Chapter 49 Chapter 18 The Muse of the Gulag

Happily, anything is possible in the Gulag.The most insidious deeds and betrayals of all kinds, totally unexpected encounters and love on the brink of the abyss - all are possible.But if someone tells you with delighted eyes, who has been re-educated under the influence of the official means of the liberal arts - then you can answer without hesitation: nonsense! Everyone in the Gulag is being re-educated, re-educated under mutual and environmental influences, re-educated in different directions - but there is not a single doll prisoner, let alone an adult prisoner, because Re-educated by means of literature and education.

However, in order that our labor camps do not look like "houses of prostitution, nests of robbers, training grounds for recidivists and training centers for immorality" (this is all referring to the tsar's prisons), - they have such an ancillary institution - - Culture and Education Section. Because, as Apetl, who was once the head of the Gulag, said: "The Soviet proletariat used its own culture (not labor camps!--author's note) to oppose the capitalist state's prison construction. The proletariat The institutions through which the state enforces the deprivation of liberty ... may be called prisons or something else - but the terminology is not the problem. These are places where life is not killed but sprouts new shoots ... ..."

I don't know what happened to Apeltel, but I think it's very likely that soon after, his head will be screwed out in those places where life sprouts.But the problem is not the terminology.Do the readers understand what is important in our labor camps?Cultural Construction. An institution sprang up, multiplied, and its tentacles reached every island.In the 1920s they were called Political Education Sections (Political Education Sections), and from the 1930s they were called Cultural Education Sections.Part of their role was to replace the prison priests and prayers of the past. This is how they are organized.The head of the culture and education section is a free person who has the authority of an assistant to the camp chief.He himself chooses educators (according to the ratio of 250 prisoners to one educator), and the educators must be people from "strata close to the proletariat". Therefore, intellectuals, bourgeoisie) are of course not suitable (they It would be better to wield a pickaxe), and the recruits to be educators are thieves with two or three ex-cons, and urban crooks, embezzlers, and moral degenerates.Look, a well-dressed young man (he got five years for the crime of minor rape) rolled up the newspaper and went to the fifty-eight prisons to talk to them. The topic was: "Labor in the process of reformation" role".This role is seen especially clearly by the educators from the sidelines, since they themselves have been "liberated from the production process."Using such socially friendly elements has also established a team of activists in the cultural and educational departments—but the activists are not out of production (they can only hope to get rid of some educators and occupy their positions in the future. This has caused widespread in the cultural and educational departments. friendly atmosphere).The trainer was supposed to send the prisoner to work early in the morning, then inspect the kitchen (that is, he had a good meal there), and then go to his cell for a while to get a good night's sleep.He must not provoke and offend the thieves, because first, it is dangerous, and second, when the time comes, "unity in crime will become unity in production", when the thieves will lead the assault squad Go punch and dash.For the time being, let them give away a night card and get enough sleep in the future.However, educators often follow a general rule in their own activities: the work of cultural education in labor camps is not the work of cultural and educational inspiration for the "unfortunate", but the work of cultural production. It can’t be done) is aimed at... the readers must have guessed: Article 58 prisoners.It's a pity that the Department of Culture and Education "does not have the power of arrest" (cough, such restrictions have been placed on the role of culture!), but it can request the administrative authority to "arrest" (it will not refuse!).Also, the educators "provide regular reports on the mood of the prisoners" (it has ears and can hear! Here the cultural and educational section is subtly transformed into the Cheka Operations section, but this is not written in the regulations).

However, we got carried away with citations and grammatically misused the present tense.We have to disappoint the readers. What we are talking about here is the 1930s, the most beautiful era of prosperity for the arts and education. Class struggle broke out.In those good years of the Department of Culture and Education, it also added many important subsidiary institutions: the Cultural Committee of the Deprived of Liberty; the Cultural Enlightenment Committee; the Health and Life Committee; Comrade Erhan (Director of the Baihai Canal Project and Chairman of the Amnesty Committee of the Central Executive Committee) said: the life content of Xunyi people in prison should be consistent with the life content of the whole country. "(Soltz, the most ferocious enemy of the people, was justly punished by the proletarian court... I am sorry,...comrade Soltz, a soldier for a great cause, was framed and died in the age of superstition... I am sorry...dead In an age of slight... superstition.)

Moreover, the way of working was as colorful and rich as life itself.Organize competitions.Organize raids.Struggle to achieve production financial plans.Struggle to strengthen labor discipline.Elimination of production gap assault campaign.Marching into culture and education.Volunteer to donate aircraft.Subscribe to government bonds.Saturday voluntary labor to strengthen national defense.Expose fake assault workers.Talk to prisoners who refuse to work.Literacy (although not very willing to participate).Vocational and technical training courses for labor-turned-labour prisoners (thieves scrambling to learn to be a car driver: freedom!).And fascinating talk about the inviolability of socialist property!And read the newspaper!Q&A evening.A red corner in every shed!Schedule for completing the program.Production mission numbers!All kinds of posters!All kinds of slogans!

In that blessed age the Muse soared over the grim expanses of the Archipelago and over the abyss.The first and highest of the muses was Polyhymenia, goddess of hymns and slogans. Excellent homework classes will be honored and rewarded! Work in a sudden, and you will get paid!or as: Work honestly, the whole family is waiting for you! (I really understand the psychology! Do you know what is the trick here? First: If you have forgotten your family - it will disturb you and remind you. Second: If you are very disturbed - comfort you: the family is still there and has not been killed. Third: as it is, the family does not need you, only through honest labor camp labor can you be needed for the family) Finally:

"Join the surprise march to commemorate the seventeenth anniversary of the October Revolution!" Hey, who can be indifferent? ... What about dramatic work with sharp political themes (taken a little from the comedy goddess Thalia)?Example: Red Calendar Service!Newspaper drama!A publicity trial staged in a drama!The theme chorus of the September Plenary Session of the Central Committee in 1930!Musical burlesque "March of Penal Code Articles" (Fifty-Eight is a Lame Banshee)!How all this enriches the prisoner's life!How helpful it is for them to pursue the light! There is also the cultural and entertainment officer of the Department of Culture and Education!And then there's -- atheism works!And finally these advocacy teams:

Assault workers are busy, Push up the cart and shake it!What a brave self-criticism! --Even assault workers are not afraid to touch!As soon as the propaganda team arrives at the punishment section to hold a concert: Listen, Volga! if next to the prisoner The Cheka guards the construction site day and night, This means that-- The working class has strong hands That is to say, in the National Security Bureau There are communists at work! So all the prisoners who were punished, especially the habitual offenders, immediately threw away their cards and went to work desperately! There is also such a measure: a group of outstanding assault workers visits the strong control company or the correctional isolation center, and leads a propaganda team.At first, the assault workers tried their best to blame the prisoners who refused to work, and explained to them the benefits of fulfilling the quota (the food would be improved).Then the propaganda team sang:

Fighting in full swing everywhere, Moscow Volga Canal is also Defeat the ice and snow!And sang with all candor: For our better life, In order to eat and drink-- We should dig the soil better!So, all those willing were not only invited back to the camp, but immediately moved into the commando shed (from the punishment shed) and immediately fed!How effective is art! (Except for the Central Propaganda Team, all the Propaganda Teams are not out of production, and only receive an extra serving of porridge at the entrance of the performance.) What other more detailed forms of work are there?For example, "the fight against egalitarian wages with the assistance of the prisoners themselves".Just think deeply, what a profound meaning there is here!This means that at a class meeting a prisoner will stand up and say: Don't give him the full ration, he's not working well, better give me two hundred grams!

