"For a
country to have a great writer . . . is like having another government.
That's why no régime has ever loved great writers, only minor ones."
— Alexander Solzhenitsyn
After the Webb articles in the San Jose Mercury News appeared in 1996, some journalists became more aware of the degradation linked to drug dealing , compromise of US intelligence agencies, and law enforcement. At first as researchers focused on the emerging stories, the news took the shape of virulent criticism of the federal government . As the trend continued it became clear for some the compelling diagnosis was of a grand malaise in American culture. As more facts emerged the urgency of drastic extensive reform gave way to an ominous dread of future resolutions of government Corruption turned to tyranny.
The tyranny manifested itself in a United States police state which filled dozens then hundreds of prisons and jails with victims. The statist cannibalism of citizens is not yet fully understood but answers are appearing. The despotism occurred in a parallel to the events in Russia as the Communist regime collapsed in exhaustion. A writer emerged in Russia who had been arbitrarily destroyed as a young man by the applications of the terror-system. The man - Alexander Solzhenitsyn in his opus "Gulag Archipelago" paved the way for a most profound reform in his homeland. The book was written from snippets and pieces of stories from the men who inhabited the prison system created by Russian tyranny.
Solzhenitsyn is important today as we are forced to consider the same issues in our nation. Here is a brief introduction:
"The favorite subject of exiled Soviet novelistand historian Alexander Solzhenitsyn is his homeland. Solzhenitsyn has chronicled the story of a world unto itself, the Soviet prison system.
Alexander Isayevich Solzhenitsyn was born on Dec. 11, 1918, in Kislovodsk, Russia. After graduating with a degree in mathematics from the University of Rostov-on-Don, Solzhenitsyn served in the Red Army artillery in World War II. In 1945 he was arrested for criticizing Joseph Stalin in a letter and was imprisoned for eight years. While imprisoned, Solzhenitsyn worked in a labor camp and a prison research instituteand first began to write poetry. In prison he was also diagnosed as having cancer.
After his release on the day of Stalin's death, Solzhenitsyn was forced to spend three years in exile. His first book, `One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch', published in Russian in 1962, tells the story of a day in the life of an inmate in a Soviet labor camp. The book brought Solzhenitsyn instant recognition. `The First Circle' and ` Cancer Ward', both published abroad in 1968, made Solzhenitsyn internationally famous. His criticism of government repression led to a ban on publication of his work in the Soviet Union after the mid-1960s. His books continued to be published abroad, however, and were circulated underground inside the Soviet Union. Solzhenitsyn was awarded the Nobel prize for literature in 1970 but was afraid to leave the Soviet Union to receive it for fear that the government would not allow him to reenter the country when he returned.
In 1974, shortly after the first parts of `The Gulag Archipelago' were published in Paris, Solzhenitsyn was arrested and tried for treason. Exiled from the Soviet Union, he settled in Switzerland and finally took possession of his Nobel prize. He later settled in the United States. In 1980 he published `The Mortal Danger' in English. Because of changes in official Soviet policy, most of his works once again became available to Soviet readers in 1989. In September 1991 Soviet officials dropped the treason charges lodged against Solzhenitsyn in 1974. " -Comptons Encyclopedia-
The world of Solzhenitsyn's Gulag is becoming increasingly similar to the lives and accounts of people like Dick Gregory, Chip Tatum, Jean Duffy, L.D. Brown and Barry Seal.
False accusations, show trials, criminal investigators who are themselves criminals, informants who are sanctioned killers, official denials, surveillance of dissidents, honest witnesses who are destroyed because they tell the truth, goon squads, bribery, political operatives who are protected by their party affiliation, repression, fear and soul-killing human frustration at the sight of destruction of real people have become tolerated and ingrained in our contemporary US lifestyle much like the denizens of Stalin's Russia. We love our masters because we have elected to flee into tyranny.
The extent of the crises can best be understood in the most remote area of the continental United States. During the Freeman standoff in Montana last spring a lady journalist from a major east coast newspaper interviewed high school students in Jordan, a tiny town near the radicals' enclave in eastern Montana. She found that eleven out of thirteen seniors in the public high school were regular crack cocaine users and likely addicts. Our plague extends to every community in the US without exception. The farmboys in Jordan, Montana are no less immune to the destructive results of the drug corruption than Dick Gregory's black inner-city teens in Washington D. C. or Compton.
