Wierd old school read... he seems pro war? I was enjoying his observations of east vs west philosophy until he lamented the withdrawal from Vietnam. Oh well.
You win today's prize for Adolescent Shallowness. "he seems pro war"
> But should I be asked, instead, whether I would propose the West, such as it is today, as a model to my country, I would frankly have to answer negatively. No, I could not recommend your society as an ideal for the transformation of ours. Through deep suffering, people in our country have now achieved a spiritual development of such intensity that the Western system in its present state of spiritual exhaustion does not look attractive. Even those characteristics of your life which I have just enumerated are extremely saddening.
I was in Eastern Europe before 1989. It was NOT a model, as he says, but there were indeed some compensating advantages. Since people weren't allowed to strive for material things (or have them), they put their energies into other things.
I have no idea what Solzhenitsyn's ideal society would be, but I appreciate hearing some genuinely different thoughts.
(I always wonder what kind of neighbor he was in Cavendish, Vermont! Did he make small talk with folks at the post office? Did he go to the high school football games? Would he help you with your gopher problem? etc.)
What do you mean people were not allowed to have material things? Joining the party and becoming a part of nomenklatura so you can get western stuff and a Volga was a dream of Soviet citizens. Getting anything, often even food in USSR required a personal connection (blat).