And - what about the Comrade Trial? (In the early post-revolutionary years, they were called "Gay Morality Tribunals"! Tried cases of gambling, fighting, stealing, etc. -- but is that what the Tribunals do? And, the word "morality" radiates a strong It had a bourgeois atmosphere, which was later eliminated.) From the period of reconstruction (from 1928 onwards), the Tribunal began to try cases of absenteeism, false illness, mismanagement of property, production of waste products, damage to materials, etc.If there are no prisoners of different classes among the members of the Inquisition (only murderers, thieves who became "bitches", embezzlers and bribe-takers), then the Inquisition will ask the leader to take deprivation in its own judgment. Measures such as meeting with relatives, prison meals from outside, commutation of sentence, parole, and transfer of prisoners who do not accept reformation to other places.What a wise and just measure this is!It is especially beneficial when the initiative for these measures comes from the prisoner himself. (Of course, not without difficulties. Starting the trial of a former kulak, he said: "Your trial is a gay trial, and I am a kulak to you, not a comrade. So you have no right to judge me!) "I don't know what to do. I asked for instructions from the Political Education Department of the General Administration of Labor Camps, and they replied: "Trial! There must be a trial, don't stick to it!")

What is the basis of the entire cultural and educational work in the labor camps? "We can't let the prisoner in the reform-through-labor camp do his own thing after work--don't let his past criminal habits relapse" (for example, to make the fifty-eight prisoners not to think about politics).The important thing is "to make the prisoner never be free from the influence of education". Here modern technological advances help, namely: loudspeakers on every pole and in every shed!They should never stop making noise.They should be constantly explaining to the prisoners how the moment of freedom is approaching, from rising to lights-out; hourly reporting on the progress of the work, on advanced and backward classes, on who is getting in the way.An ingenious method can also be recommended: radio conversations with individual prisoners who refuse to work and those who work dishonestly. And of course the newspapers, the newspapers! - One of our party's sharpest weapons.Here is real proof of the freedom of the press in our country: publications in captivity!yes!In what country are prisoners allowed to have their own newspaper? The first category of newspapers is wall newspapers, which are handwritten, and the second category is large print runs.Both presses had some fearless camp correspondents who lashed out at (the prisoners') shortcomings, a self-criticism encouraged by the leadership.As for how much the leadership attaches importance to this kind of free press in labor camps, a sentence in Demetrager's order No. Worker's photo.Newspapers for instructions.Newspapers expose problems.Newspapers also shed light on the movements of class enemies - in order to deal them a harder blow (newspapers - excellent collaborators of the Cheka Operations Section!).Generally speaking, newspapers reflect the life process of the labor camps, and they are invaluable proof materials for future generations. For example, the newspaper of the Arkhangelsk Detention Center in 1931 gives us a picture of the prosperity and prosperity of the life of the prisoners: "spittoons, ashtrays, linoleum on the table, radio broadcasting equipment, portraits of the leaders And the bright slogans on the wall proclaiming the party's general line...--this is the rightful fruit for the deprived of their liberty!" Ah, what a costly fruit!How is this reflected in the lives of those deprived of their liberty?The same newspaper wrote after half a year had passed: "Everyone started working with concerted efforts and energy... The completion rate of the production financial plan has increased... But the food has decreased and deteriorated." Cough, it doesn't matter!It just doesn't matter!The latter -- can be corrected. Where has all this gone? ... Oh, how short-lived is all that is good and perfect on earth!Where is this tense, energetic and optimistic merry-go-round education system? !And this educational system is based on the advanced doctrine, which promised that in a few years there would not be a single criminal in our country (November 30, 1934 especially felt this way).Suddenly, the Ice Age came (well needed, absolutely necessary), -- and the tender petals of innovations of all kinds fell.Where did the Assault Movement and the Socialist Competition dissipate?And what about the newspapers in the labor camps?What about raids, donations, subscriptions, and Saturday volunteer labor?What about