Alexander Solzhenitsyn RIP

One of the bravest men of the 20th century has died at the age of about 90.

Soviet dictator Stalin, who once famously asked "How many divisions has the pope?" thought that he could use force to crush ideas. Solzhenitsyn, who had the courage to write books such as "One day in the life of Ivan Denisovitch" and "The Gulag Archipelago" which revealed the truth about Soviet policies of repression, eventually proved Stalin wrong. His reward from the Soveit state was accusations of treason, the loss of his citizenship, and exile: but he was also awarded, and deserved, the Nobel prize for literature.

Putin's Russia is very far from being a shining example of democracy, but it is an infinitely preferable place to live compared with Stalin's Russia. And similarly, which Putin's Russia is not the most comfortable neighbour, or an ideal one to depend on for raw materials, it is a much easier country to share a planet with than the Soviet Union was.

A huge part of the credit for that should go to the bravery of men like Solzhenitsyn.

Rest in Peace.

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