An anonymous correspondent has asked just who did the On Target journal refer to in its Vol.52 No.25 article “The Big Lies and the Long-Term Goals”. As the article also referred to Josef Goebbels, Hitler’s “minister for public enlightenment and propaganda” one would have expected most readers to link such references to any and all such people and groups in this day and age.
In the 21st century such people and groups are not known as “ministers (with their hired underlings) for public enlightenment and propaganda”, they are now known as ‘spin doctors’ or ‘PR’ men (and women).
In a recent conversation between Jonas E. Alexis & Vladislav Krasnov* (http://www.veteranstoday.com/2016/07/11/israel-the-united-states-russia-and-vladimir-putin-interview-with-vladislav-krasnov-part-i/), it was disclosed the German magazine Spiegel once posed this dilemma to Solzhenitsyn:
“Your recent two-volume work “200 Years Together” was an attempt to overcome a taboo against discussing the common history of Russians and Jews. These two volumes have provoked mainly perplexity in the West. You say the Jews are the leading force of global capital and they are among the foremost destroyers of the bourgeoisie. Are we to conclude from your rich array of sources that the Jews carry more responsibility than others for the failed Soviet experiment?”
Solzhenitsyn responded:
“I avoid exactly that which your question implies: I do not call for any sort of scorekeeping or comparisons between the moral responsibility of one people or another; moreover, I completely exclude the notion of responsibility of one nation towards another. All I am calling for is self-reflection.”
Jonas Alexis asked Vladislav Krasnov: What is your take on the book?
Krasnov: I think Solzhenitsyn is absolutely right in saying that the book is not about “scorekeeping.” Its driving force is more akin to the program of “Truth and Reconciliation” that was implemented in South Africa after the end of the apartheid rule there. As to whether Solzhenitsyn is fair to the Jews, there is enough blame to go around for people of all nationalities and ethnic groups who participated in the Bolshevik Revolution, both inside Russia and abroad, including the USA. Again, the book is not about blaming but about understanding what had happened in order to avoid repeating the mistake.
Jonas Alexis - I would like to quote Solzhenitsyn:
“Every people must answer morally for all of its past — including that past which is shameful. Answer by what means? By attempting to comprehend: How could such a thing have been allowed? Where in all this is our error? And could it happen again?
“It is in that spirit, specifically, that it would behoove the Jewish people to answer, both for the revolutionary cutthroats and the ranks willing to serve them. Not to answer before other peoples, but to oneself, to one’s consciousness, and before God. Just as we Russians must answer — for the pogroms, for those merciless arsonist peasants, for those crazed revolutionary soldiers, for those savage sailors.”
This is indeed a brilliant answer to a thorny question. This is what makes Solzhenitsyn different from other writers in the twentieth century because he always brings a moral dimension to thorny issues. Would you not agree?
Krasnov: I do agree with both Solzhenitsyn’s answer and you seeing it in moral terms. I could not have answered it better than he.
That great literary giant and Nobel Prize winner, Alexander Solzhenitsyn passed away on 3 August 2008. The full interview can be found here… Veterans Today, Jonas E. Alexis, July 28, 2016
* Mr. Krasnov’s details: Former Soviet defector and professor of Russian Studies, now dedicated to promoting better USA-Russia relations.