the Culture Council and the Gay Trial?What about literacy and vocational training courses?What is that when orders have been given to remove speakers and portraits of leaders from the quarantine zone! (No more spittoons.) Immediately the lives of the prisoners were eclipsed!It immediately went back decades and lost the most important achievement of the revolutionary prison! (But we have nothing against it; the party's measures are very timely and absolutely necessary.) Artistic and poetic tagline forms have been deprecated, and the tagline has become very simple: Done!Over done!Of course, no one directly prohibits aesthetic education and the flight of the Muse, but the possibility of it is greatly reduced.Take, for example, a camp in Vorkuta.Nine months of winter were over, and three months of poor, miserable summer had arrived.The disgusting and dirty appearance of the camp made the chief of culture and education ache.Under such conditions it is impossible for the criminal to really think about the perfection of our system from which he is excluded.Therefore, the Department of Culture and Education announced that they would return to voluntary labor for a few weeks.In their spare time, the prisoners enthusiastically made "flower beds" - not using any flowers and plants, and nothing grows here, but simply laying moss, lichen, broken glass, pebbles, and slag on the small mound with no business and broken bricks to replace flowers.These "flower beds" were then surrounded by fences made of plastered slats.Although the effect is not as good as the one in Gorky Park-but the Department of Culture and Education is already satisfied with this.You will say that in two months the rain will wash everything away.So what if it's washed away.Just do it again next year. Also, what has become of the political conversation?In Onzhrag Fifth Independence Point, a preacher came from Sukhobezvodnoe (it was already 1952).After work, the prisoners were driven to listen to lectures.This comrade, although without a secondary education, can give the needed and timely lecture with complete political correctness: "On the Struggle of the Greek Patriots".The prisoners sat drowsily, one hiding behind the other, without the slightest interest.The preacher told of the terrible persecution of the patriots, of the tearful Greek women who wrote a letter to Comrade Stalin.When the speech was over, a somewhat silly but cunning female prisoner from Lvov, Sheremeta, stood up and asked: "Citizen Chief! Please tell me: -- to whom can we write? . . . " This, in truth, has nullified the positive effect of the speech. The forms of reformation and education work retained by the Department of Culture and Education are as follows: the completion of the quota and his performance are indicated on the application form of the prisoner to the prefect; the checked letters are distributed to each room; Cigarettes were smoked; amateur theatrical performances were held three times a year; paints and canvases were managed to get artists to decorate the camps and paint the private residences of the officers.A little help to the Ombudsman, but it's unofficial. After all these, it is no wonder that the staff of the cultural and educational departments are no longer active and enthusiastic instructors, but more stupid and lifeless characters. Oh!There is another important job: the management of the mailbox 1 sometimes opens them, takes out the letters, and closes them again-these are some small boxes painted in brown and hung in conspicuous places in the camp.On the boxes were written: "To the Supreme Soviet of the USSR", "To the Council of Ministers of the USSR", "To the Minister of Internal Affairs", "To the Prosecutor General". Please write! --We have freedom of speech.As for where and to whom it should be sent, that is up to us.Here are comrades who read this stuff exclusively. What is thrown into these boxes?Pardon application? Not only this kind of thing.Sometimes there are also informants (written by fledglings) - the Department of Culture and Education will naturally distinguish, they are not sent to Moscow, but should be taken to the next office.What else?Inexperienced readers will never guess!And - invention!A very great invention, an invention that should fundamentally change the whole of modern technology and at least free the inventor from the labor camps. Among ordinary normal people there are far more inventors (and poets as well) than we suppose.They were even more numerous in the labor camps.Try to get out!Invention is a form of escape from bullets and beatings. Between work hours, stretcher-carrying and pick-axes (couldn't think of a better time), these servants of the goddess Uranus frowned, trying to invent something that would surprise and ignite the government. to bring forth its greedy things. Lebedev from