men of courage.General confusion and apathy reigns.Due to the concerted efforts of the Communists and the Congress, Indian history stands completely falsified.

  5. Dear Shantanu, a thought struck me just now that you might want to tie up with Shanu Athiparambath and periodically publish some of his posts on your blog (and he could publish one of yours in return).

    One of his posts that is worth posting on your blog might be this: http://austrianeconomist.net/?p=211. I’ve alerted Shanu to this thought through Facebook.

  6. OverTheHill says:

    @3. Sid:
    Dont have the exact link but Smt. Rajan’s website is vigilonline.com (given in parentheses in the earlier comment).

  7. Sid says:

    @overthehill,
    thanks.