The Gulag Archipelago - A. Solzhenitsyn, book that helped collapse soviet communism
Book: https://ia601309.us.archive.org/20/items/historyDEEPWEB/The%20Gulag%20Archipelago%20-%20Aleksandr%20Solzhenitsyn.pdf
This book reveals the harsh realities of Soviet communism. Solzhenitsyn gives an example of the cult of personality and the oppressive atmosphere that prevailed:
The previous Party secretary had been arrested and replaced by a new one.
At the end of the conference, they gave an ovation to Stalin. Everyone stood up. It wasn’t an ordinary round of applause; it was an ovation that lasted 8 to 15 minutes.
Even Stalin’s admirers thought it was absurd. From all the frenzied clapping and cheering, the older people eventually became completely exhausted; their hands ached. But who would dare to be the first to stop clapping? Stalin’s men were closely watching, carefully noting who was the least enthusiastic, who clapped the least. Who would be the first to stop?
People collapsed to the floor from heart attacks and sheer exhaustion, and were carried away. Yet no one dared to stop clapping or end the ovation.
After 11 minutes, the director of the local paper factory had had enough. As a businessman, he simply sat down on his chair. Enough of this applause! And, as if by miracle, because he was the first to sit down, everyone else finally stopped clapping and took their seats as well. They were relieved to be free of the torment.
That very same night, the man was arrested for being the first to stop clapping after 11 minutes. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison. His interrogator reminded him: “Never be the first to stop applauding, even if it goes on for 11 minutes…”
Most people weren’t clapping out of enthusiasm; they were clapping out of fear. They were terrified of being killed or sent to a Gulag in the middle of Siberia. They were being forced.
This is the true essence of Soviet socialism and communism.
It was a fabricated, artificial, false propaganda image of communism as a “paradise.” In reality, it was terror against ordinary people who were forced to worship Stalin.