Khovlino was a radio operator.His invention, having been rejected as needless to be kept secret, has now been confided to me that he has discovered the deflection effect of the compass needle under the influence of garlic.As a result, he discovered a way to modulate high-frequency oscillations with odors, which can be used to transmit odors over long distances.However, government figures do not see the military benefits of this option and are not interested.That is to say, it failed.You can either stay and suffer, or come up with something better. Some, though rare, -- were suddenly taken somewhere!He couldn't explain himself, he couldn't speak out, so as not to spoil things, but in the labor camp, no one could guess why he was taken away and where he was taken away?Some disappeared forever, and some were sent back at a later time (he won't say now, so as not to be taken as a laughing stock. Or deliberately put a thick smoke screen. This is in the character of prisoners: use storytelling to elevate their self-esteem). But I, who have been on Paradise Island, have seen the other end of the conduit: where the invention is sent, and how it is read there.Here I allow myself to entertain the patient reader of this unpleasant book a little. There was a man named Trushlyakov, who used to be a lieutenant of the Soviet Army. After being injured in the earthquake in Sevastopol, he was taken as a prisoner and later stayed in Auschwitz. All these experiences made him My nerves seem a little out of whack.Some idea he had raised from the labor camp was so interesting to his superiors that he was sent to the scientific research institute ("Shalashka") where the prisoners worked.Here he was a veritable fountain of inventions, and the magistrates had just rejected one of his inventions—he was immediately proposing a second.Though he did not carry a single invention to the point of calculating, yet he was so inspired, so deep, so serious, and so expressive in his eyes, that not only was he not suspected of deceit, but a friend of mine, a very The no-nonsense engineer insists that Trushlyakov is, in his depth of thought, the Newton of the twentieth century.Admittedly, I didn't pay attention to all his ideas, but once he was asked to develop a radar absorber proposed by himself, he asked for help in advanced mathematics, and I was sent to him as a mathematician.Trushlyakov described the mission as follows: In order for an aircraft or a tank not to reflect radar waves, it should have some kind of multi-layered material (what, Trushlyakov did not tell me: either because he himself has not chosen, or because is the inventor's main secret) covering.Electromagnetic waves are refracted and reflected back and forth many times on the boundaries of these layers, and should lose all their energy.My task now is, without knowing the properties of the material, to prove by the laws of geometric optics and by any other means at my disposal that everything will be as Trushlyakov predicted - and that The best number of levels! It goes without saying that I can't think of anything!Trushlyakov did nothing either.Our creative alliance also disintegrated. Soon, as a librarian (where I also worked as a librarian), I received an interlibrary (from the Lenin Library) interlibrary loan appointment form from Trushlyakov.It did not specify the author or the title of the book but read: "Anything about intercontinental travel technology." Since it was only 1947, the Lenin Library had little to offer him except Jules Verne (about which little Tsiolkovsky thought at the time).After a failed attempt to prepare for a flight to the moon, Trushlyakov was thrown into the Abyss again - back in a labor camp. Letters still flowed in from the labor camps.I was assigned (this time as an interpreter) to the team of engineers who cleared the piles of inventions and patent applications that had been sent in from the labor camps.Translators were needed because in 1946-147 many documents arrived in German. However, this is not an application form.Moreover, it is not something that was written voluntarily.It hurts and shames me to read them.It was something wrested, forced, squeezed out of German prisoners of war.Because it is clear that these Germans cannot be detained in prison camps for a lifetime: even if they are detained for three years after the war, they will be detained for five years, but in the end they have to be sent back to their hometowns.So everything that might be useful to our country should be extracted from them during these years.Take at least the bleak shadow of those patents that were brought to the West. I can easily imagine how this came about.Order those unsuspecting serious Germans to report: what expertise, where have you worked, what job you have held.Then it must have been Cheka Operation III that called