The Gulag within the Totalitarian Horizon

Cross Exercise between Solzhenitsyn's Testimony and Arendt's Interpretation

Authors

  • Germán Ramos Universidad Nacional de General Sarmiento

Keywords:

political philosophy, concentration camps, Gulag, totalitarianism

Abstract

This article analyzes one of the most controversial issues of The Origins of Totalitarianism, namely: the justification for the inclusion of Stalinism under the category of totalitarianism. This is a contentious issue since, although Arendt's book presents a long study of the antecedents of anti-Semitism and Nazi racism, there is no equivalent with respect to Stalinism. The key to analyzing this question is to focus on the implementation of the concentration camps, which are the fundamental totalitarian institutions. And for this, the testimony of Alexander Solzhenitsyn, author of Archipiélago Gulag and A day in the life of Iván Denísovich, is very important. The article's hypothesis consists in sustaining that the arendtian analysis that presents Stalinism as a form of totalitarianism is not justified by its study of the antecedents that allowed its crystallization, but by the centrality that the concentration camps acquired in its system. What we propose is an exercise in crossover between the works of Solzhenitsyn and the analysis presented by Arendt in The Origins of Totalitarianism. By showing how these categories are linked in Solzhenitsyn's work, we will be able to assess to what extent the inclusion of Stalinism as a form of totalitarianism is substantiated.

References

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Soljenitsin, A. (1983). Un día en la vida de Iván Denísovich. Hyspamérica Ediciones.

Soljenitsin, A. (2016). Archipiélago Gulag. Editorial digital: Titivillus. Recuperado de: https://lectulandia.me/

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Published

2022-09-20

How to Cite

The Gulag within the Totalitarian Horizon: Cross Exercise between Solzhenitsyn’s Testimony and Arendt’s Interpretation. (2022). Pescadora De Perlas. Revista De Estudios Arendtianos, 1(1), 147-177. https://revistas.psi.unc.edu.ar/index.php/pescadoradeperlas/article/view/35446