To Tame Savage Capitalism Nov 28, 1993
Harvard Speech 1978 transcript
Warning to the West on communism
Solzhenitsyn, the West, and the New Russian Nationalism
HEGE Series
Solzhenitsyn’s Prophetic Voice: Critic of Communism [and Capitalism] Solzhenitsyn knew that the materialism that shaped the culture of both capitalist and communist societies was ultimately inhuman because of its denial of spiritual values and because it led to serious environmental degradation. He predicted the downfall of the Soviet Union as early as the 1970s when most so-called “experts” assumed that the Soviet bloc would be part of the global political picture for many decades to come. Even more importantly, Solzhenitsyn prophesied the unsustainability of global consumerism and the impending catastrophe that awaited a culture hell-bent on hedonism at the expense of human community and the natural environment. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn: a contradictory life (and famous quotes) Despite being regarded as one of the symbols of the condemnation of Stalinist totalitarianism, there is also in the vast work of Solzhenitsyn moments of criticism against Western democracy. There is also his famous speech at Harvard on June 8, 1978. There he defines his ideas on the development of the West about culture, philosophy, politics and specific cases such as the so-called Third World: In that speech [at Harvard], he criticizes the two central contending systems during the Cold War: Communism and Western Capitalism. His argument centers on what he calls “despiritualized and irreligious humanistic consciousness.” The problem, according to Solzhenitsyn, lies in the predominance of these forces at the base of all modern societies.
Quotes
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn: a contradictory life (and famous quotes)
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn - Wikiquote
An Interview with Alexander Solzhenitsyn
“Western democracy is going through a serious crisis.”
"There is this belief that all those other worlds are only being temporarily prevented (by wicked governments or by heavy crises or by their barbarity and incomprehension) from taking the way of Western pluralistic democracy and from adopting the Western way of life. Countries are judged on the merit of their progress in this direction. However, it is a conception, which develops out of Western incomprehension of the essence of other worlds, out of the mistake of measuring them all with a Western yardstick. The real picture of our planet’s development is quite different…"
"It is increasingly less likely that the Western lifestyle will become the model to follow. There are important warnings from history for a society threatened with death."
"To such consciousness, man is the touchstone in judging everything on earth — imperfect man, who is never free of pride, self-interest, envy, vanity, and dozens of other defects. We are now experiencing the consequences of mistakes which had not been noticed at the beginning of the journey. On the way from the Renaissance to our days, we have enriched our experience, but we have lost the concept of a Supreme Complete Entity which used to restrain our passions and our irresponsibility."
"Man has set for himself the goal of conquering the world but in the processes loses his soul. That which is called humanism, but what would be more correctly called irreligious anthropocentrism, cannot yield answers to the most essential questions of our life. We have arrived at an intellectual chaos."
"Over the last twelve years I have stopped viewing Russia as something very distinct from the West. Today when we say the West we are already referring to the West and to Russia. We could use the word "modernity" if we exclude Africa, and the Islamic world, and partially China. With the exception of those areas we should not use the words "the West" but the word "modernity". The modern world. And yes, then I would say that there are ills that are characteristic, that have plagued the West for a long time and now Russia has quickly adopted them also."
"Untouched by the breath of God, unrestricted by human conscience, both capitalism and socialism are repulsive."
"[Modernity}...does make a virtue out of selfishness and Protestantism made a major contribution to this."
"Protestantism has brought everything down only to faith. Calvinism says that nothing depends on man, that faith is already predetermined. Also in its sharp protest against Catholicism, Protestantism rushed to discard together with ritual all the mysterious, the mythical and mystical aspects of the Faith. In that sense it has impoverished religion."
"The thing is that religion itself cannot but be dynamic which is why "return" is an incorrect term. A return to the forms of religion which perhaps existed a couple of centuries ago is absolutely impossible. On the contrary, in order to combat modern materialistic mores, as religion must, to fight nihilism and egotism, religion must also develop, must be flexible in its forms, and it must have a correlation with the cultural forms of the epoch. Religion always remains higher than everyday life. In order to make the elevation towards religion easier for people, religion must be able to alter its forms in relation to the consciousness of modern man."
"[A]...question peculiar to the Russian Orthodox Church is should we continue to use Old Church Slavonic or should we start to introduce more of the contemporary Russian language into the service. I understand the fears of both those in the Orthodox and in the Catholic Church, the wariness, the hesitation and the fear that this is lowering the Church to the modern condition, the modern surroundings. I understand this fear but alas I also fear that if religion does not allow itself to change it will be impossible to return the world to religion because the world is incapable on its own of rising as high as the old demands of religion. Religion needs to come to meet it somewhat."
"Many under an atheistic press, a vice grip, had forgotten their faith so there is now something of a return to Christianity yet simultaneously there is a decay of values which accompanies the rise of consumer society. It is a simultaneous process."
Pearce: If Christianity is the will of God and at the same time is destined to perform a minor role in the future of humanity, is this the will of God or is it the result of human free will turning to evil, which God permits? Solzhenitsyn: It is a result of the free will of man and one must not detach that from the predictions of the end of the world in the Gospels. In the Scriptures let us note that which predicts the future always talks of the road toward the anti-Christ and not the triumph of God's will.