all the engineers and technicians to the office one by one.First, respectfully (and this flattered the Germans) asked them in detail about the kind and nature of the jobs they had done in Germany before the war (they were already wondering if they were going to be sent out of the camps to do favored jobs).Then from the non-disclosure paper they obtained, it concluded that "the Germans will not do anything that is verboten (prohibited)".Finally, a hard requirement is placed on them: a written description of all noteworthy features of their production and new achievements of important technologies used there.The Germans understand, too late, what a trap they have fallen into in boasting about their past status 1 They cannot write nothing now - they are threatened that if they do so they will never be sent home (according to Judging by the circumstances of those years, this seems probable). Feeling guilty and depressed, the Germans reluctantly took a pen to write it... Because the ignorant Cheka operators were unable to delve into the essence of the confession, and only evaluated it based on the number of pages, they were rescued and prevented from revealing important secrets.When we clean up, we can almost never catch anything substantial: the confession is either full of contradictions, or deliberately casts a layer of academic fog to let go of the most important things, or seriously explains those things. A "new achievement" that even our grandparents knew well. But those applications in Russian—they are sometimes surprisingly servile!It is still conceivable that, in the camps, on poor Sundays of grace, the writers of these petitions were careful to keep their neighbors from knowing what they were writing, presumably lying about writing pardon petitions.Whether their low intelligence can foresee that the ones who read the neatly written report they submitted to the supreme monarch will not be the lazy and full-fledged leaders, but ordinary prisoners like them. We flipped through a proposal written in sixteen pages (this is the paper he begged for in the Department of Arts and Education): 1. "On the Use of Infrared Rays for Guarding Prison Quarters". 2. "On the use of photocells to count the number of persons passing through the camp gates".There are also drawings, son of a bitch.There are also technical notes.The preamble reads: Dear Joseph Vissarionovich: Although I was sentenced to long-term imprisonment according to Article 58 for committing a crime, I Here, too, I remain loyal to my dear Soviet regime and would like to assist Reliable vigilance against vicious enemies of the people all around me.if i will Called to leave the labor camp and get the necessary information, I promise to build Set up this system. There are such "political prisoners"!When this report was circulated in our hands, it was accompanied by exclamations and reform-through-labor prison-style cursing (here are all our own people).One of us sat down and wrote the following comment: The design was technically substandard...the design didn't take into account...no regulations...not profitable...not reliable...the result may not strengthen but weaken the camp guards... Judas, what dream did you have today at the faraway labor camp?I'll drive a pole down your throat and suffocate you there, viper! Here is a package of documents from Vorkuta.The author complains that the United States already has an atomic bomb, but our motherland has not until now.He wrote that he had often thought about it in Vorkuta, and that he was willing to help the party and the government from behind the barbed wire.He therefore titled his design proposal PAH - nuclear decay But this project (familiar words) he was unable to carry out due to the lack of technical books in the Vorkuta labor camp (as if there were literary books there!).Therefore, the wild man requested that, for the time being, just send him a radioactive decay guidebook, after which he promised to complete his design for the month of PA in no time. We sat behind a table laughing and slammed into the same two-line poem almost at the same time: you pah (raya) Can make a chicken...! However, in the labor camps there are indeed some truly great scholars who are exhausted and ruined, but our dear ministry leaders are not in a hurry to find them there and find them a relatively suitable place to use them. Alexander Leonidovich Chizhevsky did not once find a place in the Shalashka during all his labors.Chizhevsky was also very unpopular in our country before his labor camps because he connected earthly revolutions and biological processes with the activity of the sun.His whole scientific career was extraordinary, and his research subjects were unexpected and did not fit into the convenient framework of science.At the time people did not understand how to use them for