Alexander Solschenizyn – Lebe nicht von Lügen (diff)

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1	LIVE NOT BY LIES, ALEXANDER SOLZHENITSYN
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3	At one time we dared not even whisper. Now we write and read samizdat
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5	and sometimes when we gather in the smoking room of the Science
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7	Institute we complain frankly to one another. What kind of tricks are they
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9	playing on us, and where are they dragging us? There is gratuitous boasting
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11	of cosmic achievements while poverty and destruction exist at home.
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13	Propping up remote uncivilised regimes. Fanning up civil war. And we
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15	recklessly fostered Mao Tse-tung (at our expense) — and we shall be the
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17	ones sent to war against him and we will have to go. Is there any way out?
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19	They put anybody they want on trial and put sane people in asylums -
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21	always they; we are powerless.
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23	Things have almost reached rock-bottom. A universal spiritual death has
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25	already touched us all and physical death will soon flare up and consume us
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27	and our children. But, as before, we still smile in a cowardly fashion and
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29	mumble with our tongues tied. What can we do to stop it? We haven't the
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31	strength. We have been so hopelessly dehumanised that for today's ration of
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33	food we are willing to abandon all our principles, our souls and the efforts
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35	of our predecessors, as well as all the opportunities for our descendants,
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37	Just don't disturb our fragile existence!
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39	We lack resolution, pride and enthusiasm. We don't even fear universal
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41	nuclear death, nor do we fear a third world war — perhaps we can hide in
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43	crevices. We just fear acts of civil courage. We are afraid to lag behind the
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45	herd and to take one step alone — and suddenly to find ourselves without
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47	white bread, heating gas and a Moscow registration. What was drummed in
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49	our ears at political courses we have now internalised: live comfortably and
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51	all will be well ever after. You cannot escape your environment and social
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53	conditions. Existence determines consciousness. What does it have to do
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55	with us? We cannot do anything about it.
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57	But we can! We lie to ourselves to preserve our peace of mind. It is
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59	not they who should be blamed but ourselves. One can object, but cannot
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61	imagine what to do. Gags have been stuffed into our mouths. Nobody
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63	wants to listen to us and nobody asks our opinion. How can we force them
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65	to listen to us? It is impossible to change their minds. It would be logical
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67	to vote them out of office, but there are no elections in our country. In the
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69	West people resort to strikes and protest demonstrations, but we are too
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71	downtrodden and it is too horrifying for us. How can one suddenly
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73	renounce a job and take to the streets? Other fatal paths tested during the
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75	last century by our bitter Russian history are even less suitable for us, and
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77	truly we do not need them.
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79	Now that the axes have done their work and everything that was sown
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81	has sprouted, we can see that the young and presumptuous people who
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83	thought they would make our country just and happy through terror,
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85	bloody rebellion and civil war were themselves misled. No thanks, fathers
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87	of enlightenment! Now we know that infamous methods breed infamous
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89	results . . . Let our hands be clean!
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91	Is the circle closed? Is there really no way out? Is there only one thing
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93	left to do - to wait without taking any action? Maybe something will
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95	happen by itself. But it will never happen as long as we daily acknowledge,
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97	extol and strengthen — and do not sever ourselves from — the most
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99	perceptible of its aspects: lies. When violence intrudes into peaceful life,
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101	its face glows with self-confidence, as if it were carrying a banner and
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103	shouting: 'I am violence. Run away, make way for me — I will crush you.'
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105	But violence quickly grows old. After only a few years it loses confidence
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107	in itself, and in order to maintain a respectable face it summons falsehood
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109	as its ally — since violence can conceal itself with nothing except lies, and
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111	the lies can be maintained only by violence. Violence does not lay its paw
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113	on every shoulder every day: it demands from us only obedience to lies and
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115	daily participation in lies. And this submissiveness is the crux of the matter.
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117	The simplest and most accessible key to our self-neglected liberation is this:
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119	personal non-participation in lies. Though lies may conceal everything,
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121	though lies may control everything, we should be obstinate about this one
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123	small point: let them be in control but without any help from any of us.
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125	This opens a breach in the imaginary encirclement caused by our inaction.
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127	It is the easiest thing for us to do and the most destructive for the lies.
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129	Because when people renounce lies it cuts short their existence. Like
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131	a virus, they can survive only in a living organism.
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133	Let us admit it: we have not matured enough to march into the squares
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135	and shout the truth out loud or to express aloud what we think. It is not
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137	necessary. It's dangerous. But let us refuse to say what we do not think.