The plague is not drugs. The plague is more than that. Our criminal justice system has been compromised to the point that law enforcement, elements of the military, and intelligence are also involved in the traffic. Our leaders have been compromised.
At the same time the nation's media attention was focused on the weird Freeman shenanigans, people in the adjoining Montana counties were struggling with law enforcement drug corruption scandals. Witnesses were openly intimidated and harassed with the apparent tacit approval of Helena political connections. The condition had existed for some time. Rural Montanans were becoming educated quickly as to the extent of the corruption. An eerie silence existed around officially sanctioned criminal operations.
As an example , a letter was published in a rural Montana newspaper shortly after an internal police corruption scandal was concluded by Montana Attorney General Marc Racicot:
September 14, 1992
Editor
Sidney Herald
Sidney, Montana 59270To The Editor:
This letter is a response to the recent announcement of a finding that there was "insufficient evidence" concerning drug use by law enforcement individuals in Sidney and that the CIB investigation of these individuals has ceased.
It is my information that: the investigation was focused on criminal activities or activities which could be prosecuted. The standard for law enforcement professionals should be ZERO TOLERANCE of any involvement with drugs or drug use. In that case the CIB investigation was very flawed. If an incident occurred two years ago, five years ago, or ten years ago and the individual was involved in law enforcement they should be off the Sidney force.
But what most concerns me is that witnesses to the investigation may have been afraid to come forward. The three gentlemen who made the original affidavits are now being sued for slander. The law suit was brought during the investigation. Additionally, Greg Wing and Jacob Lorenz were co-operating witnesses with the CIB investigation and saw members of their families get in serious legal problems months after they came forward with information. This raises question in my mind. But when two Sidney law enforcement individuals came to my relative's house in rural Richland County to speak with him as a possible witness during the investigation I became concerned that there may be a real attempt to keep people from coming forward by the subjects of the investigation.
I believe the Sidney Police Commission should consider these issues.
- How did the subjects find out about the investigation?
- Were other persons who were interviewed contacted by the subjects while the CIB investigation was on going?
- Time limits and criminal procedural standards do not apply for police commission review.
- A police officer has higher standards he must obey.
I think that there should be ZERO TOLERANCE for law enforcement officials. I believe no policeman should be associated with drug use, I hope the Sidney Police Commission feels the same way. I am sure all honest people of Sidney and Richland County feel the same way I do.
Cordially,
Gayle Schleve
The article did not originate in Miami or Philadelphia or New York City. The article originated in small town rural America. The authoress deftly outlined an obvious flagrant obstruction of a serious corruption investigation. Montana Attorney General Racicot and his assisstant John Conner ignored the Schleve comments, and despite knowing of her letter, never bothered to have Schleve or the complaining witnesses interviewed.
On February 13,1997 Assisstant Attorney General Conner addressed the Montana Senate Judiciary Committee and assured the Senators and the crowd present that he would "gladly prosecute any public official if he had enough evidence." Attorney John Conner ignored the witnesses who were providing information in several drug investigations who were harassed, beaten, falsely arrested and in at least three instances were killed when he lied to the Montana Senate that day. Was Conner's lie any different that the reports prepared by Beria, head of Stalin's police who sent millions to the Russian Gulag ? Attorney John Conner had spoken in opposition to a Senate bill drafted to facilitate investigations of official corruption in Montana. Attorney Conners' motives were transparent - he knew that the new law would allow investigations of allegations involving drug related corruption at the highest levels of Montana government.
Writer Solzhenitsyn above all saw the corruption of the Soviet system as a spiritual problem. Time and time again Solzhenitsyn chronicled the symptomatic results of the terror in the Gulag. Ultimately his patience paid off and Sozhenitsyn was allowed to witness the collapse of a tyranny. Writers in America only now are coming to grips with the fundamental issues. Solzhenitsyn had the luxury of time. We in America must implement reform now while we still have time.
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