military and industrial purposes.After his death, we now read articles praising him; the phenomenon of myocardial infarction increased (sixteen times) due to magnetic storms was ascertained, cold epidemic forecasts were made, methods for early detection of cancer based on erythrocyte sedimentation rate curves were explored, and proposed Hypotheses about Z-solar radiation. Although Korolev, the father of Soviet cosmonautics, was sent into "Sarashka", he was sent in as an aeronautics scientist. The leadership of "Shalashka" did not allow him to engage in rocket research, so he had to do it at night. (We don't know if Landau was sent to "Saraska" or to a distant island - he had broken ribs and had admitted to being a German spy, but Kapitsa came out to intercede saved him.) Our great aerodynamicist and learned Konstantin Ivanovich Strahovich, after his deportation from the Leningrad prison, worked as a bathroom assistant in the Uglich labor camp.Now he tells his story with a childlike, genuine laugh that he still surprisingly retains after serving a decade in prison.After spending several months on death row, he suffered another bout of malnourished diarrhea in a labor camp.After that, let him stand at the entrance of the bathroom as a gatekeeper when taking a shower in the women's homework class (the male prisoner should send someone who is stronger when he takes a shower, he can't stand there).His task: to put only naked and empty-handed women into the shower room, and ask them to hand over everything to the steaming room, especially bras and panties, because the sanitation department believes that these are the main hiding places for lice, And the women, who just don't want to hand them over, try to carry them through the bathroom.Strahovich's appearance was as follows: a beard like Lord Kelvin's, a forehead like a cliff, twice the height of an ordinary man, and it could hardly be called a forehead.The women pleaded with him, they cursed, they got angry, they laughed at him, they invited him to a pile of birch brooms in the corner... It didn't work for him, he was ruthless.At that time, they unanimously nicknamed him an impotence patient in unanimous resentment.One day, he suddenly took this impotence patient somewhere, no more, no less—to lead the design of the first domestic turbojet engine. As for the scientists who were left to perish in ordinary labor - we don't know. With regard to those who were arrested and exterminated at the height of scientific invention (such as Nikolai Mikhailovich Orlov, who also in 1936 developed the long-term preservation food method) --- where can we know it?Their invention was sealed with the arrest of the inventor. In the foul-smelling, oxygen-deficient atmosphere of the labor camp, the smoky lights of the Department of Culture and Education burst out and flickered for a while, and for a while only gave off a faintly visible twilight.But even with such lights, people still come out from various work sheds and work classes, and gather there.Some have practical purposes: tear paper from books or newspapers to smoke, get some paper to write pardon petitions on, or write something with the ink here (no ink in the shed, just in the Here, too, it's pasted: because ink can be used to stamp fake stamps!).Some are to show off: Look, I am literate!Some of them just want to go outside the homework class that they are already tired of to meet some newcomers to hang out and gossip.Some are listening to something to report to the "Godfather".But there are also people who don't know why they, weary people, don't lie down on the planks and rest their aching bodies, but are inexplicably attracted by something to spend the short half of the night here. Hours. Going to the liberal arts and education department for recreation will unknowingly make the mind feel a little refreshed.Although the people who came here are the same hungry people as those who are sitting in the "cars" of the homework class, what we are talking about here is not rations, porridge, or quotas.We are not talking here of those things that make up camp life, which involves the protest of the heart and the rest of the head.It was a story of a kind of mythical past that these dingy, starved and naked people could never have had.There is also talk here of the indescribably happy life of freedom of movement that the lucky ones who somehow did not end up in prison live outside.Art is also discussed here, and sometimes it is really fascinating! It was as if someone had drawn a faintly glowing and floating circle like fog on the land where demons danced—it was about to go out, but before it went out—you had the feeling that in this circle, half an hour You are beyond the reach of demons. There are still people strumming guitars here.Someone was singing softly -- not at all the kind of song that's allowed on stage.Your heart trembles: life - still exists!It- still exists!So, you look around happily, and you also want to express something to someone. However, be careful what you say.Be careful what you say.look!This is Leova Ger-Man.He was both an inventor (undergraduate student of the Highway Traffic Institute, who was trying to greatly increase the efficiency of the engine, and the data was taken during the search) and an actor. , we performed Chekhov's "Marriage Proposal" with him.