The Gulag Archipelago Vol. 2 An Experiment in Literary Investigation - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

The Muses in Gulag I 469
think, that they soon wrung his neck, too, in th~se very places
in which, as he said, life gives off new shoots. But it is not a
matter of terminology. Has the reader now understood what the
main thing was in our camps? Cultural construction.
And for every need an organ was created, and multiplied, and
its tentacles reached out to every island. In the twenties they
w.ere called PVCh's-Political Educational Sections-and, from
the thirties on, KVCh's. They were supposed. in part to replace
the former prison priests and prison religious services.
Here is how they were organized. The chief of the KVCh was
a free employee with the authority of an assistant to the chief of
camp. He picked out his own instructors (the norm was one instructor
to 250 wards), who had to be from "strata close to the
prQletariat," which meant, of course, that intellectuals (the petty
bourgeoisie) were unsuitable (it was more decent for them
to be swinging a pick), so they recruited as instructors thieves
with two or three convictions, urban swindlers, embezzlers, and
seducers a:Iong with them. And so it was that a young fellow who
had kept himself sort of clean and· who had got five years for rape
with mitigating circumstances might roll up his newspaper and
go off to the barracks of the 58's to lead a-little discussion on
"The Role of Labor in the Process. of Correction." The instructors
had a particularly good outside view of that role because they
themselves had been· "released from the productive process."
Similar such socially friendly' elements made up the activists'
group of the KVCh. But the activists were not released from
work. (They could only hope that in time they would be able to
do in one of the instructors and take over his job. This created
a generally friendly atmosphere in the KVCh.) In the mornings
the instructor had to see the zeks off to work; then he would
inspect the kitchen (i.e., he would be well fed), and then he
would go catch up on his sleep in his cabin. He would be illadvised
to tangle with or touch the thief ringleaders because, in
the first place, it was dangerous, and, in the second place, the
moment would come when "criminal cohesion would be transformed
into a productive cohesion." And at that point the thief
ringleaders would lead the shock brigades into storm assaults.
And so, for the time being, let them, too, just sleep it off after
·their night-long card games. But the instructors are constantly
guided in their activity by "the general overa:Il thesis that cultural
470 I THE GULAG ARCHIPELAGO
and educational work in the camps is not cultural and educational
work "with unfortUnates," but cultural and productive work with
a knife edge (we just can't get along without that knife edge),
directed against ... yes, you've guessed it: against the 58's.
Alas, the KVCh "does not have the right to arrest" (now this was
such alimitation on its cultural opportunities!) but "could make a
request to the administration" (which would not refuse!). And,
besides, the instructor "systematically presents reports on the
mood of the zeks." (He who has an ear to hear, let him hear!
At this point the Cultural and Educatiorial Section delicately
shades into the Security Section. But this is. not spelled out in
the instructions.)
However, we see that, carried away by our quotations, we have
grammatically slipped into the present tense. We have to disappoint
the reader with the fact that the matter concerns the
thirties, the finest, most flourishing years of the KVCh, when a
classless society was being built in the country, and when there
had not yet occurred1'he awful outburst of class struggle that did
occur· the moment that society was achieved. In those glorious
years the KVCh expanded into many important appendages: the
cultural councils o! those deprived of freedom; cultural and
educational commissions; sanitary and living conditions commissions;
shock-brigade staffs; inspection posts for fulfillment of
the production and financial plan, etc .... Well, as Comrade
Solts (the Curator of the Belomor Canal and Chairman of the
Commission of VTsIK on particular amnesties) said: "Even the
prisoner in prison must live by what the whole country is living
by." (That foul enemy of the people, Solts, was justly punished by
proletarian justice-I beg your pardon . . . that fighter for the
great cause, Com~ade Solts, was slandered, and perished in the
years of the cult-oh, I beg your pardon . . . at the time of the
insignificant phenomenon of the cult. ... )
And how variegated and varied were the forms of work! Like
life itself. Organization of competition. Organization of shockworker
movements. Struggle for fulfillment of the production
and financial plan. Struggle for labor discipline. Storm assault on
the liquidation of hold-ups. Cultural crusades. Voluntary collection
of funds for airplanes. Subscription to loans. "Voluntary
Saturdays" for strengthening the defense capabilities of the
country. Exposure of fake shock workers. Conversations with
malingerers. Liquidation of illiteracy (they went unwillingly).