Analyzing the Soviet Society by Those Who Doubt in It: Platonov, Shalamov, Solzhenitsyn, and Mikhail Heller

• In Event: From Biographical Memory to Professional Expertise: Personal Experience and the Study of Communism

Abstract

Throughout Soviet history, individuals emerged who, while not necessarily opposing communism, harbored doubts about the system’s absolute ideological claims. This paper examines four intellectuals—Andrei Platonov, Varlam Shalamov, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, and Mikhail Heller—who navigated different political contexts yet shared a critical awareness of the system’s dysfunction. Their doubts, often expressed through culture and intellectual discourse, shaped their transformation from passive participants to outspoken critics of Soviet rule.

Author

• Jedrzej Piekara, Inst of Central Europe (Poland)