To the Capitalists and the Communists — You’re Both Wrong, Says Solzhenitsyn
When Alexander Solzhenitsyn, a political fugitive from the Soviet Union, was asked to deliver Harvard University’s 1978 Commencement address, he did not tell the young graduates that their future was bright. Nor did he expound upon the delights of academia. He didn’t even thank America for giving him sanctuary. Instead, he informed them that their culture was headed for catastrophe and that they were too weak to fight against it. A typical Russian optimist.
Solzhenitsyn began his speech discussing the divide between the East and West — not just geographically, but culturally. As America began to exert its influence over the world, many had begun to view western democracy as the solution to problems in eastern countries. But westernization will not save the world because the west itself is dying from the inside out. Its economy is booming, but its soul is dying.
Western values (best incarnated in America) of individual rights and the pursuit of happiness had the potential to produce an incredible society, but they had a fatal flaw — a society based on individual rights cannot flourish without morally resilient citizens. As Christianity drained out of western culture, it left a void filled only by materialism.
When divorced from an innate sense of moral responsibility, freedom became “what can I get away with?” instead of “what should I do?” As a result, the west is a consumeristic culture held in check only by complex laws that focus on the letter, not the spirit, of a good society. Lady Liberty has been replaced by a Victoria’s Secret model — because everyone has the right not to look.
Solzhenitsyn clarified that, although he disagrees with the cultural implications of a capitalist society in a post-Christian world, socialism is not the answer. When discussing the media’s influence on culture, Solzhenitsyn points out that in the east there is no diversity of thought in the media because it is run by the state. In the west, the media is unified because, while economically free, they are slaves to general trends and popular opinions dictated by academia. Both socialism and classical liberalism have materialistic roots with the potential to destroy our capacity for goodness, truth, and beauty.
The solution, Solzhenitsyn argues, is a return of moral courage and individual responsibility. “Only voluntary, inspired self-restraint can raise man above the world stream of materialism.”
Although given in 1978, Solzhenitsyn’s themes of moral responsibility, individualism’s limits, the value of suffering, and the tension between economic and spiritual flourishing pervade much of 19th century Russian literature. Viewed from 2021, Solzhenitsyn’s critiques of a culture controlled by the media, enslaved by consumerism, and twisted in legalism are all the more relevant. His challenge is one we still must answer: “It is time, in the West, to defend not so much human rights as human obligations”
Further Reading/Sources
Read the full speech at the Solzhenitsyn Center
Peter Kreeft was present at Solzhenitsyn’s address and later gave an excellent analysis of it. (I love Dr. Kreeft, but I apologize in advance for his attempted Russian accent)
