My Favorite Russian-
Speaking Truth to Power
At a High Cost

Just like the signers of our Declaration of Independence, the late Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn spoke with integrity in full knowledge that it could cost him his freedom, loss of all possessions, persecution of his family, and ultimately his life.

“Violence finds its only refuge in falsehood, falsehood its only support in violence.”

He began as a loyal communist hoping that he would be picked for plumb offices. A slip of the tongue sent him to prison. A better education he could not have suffered.

“It was only when I lay there on rotting prison straw that I sensed within myself the first stirrings of good.”

“Gradually it was disclosed to me, that the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either — but right through every human heart — and through all human hearts.”

“Bless you, prison, for having been in my life!”

We shall mourn your passing. But, your words will remain with us.

Perhaps if Solzhenitsyn were younger he could have been a Dixie Chick and suffered with them as they spoke truth to power and felt evil's wrath.