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

The Zeks as a Nation I 519
A son of Gulag believes himself impenetrable, and also that
he, on the contrary, can see right through those around him and,
as the phrase goes, six feet beneath them too. Maybe this is so,
but at this point it becomes apparent that even- the most penetrating
of the zeks possesses a narrow range of outlook, a short
view ahead. While judging very soberly actions close to them, and
while very precise in calculating their behavior in the hours
immediately ahead, the rank-and-file zeks and even the sons of
Gulag, tQo, are incapable either of· thinking abstractly or· of
grasping phenomena of a general nature, or even of speaking
about the future. Even in their grammar the future tense is very
rarely used; even with regard to the morrow it is applied with
a conditional nuance--and still more carefully to the subsequent
days of the same week, and you will never hear from a zek such
~ sentence as ''Next spring I will '.' ." Because they all know that
they still 4ave to make it through the winter, and that any day
fate can hurl them from one island to another. In real truth: "My
day is my epoch!"
The sonS of Gulag are also the chief bearers of the traditions
and the so-called zek commandments. On the various· islands the
number of these commandments varies, and they are not always
formulated the same way either. And to work toward their systematization
would be a very interesting subject for a separate
inquiry. These commandments have nothing in common with
Christianity. (The zeks are not only an atheistic people, but in
general nothing is sacred to them, and they always hasten to
ridicule and degrade anything lofty. And this,. too, is reflected
in their language.) But as the sons of Gulag affirm: H you live
according to their commandments, you will not perish in the
Archipelago. .
There are certain precepts, such as: Don't squeal! (How is one
to understand this? Evidently they are desirous of avoiding superfluous
noise?},~d: Don't lick the.bowls; in other words, 40 not
descend to slops, something they consider a swift and abrupt way
to die. And: Don't scavenge. And others.
There is an interesting commandment: Don't shove your nose
in someone else's mess tin! This seems to us to represent a great
achievement of native thought; you see, this is the principle of .
negative freedom; it is the slogan ''My home is my castle!" turned
around, so to speak, and even improved upon, because it is a
matter not of one's own mess tin but of someone else's (and yet
520 I THE GULAG ARCHIPELAGO
"one's own" is, of course, understood). Knowing the native conditions,
we have to understand here the term "mess tiD" in the
broadest sense-not merely as a dented and sooty dish, nor even
as the specific unappetizing dishwater contained in it, but also
as all the means of getting something to eat, all the means in the
struggle for existence, and even more broadly: as the zek's soul.
In a word, "Let me live as I wish, and you live as you wish"­
that is what this precept means. A hard and cruel son of Gulag,
uncler this precept, undertakes the obligation not to use his
. strength and drive out of empty curiosity. (But at the same time
he frees himself of any kind of moral obligation: "Even if you are
croaking right next to me, it's none of my affair." This is a cruel
law, yet it is much more humane than the law of the thieves--­
-the island cannibals: "You today, me tomorrow." The cannibal-thief
is not in the least indifferent to his neighbor; he will
speed up the latter's death so as to put off his own or sometime~
just for the hell of it or even for the amusement of watching it.)
Finally, there is one composite. commandment: Don't trust,
don't fear, don't beg! In this commandment the common, national
character of the zek is cast, like a'piece of sculpture, with sharp
definition.
How can one (in freedom) rule over a people which is totally·
steeped in such a proud commandment? It is awesome even to
think of it!
This commandment leads us to consider not ~o much the life
style of the zeks as their psychological essence.
The first thing we note from the start in a son of Gulag, and
then observe more and more frequently, is spiritual equilibrium,
psychological stability. In this regard the zek's general, overall
philosophical view of his place in the universe is highly interesting.
As distinct from the Englishman or the Frenchman, who is
proud all his life of having been born an Englishman or a Frenchman.
the zek is not at all proud of his nationalliffiliation; on the
contrary, he perceives it as a cruel trial, but a trial he wishes to
endure with dignity. The zeks have a particularly notable myth,
which holds that somewhere there exist "the gates of the Archipelago"
(compare with the pillars of Hercules in antiquity), and
that on the outside of these gates there is a sign for those who
enter: "DO NOT LOSE HEART'" And on the other side there is a
sign for those who are leaving: "00 NOT BE OVERJOYED'" And