"Aleksandr I.Solzhenitsyn. Words of Warning to the Western World " - читать интересную книгу автора

Then everyone says triumphantly, "Look, they've
made a concession; it's time to sign." The
European negotiators of the 35 countries for two
years now have painfully been negotiating and
their nerves were stretched to the breaking point
and they finally gave in. A few women from the
Communist countries can now marry foreigners. And
a few newspapermen are now going to be permitted
to travel a little more than before. They give
1/1,000th of what natural law should provide.
Matters which people should be able to do even
before such negotiations are undertaken. And
already there is joy. And here in the West we hear
many voices, saying: "Look, they're making
concessions; it's time to sign."
During these two years of negotiations, in
all the countries of eastern Europe, the pressure
has increased, the oppression intensified, even in
Yugoslavia and Romania, leaving aside the other
countries . And it is precisely now that the
Austrian chancellor says, "We've got to sign this
agreement as rapidly as possible."
What sort of an agreement would this be? The
proposed agreement is the funeral of eastern
Europe. It means that western Europe would
finally, once and for all, sign away eastern
Europe, stating that it is perfectly willing to
see eastern Europe be crushed and overwhelmed once
and for all, but please don't bother us. And the
Austrian chancellor thinks that if all these
countries are pushed into a mass grave, Austria at
the very edge of this grave will survive and not
fall into it also.
And we, from our lives there, have concluded
that violence can only be withstood by firmness.
You have to understand the nature of
communism. The very ideology of communism, all of
Lenin's teachings, are that anyone is considered
to be a fool who doesn't take what's lying in
front of him. If you can take it, take it. If you
can attack, attack. But if there's a wall, then go
back. And the Communist leaders respect only
firmness and have contempt and laugh at persons
who continually give in to them. Your people are
now saying - and this is the last quotation I am
going to give you from the statements of your
leaders - "Power, without any attempt at
conciliation, will lead to a world conflict." But
I would say that power with continual subservience
is no power at all.