EDITORIAL: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

I remember in 1989 seeing the Gulag Archipelago published for the first time in the Soviet Union. I discussed it at some length with 2 other graduate students and we came to the following conclusions. 1. No one in the Politburo had actually read the book. It would be impossible to miss how it totaly undermined the legitimacy of the communist party to rule in Russia. It condemned not just Stalin but the entire revolution. 2. Gorbachov was a true believer. He must have truly believed the communist party had legitimacy in the eyes of the population to rule in Russia and force was no longer necessary to rule. 3. The effects were unpredictable. A Russian proverb once said, "once a word is spoken you can't swallow it again." It is nice to see the acknowledment of how this work amongst alot of other by samizdat authors unknown in the west undermined the communist party and deprived it of legitimacy in Russia. I usually see in these pages the childish belief that Ronald Reagan brought down the Soviet Union.