And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say goodbye to his family? The Gulag Archipelago 1918-1956 (1973) by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn is an account of the Soviet prison system, based on extensive research and Solzhenitsyn's own experiences as a prisoner in the Gulag. Quotation by Alexander Solzhenitsyn: At what exact point, then should one resist the communists? ― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, quote from The Gulag Archipelago 1918-1956 “And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he … (Author: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn) (Tag: resistance) ... We didn't love freedom enough. Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn , The Gulag Archipelago: "And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family? ... How we burned in the prison camps later thinking: what would things have been like if every security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family? A quote from Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn...here, but before we do, I wanna read you a quote and it's from a book called The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, who lived through and suffered under the Stalin era in the former Soviet Union, where Stalin simply arrested anybody, who didn't agree with the government and locked them up in the gulags. Complete summary of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's The Gulag Archipelago, 1918-1956. eNotes plot summaries cover all the significant action of The Gulag Archipelago, 1918-1956. Solzhenitsyn cites 15 million Gulag inmates, at any one time, based on the ROSSIYA-SSSR encyclopedia–a figure also endorsed by former inmates (p. 205). Two heinous, twentieth century historical examples serve to enlighten us: (1) The construction by Illuminists Lenin, Stalin and others of the Gulag Archipelago , a string of work and prison camps inside the Soviet Union; and (2) The network of concentration camps run by the Nazis under Hitler and Himmler. If you can read this aloud without tearing up, you’re made of sterner stuff than me. At one level, the Gulag Archipelago traces the history of the system of forced labor camps that existed in the Soviet Union from 1918 to 1956. Alexander Solzhenitsyn quote: At what exact point, then should one resist the communists? Solzhenitsyn begins with V. I. Lenin 's original decrees which were made shortly after the October Revolution ; they established the legal and practical framework for a series of camps where political prisoners and ordinary criminals would be sentenced to forced labor .