TY  - JOUR
AB  - Operating out of a Slavophile tradition, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
offers a critique of both Soviet and Western societies that is
comprehensive and damning. A review of his writings reveals a profound
rejection of many core values and practices of Western civilization.
What is viewed as an aberrant Soviet experience is understood as but a
logical extension of developments in the West. Solzhenitsyn′s
prescription for an identified Soviet and Western moral bankruptcy draws
on past Russian Orthodox thinking and practices. Playing to Russian
collectivist and conservative instincts, he venerates an idyllic Russian
rural setting; but that setting has little relevance to contemporary
Soviet reality. Ironically, Solzhenitsyn′s strong reformist inclinations
are not unlike those of many reformers now championing change in a
post‐Soviet Russia. But his stated political and economic preferences
place him solidly in the ranks of contemporary Russian nationalist
extremists, making him a leading figure for those promoting a return to
earlier authoritarian Russian practices.
VL  - 20
IS  - 5/6/7
SN  - 0306-8293
DO  - 10.1108/EUM0000000000534
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1108/EUM0000000000534
AU  - Willerton John P.
PY  - 1993
Y1  - 1993/01/01
TI  - Solzhenitsyn's Challenge to Russia and the West
T2  - International Journal of Social Economics
PB  - MCB UP Ltd
SP  - 181
EP  - 197
Y2  - 2024/04/19
ER  -