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139	This is our path, the easiest and the most accessible one, which allows for
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141	our inherent, well-rooted cowardice. And it is much easier (it's shocking
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143	even to say this) than the sort of civil disobedience that Gandhi advocated
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145	Our path is not that of giving conscious support to lies about anything at
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147	all. And once we realise where the perimeters of falsehood are (everyone
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149	sees them in his own way), our path is to walk away from this gangrenous
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151	boundary. If we did not paste together the dead bones and scales of
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153	ideology, if we did not sew together rotting rags, we would be astonished
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155	how quickly the lies would be rendered helpless and would subside. That
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157	which should be naked would then really appear naked before the whole
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159	world.
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161	So in our timidity, let us each make a choice: whether to remain
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163	consciously a servant of falsehood (of course, it is not out of inclination but
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165	to feed one's family that one raises one's children in the spirit of lies), or to
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167	shrug off the lies and become an honest man worthy of respect from one's
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169	children and contemporaries.
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171	And from that day onward he:
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173	* will not sign, write or print in any way a single phrase which in his
174	opinion distorts the truth
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176	* will utter such a phrase neither in private conversation nor in public,
177	neither on his own behalf nor at the prompting of someone else,
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179	* neither in the role of agitator, teacher, educator, nor as an actor
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181	* will not depict, foster or broadcast a single idea in which he can see
182	a distortion of the truth, whether it be in painting, sculpture,
183	photography, technical science or music
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185	* will not cite out of context, either orally or in writing, a single
186	quotation to please someone, to feather his own nest, to achieve success
187	in his work, if he does not completely share the idea which is quoted,
188	or if it does not accurately reflect the matter at issue
189	* will not allow himself to be compelled to attend demonstrations and
190	meetings if they are contrary to his desire
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192	* will immediately walk out of a meeting, session, lecture, performance
193	or film if he hears a speaker tell lies, or purvey ideological nonsense
194	or shameless propaganda
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196	* will not subscribe to or buy a newspaper or magazine in which
197	information is distorted and primary facts are concealed.
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199	I have not enumerated, of course, all possible and necessary ways of
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201	avoiding lies, but whoever begins to cleanse himself will easily apply the
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203	cleansing pattern to other cases. It will not be the same for everybody at
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205	first. Some will lose their jobs. But there are no loopholes for anybody who
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207	wants to be honest. On any given day, any one of us, even those securely
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209	working in technical sciences, will be confronted with at least one of the
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211	above choices. Either truth or falsehood: towards spiritual independence
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213	or towards spiritual servitude.
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215	And he who is not sufficiently courageous to defend his soul - don't let
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217	him be proud of his 'progressive' views, and don't let him boast that he is
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219	an academician or a people's artist, a distinguished figure or a general. Let
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221	him say to himself: I am a part of the herd and a coward. It's all the same
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223	to me as long as I'm fed and kept warm.
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225	Even this path — the most moderate of all paths of resistance — would
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227	not be easy for those of us who have become too set in our ways. But it
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229	would be far easier than a hunger strike or a self-immolation. The flames
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231	would not touch your body, your eye would not burst from the heat and
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233	your family should always be able to get black bread and fresh water.
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235	Has not the great European nation Czechoslovakia — betrayed and
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237	deceived by us — demonstrated how even an armourless breast, if it holds
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239	a worthy heart, can stand up to the onslaught of tanks?
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241	This would not be an easy path, but the easiest of all possible ones. Not
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243	an easy path — but there are people among us, dozens of them, who have
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245	been observing all these conditions for years and who live by the truth.
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247	Therefore you will not be the first to take this path, you will join
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249	others! It will be easier and shorter if we embark on it in great and friendly
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251	numbers. If we are in thousands it will not be possible for them to do
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253	anything to anyone. If we are in tens of thousands we will not recognise
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255	our own country!
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257	If we are too frightened, then we should stop complaining that we are
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259	being suffocated. We are doing this to ourselves. If we bow down even
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261	further and wait longer, our brothers the biologists may then help to bring
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263	nearer the day when our thoughts can be read and our genes restructured.
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265	If we are too frightened to do anything, then we are hopeless and
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267	worthless people and the lines of Pushkin fit us well:
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269	What use to the herds the gifts of freedom?
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271	The scourge, and a yoke with tinkling bells
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273	— this is their heritage, bequeathed to every generation.
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275	Moscow, 12 February 1974
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277	https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/03064220408537357
278	https://wackowiki.org/doc/Dev/Translations How to Translate
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