他还是个哲学家，会说这样动听的话："我不愿关心后代，让他们自己往地里去掏挖吧。我像这样紧紧地抓住生活！"--他现身说法，用指甲紧紧掐进桌子的木头。 "相信崇高的思想？--这是打已经断了线的电话。历史是一系列不相连贯的事实。把我的尾巴还给我吧！阿米巴--要比人完美些；它有比较简单的功能。"他的话会使你入神：他详细地解释为什么憎恶列夫?托尔斯泰，为什么陶醉于爱伦堡和亚历山大?格林。他还是个随和的小伙子，在劳改营里不逃避干重活：用长钻凿墙，诚然，这是在保证能完成百分之一百四十任务的作业班里。他的父亲手一九三七年被捕入狱并死在牢里，但他自己是个普通刑事犯，是因为伪造面包配给证被抓进来的，然而，他耻于带着诈骗罪的条文，竭力向五十八条犯人靠近。靠近啊靠近，但有一次开始举行劳改营内的审判，这么讨人喜欢的、这么使人感兴趣的，"这样抓住生活的"廖瓦?格-曼却作为起诉方面的证人出庭。如果你没有向他讲过多的东西，那就算运气。 如果在劳改营里有怪人（他们总是有的！），那么他们走的路决不会绕过文教科，他们一定要到那里去瞧上一眼。 请看阿里斯蒂德?伊万诺维奇?多瓦图尔--有哪一点不是个怪人？他是彼得堡人，罗马尼亚和法国的血统，古典语文学家，一辈子是个孤孤单单的光棍。像把猫从肉食分拉走一样，也把他从希罗多德和凯撒身边拉走了，并把他关进了劳改营。他的心灵里还充满着没有释读完的文本，他在劳改营里--像在梦里一样。他在这里本来第一个星期就会完蛋，但医生们保护了他，给他安排了令人艳羡的医务统计员的职务，每月还让他给新招来的医士们上两次对他们不无益处的课！在劳改营里--上拉丁文课！阿里斯蒂德?伊万诺维奇站到小黑板旁--像在美好的大学年代里那样容光焕发！他写下土著们眼前从来没有出现过的奇怪的动词变位表，他的心由于粉笔移动时发出的吱吱声而跳动起来。他被安排得那么宁静，那么好！--但是灾祸也降临到他的头上：劳改营长认为他是个罕见的诚实的人！于是就任命……为面包房主任！劳改营职务中最诱人的一个！面包房主任--就是生命主任！对这个职务，劳改犯们都是心向神往、全力以求的，但得到的人是寥寥无几！而这时候职务从天上掉下来--多瓦图尔却被它压垮了！还没有接管面包房，他整个星期就像被判了死刑似的。他乞求长官烧了他，让他活着，让他继续保持舒畅的精神和拉丁文动词变位法。他得到了赦免：又一个骗子手被任命为面包房主任。 还有这么一个怪人--下工后是文教科的常客，他还能在什么地方呢？他长着一个大脑袋，轮廓粗大，便于化装，从远处看得很清楚。毛茸茸的浓眉特别富有表现力。而样子却总是带着悲剧色彩。他坐在房间的角落里抑郁地瞧着我们的贫乏的排演。这是卡米尔?列奥波尔多维奇?冈图阿尔。革命初年他从比利时来到彼得格勒创建"新剧院"--未来的剧院。当时谁能预见到这个未来将是个什么样子，导演们将怎样被关进牢去？在两次世界大战中，冈图阿尔都是同德国人打了仗的：第一次--在西方，第二次--在东方。现在却以背叛祖国的罪名给他扣上了十年……背叛什么样的祖国？ ……在什么时候？ ... 当然罗，文教科属下最露脸的--那就是画家。他们在这里是主人。如果有单独的房间--这是供他们使用的。如果有谁固定地免除一般劳动--那只是他们。在所有的缪斯的侍从者中，只有他们创造着真正的价值--一可以用手去触摸的，可以在住所里挂起来的，可以卖钱的。他们画的画，当然不是自己脑子里想出来的--而且也不要求他们这样做，难道从五十八条犯人的脑子里能够产生出好画来吗？他们只不过是把美术明信片上的画临摹成大的复制品--有的划上格子，有的不划格子也可对付。你在泰加林和冻土带的穷乡僻壤里再也找不到更好的美术商品了，你们只管画，至于挂到什么地方去--我们知道。甚至如果并不马上中意也无妨。来了一个准军事警卫队的副排长维彼拉依洛，瞧了瞧德乌尔的"胜利者-尼禄"的临摹品； "这是什么？新郎官骑马？他怎么灰溜溜的？……"还是照样拿走。画家还用颜色画毯子：乘着小艇与天鹅一起漂浮在水面的美人，落日和城堡--这一切都很合军官同志们的胃口。画家也不是傻瓜，他还偷偷地为自己画这样的小毯子，看守拿到外面的市场上卖了钱对半分。需求量是很大的。一般说，画家在劳改营里是可以生活的。 雕塑家--要差一些。雕塑作品对于内务部的干部来说，并不是那么美观的东西，摆设起来不习惯，而且还要占用摆家具的地方，一碰还会打碎。在劳改营里雕塑家的工作很少，通常都是像涅多夫那样兼搞绘画。就这样，巴卡耶夫少校走进来，看见一座母亲的小塑像还会说： "你怎么搞的，做了个哭鼻子的母亲。在我们国家里母亲是不哭的！"伸手就要砸掉塑像。 沃洛佳?克列姆普涅尔，一个青年作曲家，富裕的律师的儿子，依照劳改营的观念，还是个没有打垮的公子哥儿，他从家里把自己的钢琴运到莫斯科近郊的别斯库德尼克劳改营（群岛上闻所未闻的事件）！运来好像是为了加强群众文化工作，实际上则是为了自己作曲，不过，他随身带着劳改营舞台的钥匙，熄灯后点着蜡烛（电灯已经关了）弹奏。有一次他在这样弹奏，记下自己编的一首新的奏鸣曲，突然被后面的一声吆喝吓了一跳： "你的音乐有镣铐味！" 克列姆普涅尔跳了起来，一个少校，劳改营长，老契卡人员偷偷摸摸站在墙边，现在他向蜡烛走过来--他的身后拖着一条巨大的黑影。少校现在明白了，为什么这个骗子要写信叫运来钢琴。他走过去，拿起记下的乐谱，一声不吭地、阴沉沉地在蜡烛上烧了起来。 青年作曲家不能不叫起来："你在做什么呀？" 少校从咬紧的牙齿缝里更加明确地宣布；"送你的音乐到那里去！" 灰烬从纸上掉下来，轻轻落在键盘上。 老契卡人员没有错，这首奏鸣曲真的是描写劳改营的声 如果在劳改营里出现个诗人--允许他做的事情是在讽刺犯人的漫画下写题词和创作顺口溜--也是讥讽违反纪律的犯人的。 诗人也好，作曲家也好，不可能有别的主题。他们不可能为自己的长官做出什么可以触摸到的、有用的、可以拿到手的东西来。 散文作家在劳改营里则根本不可能有，因为他们永远不应当有。 当俄罗斯的散文进了劳改营的时候，一个苏联诗人悟到了这一点。过去了！ --没有回来。go in! --没有浮出来-…? 关于所发生的事件的全部规模，关于遇害者的人数，关于他们可能达到的水平--我们永远也作不出判断。关于在起解前赶紧烧掉的笔记本，关于已经写好的片段和那些装在脑袋里并与脑袋一起扔进了冰冻的万人坑里的庞大构思，谁也不会给我们讲了。涛还可以用嘴唇贴着耳朵朗读，还可以记住并把它们或关于它们的记忆传下来，--但是散文一般不会预先讲出来的，它存在下来比较困难，它太庞大，太不灵活，与纸张关系太大，因此很难通过群岛上的种种波折。谁能在劳改营里下决心去写呢？例如A?别林科夫写了--落到了"教父"手里，反弹回来就是加刑。再如M?H?加里宁娜，她根本不是个什么作家，不过在记事本里写下了劳改营生活中引人注目的现象："也许将来会对什么人有用"。可是--落到了行动人员手里。她--关进了禁闭室（还算便宜对付过去了）。再如弗拉基米尔?谢尔盖耶维奇?格一夫，他是个不加看押的犯人，在营区外某地写了四个月的劳改营大事记，可是在危险的时刻把它埋进了地里，自己则从这个地方永远被赶走--大事记就这样留在地里了。在营区里不行，在营区外也不行，在哪里行呢？只有在脑袋里！但诗可以这样写，散文却不行。 我们这些受司历史女神克利俄和司史诗女神卡利俄珀养育的人有多少遭到了毁灭，是无法根据我们几个幸免于难的人用任何外推法计算出来的--因为我们也并没有活下来的概然性（拿我为例来说，我把自己的劳改营生活从头到尾回忆一遍后，确信我是本应死在群岛上的--或者是为活下来而百般迁就，以至失去了写作的需要。救了我的是一个附带的因素--数学。这个因素怎样能运用在计算当中呢？）。 从三十年代起所有称为我国散文的东西--只是流入地下的湖泊留下的泡沫。这是泡沫，而不是散文，因为它没有反映出这几十年所有主要的东西。优秀的作家们扼杀了自己最优秀的本质，他们置其实于不顾，只有这样。他们才能保全自身和他们的作品。那些不能放弃深度、特点和耿直的作家在这几十年内不可避免地需要把脑袋搬一搬家--大都是通过劳改营，有的则通过在前线的丧失理智的逞勇好强。 一些哲学散文家、历史散文家、抒情散文家、印象派散文家、幽默散文家就这样走入了地府。 然而，正是群岛给我们的文学，也许还给世界文学，提供了一个独一无二的机会。二十世纪昌盛时期的空前未有的农奴制，在这种唯一的、无需作任何补充的意义上，为作家们开辟了富有成果的虽然是毁灭性的道路。 我斗胆最概括地来说明一下这个思想。不管世界已经存在了多少时候，迄今为止始终存在着两个不可融合的社会阶层：上层和下层，统治阶层和从属阶层。这种划分像一切划分一样，是粗略的，但是，如果不仅把那些有权、有钱、有名望的高等人，而且还把那些因家庭或因个人努力而受到教育的高等人，一句话，把凡是不需要靠双手去工作的人都算入上层--那么这种划分几乎将是囊括无遗的。 那时我们就可以预期会产生四个领域的世界文学（以及一般艺术和一般思想）。第一个领域：上层人描绘（描写、思考）上层人，即描绘自身、自己人。第二个领域：上层人描绘、思考下层人，"小兄弟"。第三个领域：下层人描绘上层人。第四个领域；下层人描绘下层人，即描绘自己。 上层人总是有闲、有或多或少的钱，有文化，有教养。他们只要愿意，随时可以掌握艺术技巧和严整的思想习惯。--但是有一个重要的生活规律：优裕生活会扼杀人在精神上的探索。因为这个缘故，第一个领域包含着许多饱食终日所产生的变态艺术，许多病态的和妄自尊大的．"学派"--不结果实的花朵。只有当那些个人深遭不幸或具有天赋的十分巨大的精神探索要求的代表者进入了这个领域时--才能创造出伟大的文学来。 第四个领域--这就是全世界的民间创作。在这方面闲暇时间是一个分数，它以微分系数的形式分配给单个的人。无名的贡献--不是有意编出来、而是在幸运时刻灵机一动而形成的形象、说法，也是一些微分系数。但创作者却多得不可胜数，这几乎都是一些受压制的满腹牢骚的人。所有创造出来的东西然后一年惩年地口头相传，经过了几十万次的淘汰、冲洗和琢磨。我们就这样得到了民间创作的黄金沉积。它不是华而不实的，冷漠无情的，因为在它的作者中没有一个不是备尝艰辛的。属于第四领域的文字创作（"无产阶级的"、"农民的"）--全是萌芽状态的、无经验的、不顺畅的，因为这里总是缺少个人的才能。 第三领域（"自下而上"）的文字也犯有同样的无经验的毛病，但更甚于此者，它受到了嫉妒和仇恨--无结果的、无创造艺术的感情的毒化。它同样犯了革命者经常犯的那种错误：把高等阶级的缺陷都归咎于它本身，而不归咎于整个人类，没有想象到以后他们自己也会有效地继承下这些缺陷。--或者相反，失之于奴颜婢膝的崇拜。 第二领域（"从上而下"）有希望成为道德上最有成果的。它是这样一些人所创造的，他们的善良、追求真理的激情、正义感强于他们的昏睡的安宁生活，他们的艺术是成熟的，高尚的。但是，这个领域有一个缺陷：缺乏准确地理解事物的能力！这些作者同情、怜悯、哭泣、愤懑--但正是因为这个缘故，他们便不能确切地理解。他们总是从旁边和从上面来观察，怎么也不为下层人设身处地着想，所以有人即使一只脚已经跨过了篱笆，却不能移过第二只脚去。 可见人的天性就是这样自私，以至只有经过外部的暴力才能实现这个转变。塞万提斯就是这样在奴役中形成的，阳思妥耶夫斯基就是这样在苦役中形成的。在古拉格群岛则是一下子在几百万人的头脑和心灵上同时进行了这种试验。 把几百万俄国知识分子投入这里并不是为了让他们游览参观，而是让他们变成残废，死亡，并且毫无回去的希望。历史上破天荒第一次这么多老练的、成熟的、富有文化的人当真地而且永远地陷于奴隶、囚徒、伐木工和矿工的境地。这样，在世界历史上第一次（在这样的规模上）使社会的上层和下层的经验融合起来了！妨碍上层理解下层的一个很重要的、似乎是透明的但以前是不可穿越的壁障-一怜悯--消失了。怜悯曾是往昔的高尚的同情者（一切启蒙作家！）们的推动力--怜悯也迷住过他们的眼睛。他们感到内疚，因为他们自己未能分担厄运，由此之故他们认为自己更加责无旁贷，应当大叫大喊去揭发不公平现象，同时却忽略了彻底去观察下层、上层、所有人的天性。 只有群岛的知识分子犯人才最终地失去了这种内疚感：他们完全分担了人民的厄运！俄国的有文化的人只有现在（如果他超脱了本人的痛苦）才能从里面来描写农奴--因为他自己也成了农奴！ 但是现在他已经没有了铅笔、纸张、时间和柔软的手指。但是现在看守抖搂他的东西，查验他的消化道的人口和出口，而契卡行动人员则查验他的眼睛。 上层和下层的经验融合起来了--但是融合了的经验的代表者却死去了…… 前所未有的哲学和文学还在诞生时就这样葬身在群岛的铁壳下了。 在文教科的常客中，为数最多的是业余文娱活动的参加者。这个职能--指导业余文娱活动，仍留给了老朽的文教科，像它年轻时所担负的一样。在个别岛屿上，业余文娱活动的产生和消失好似来潮和退潮，但不是像海潮那样合乎规律的，而是突发性的，出于一些领导上知道而犯人却不知道的原因，也许是文教科长半年一次要在总结报告中写进点什么东西，也许是上面的什么人要来。 在荒僻的劳改点上是这样做的--文教科长（在营区里通常见不到他的影子，老是由犯人担任的教育员代替他转来转去）把手风琴手叫来，对他说： "听着。搞起个合唱队来！一个月以后就得给我演出。" "首长公民，我可不识谱呀！" "你要他妈乐谱有啥用？你拉一首大家都熟的歌，别人跟着唱就行了！" 于是宣布组织班子，有时与戏剧小组一起搞。在什么地方排练呢？文教科的房间派这种用场嫌小，需要宽敞一些，而俱乐部礼堂当然是没有的。一般派作这种用场的是劳改营的食堂--那里永远被烂菜场的蒸气、腐烂的蔬菜和煮熟的鳝鱼的气味熏得恶臭难闻。食堂的一面是厨房，另一面--或者是固定的舞台或者是临时搭的木板台。晚饭后合唱队和戏剧小组就聚集在这里（环境--如A?格-曼画的图中所见。只是画家画的不是本营的业余文娱活动，而是外来的文化宣传队。现在收拾起最后一些碗钵，把最后几个垂死的犯人赶走--就要放进观众来了。读者自己可以看到，那几个农奴女演员们有多少快乐的表情）。 用什么东西招引犯人来参加业余文娱活动呢？在营区里的五百人中，也许有三四个真正的歌唱爱好者--那么合唱队由谁来组成呢？合唱队中的相会对男女混合营区说来就是主要的诱饵！被任命为合唱队指挥的A?苏济觉得奇怪，他的合唱队怎么会那样漫无节制地膨胀起来，以致一支歌也不可能彻底教会--一批批新的参加者纷至沓来，他们一点没有嗓子，从来也没有唱过歌，但都要求参加。拒绝他们，不考虑刚刚苏醒的向往艺术的志趣将会是多么残酷！然而，一排练起来，合唱队员就少得多（原因是：允许业余文娱活动参加者熄灯后两个小时内在区内走动--去参加排练和从排练归来，这两个小时被他们用来干自己的事情去了！）。 出现这类事情也没有什么稀罕的；在音乐会正要开始前，把合唱队中唯一的男低音解送出营（解送的事与喜乐会不属同一部门管辖）；文教科长把合唱队指挥（就是那个苏济）叫去说： "你出了力--我们很赞赏，但是我们不能让你到音乐会上出面，因为五十八条犯人无权指挥合唱队。所以请你给自己培养一个副手：挥挥手--而不是使嗓子，好找。" 对于某些人说来，合唱队和戏剧小组不光是聚会地点--而且还是生活的某种仿制品，或者不是仿制品，而是一种提醒，生活毕竟还存在，一般说--还存在……瞧，从仓库里送来了粮食袋上弄下来的褐色粗纸，发给大家抄写角色台词。传统悠久的剧院工作程序呀！还有角色的分配呢！还有考虑谁将和谁在戏里接吻呢！谁穿什么！怎样化装！看起来将多么有趣！在演出的晚上还可以拿起真正的镜子，看到自己穿着真正的自由人的连衣裙，两颊上还有红晕。 幻想起这一切来是很有趣的，但是，我的天哪--剧本！这是些什么剧本呀！这些专用集子，上面打着"只供古拉格内部使用！"的戳子。为什么--只供？为什么不是除自由人外在古拉格也可使用，而是--只在古拉格……？这意思就是，那里全是些胡说八道的东西，这是喂猪的泔水，在外面没人喝它，那就倒到这里吧！这是最愚蠢最平庸的作者给自己的最卑劣最荒唐的剧本找到的出路。谁想要上演契柯夫的轻松喜剧或者别的什么东西--可是往哪里去找到这种剧本呢？全村的自由人家里都没有这种东西，劳改营的图书馆里有高尔基的书，但它的好多页被撕下来卷烟抽了。 在克里沃舍科沃劳改营里，文学家H?达维坚科夫凑集了一个戏剧小组。他不知从哪里弄来了一个不平常的小剧本：写拿破仑在莫斯科（大概能够上拉斯托普钦伯爵的布告的水准）！分配了角色，劲头十足地投入了排练--好像，有什么能妨碍演出呢？主角由过去的女教师季娜扮演，她是因留在沦陷区而被捕的。演得很好，导演也很满意。突然，在一次排练时出了乱子：其余的妇女起来反对季娜演主角。事件本身是传统性的，导演本可应付过去。但妇女们叫嚷的是："角色是爱国的，可是她在占领区跟德国人……！滚开，毒蛇！滚开！德国人的臭……，趁着还没有把你踩烂！"这些妇女是社会亲近分子，也许还有五十八条的，只是没有触犯叛国罪那个分条。是她们自己想出来的，还是行动科教唆她们的？但是身上背着那个条文的导演不能为女演员辩护……于是季娜就大哭着走掉了。 读者将会同情导演？读者会想，戏剧小组陷入了绝境，现在让谁去演女主角呢？哪有时间去教她呢？可是，对于契卡行动科说来，是不存在绝境的！他们能系铃--他们也就会解铃！过了两天，达维坚科夫本人也戴上手铐被带走了：因为企图把什么书写的东西（又是大事记？）传递到区外去，将进行新的侦查和审判。 这是--关于他的劳改营回忆。从另一方面偶然查明，利?科?楚科夫斯卡虹一九三九年在列宁格勒排队探监时认识了科里亚?达维坚科夫，他在叶若夫时期结束时被普通法院宣判无罪，而他的同案人对?古米廖夫仍继续坐牢。没有恢复这个年轻人在学院的学籍，而是把他送进了军队。一九四一年在明斯克附近他当了俘虏，从德国的俘虏营中逃到了……英国，在那里他用笔名（为了保护家属）刊印了一本关于自己一九三八年在列宁格勒坐牢情形的书（应当认为，那些年代对苏联盟友的热爱妨碍了英国读者理解这本书的内容）。后来这个人就被遗忘了，湮没了。但是我们的人没有忘记。他在西方战线参加国际反法西斯旅作战。战后被劫持回到苏联，判处了枪决，后来改判为二十五年。显然、由于再一次的劳改营内案件，他得到的是枪决，而已经不是改判的刑期（承蒙一九五0年一月的法令给我们恢复了死刑）。在一九五0年五月，达维坚科夫从劳改营监狱里寄出了自己的最后一封信。请看从信中摘录的几句话："把我在这些年代的难以置信的生活描写出来是不可能的……我抱着另一个目的：十年内我做了一点事；散文当然已经全部丧失了，诗还留着。我几乎还没有向任何人读过--没有可读的人。我回忆起我们在五角……旁度过的夜晚……我设想这些诗应当落到……你的机智灵巧的手里……请读一读，如果可能，请保存下来。关于未来，如同关于过去一样--无一言可说，一切都完了。"这些诗在利?科那里完好地保存下来了。我多么熟悉（我自己也这样写过）这种小字--三十来首诗写在一张两面的练习本纸上--小小的地方要放进多少东西去呀！应当想象到生命本目的这种绝望：在劳改营监狱里等待死亡！他把自己最后的无望呼声托付给了"小道"邮局。 我不需要干净的内衣， 请不要把门打开！ 我大概真的是， 一只可恶的野兽！ 我不知道怎样对待， 怎样把你： 像鸟一样歌唱，像狼一般嗥叫， 怒吼或者狂喊？ ... 因此，不需要指定什么人去演主角！拿破仑不会再次受到嘲弄，俄罗斯的爱国主义不会再次受到颂扬j戏根本不会演出。合唱也不搞了。音乐会不开了。这样，业余文娱活动就进入了退潮。晚上在食堂里的集合和幽会终止了。直到下一次来潮。 它就这样像抽风似地活着。 有时，一切都已经排练好，所有的参加者都完整无缺，在音乐会前谁也没有被捕，但是北铁劳改营文教科长波塔波夫少校（科米族人）拿起节目单看到：格林卡的《怀疑》。 "什么--什么？怀疑？不许有任何怀疑！不一不，你们求也没用！"--说着就亲手把它勾掉了。 而我却想要念我心爱的恰茨基"的一段独白--"但法官是谁？"我从童年时代起就已习惯念这段独白--而且纯粹是从朗诵的角度去评价它的，我没有发觉它会有讽今的意味，我连想都没有这样想过。但是事情没有发展到把"但法官是谁？"写上节目单并被他们勾掉的程度--文教科长前来观看排练，听到下面这一句就已经跳了起来： "他们对自由生活的敌意是毫不妥协的。" 当我念到： 一请向我们指出，祖国的父辈们在什么地方…… 莫非是这些明抢暗夺罪行累累的人们？……" 他顿着脚做着手势，要我立即从台上滚下来。 我在少年时代几乎当了演员，只是因为嗓音太弱才没有当成。现今在劳改营里我不时参加演出，力求在这短暂的、不真实的忘怀中恢复一下精神，就近看看被演出激奋的女人的面孔。当我听到古拉格系统里存在着由犯人组成的脱产的专门戏班子--真正的农奴剧院！--就渴望能进这种班子去，借以使自己得到解救并轻松地喘喘气。 在每个省劳改营管理局属下都有农奴剧院，在莫斯科甚至有好几个。最著名的是--内务部上校马穆洛夫的霍夫林诺农奴剧院。马穆洛夫死死钉住不让一个在莫斯科被捕的知名演员从红普列斯尼亚递解监狱漏出去。他的代理人还到其他的速解站去搜索。他就这样在自己手下凑成了一个大话剧班子和初具规模的歌剧团。这是这位地主引以自豪的东西--"我的剧院比邻居的好！"在别斯库德尼科沃劳改营里也有一个剧院，但远逊于此。地主们带着自己的演员彼此往来作客，借以炫耀。在一次演出时，米哈伊尔?格林瓦尔德忘记了用什么调来为女歌手伴奏。马穆洛夫当即给了他十昼夜的冷禁闭室，格林瓦尔德在那里得了病。 在沃尔库塔、诺里尔斯克、索利卡姆斯克，在所有的古拉格的大岛屿上，都有这样的农奴剧院。在那里，这些剧院几乎成了城市剧院，差点儿成为模范剧院，它们在城市的剧场里为自由人演出节目。在头几排位子上坐着当地内务机关的大头头和他们的太太，带着又好奇又不屑的神色瞧着自己的奴隶们。押解队员则带着自动步枪坐在幕后的包厢里。演出后，赢得掌声的演员被运回劳改营，犯有过错的，则送进禁闭室。有时连掌声也不让享受一下。在马加丹剧院里，远北建设总局局长尼基舍夫中途制止当时颇有名声的歌唱家瓦季姆?科津向听众还礼："够了，科津，没有什么可点头哈腰的，走！"（科津企图上吊自杀，被人从绳索上救了下来。） 在战后年代有许多知名演员通