2017 Personality 13: Existentialism via Solzhenitsyn and the Gulag

In this lecture, I explore the dreadful socio-political consequences of the individual inauthentic life: the degeneration of society into nihilism or totalitarianism, often of the most murderous sort, employing as an example the work/death camps of the Soviet Union.

Buy The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. It is arguably the most important book of the twentieth century.

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[AlexanderPoulos]

Mind blowing that a full semester of lectures by one of the worlds great thinkers, which students pay thousands for in tuition, is available for free right here with the push of a button.

[smartypants]

I'm an English teacher in Britain and these lectures have turbo charged my lessons. I've taught Orwell's 'Animal Farm' to Y8s (12 - 13 yr olds) with the knowledge Dr Peterson has given me. They were silent as I explained the connection between the novel and Stalin's regime in the 1900's, and engaged in some of the most intense reading I've ever taught. When they were given opportunity to discuss the ideas raised by Orwell, they were insightful, critical and, thankfully, annoyed that they'd never been told this information before.


Our History curriculum allows teachers to choose a topic. None of them choose 'Tsardom and Communism'. They go for 'Democracy and Dictatorship' (Hitler). This results in leftist teachers ignoring the reality of Marxist thought.

[corygeertgens]

My grandfather was born in one of those soviet labor camps, he wouldnt talk about it much, atleast to us kids but from what I was told it was really bad, he didn't leave until he was 15 when him, his siblings and his parents were able to get a boat to America. His experience in Vietnam as a helicopter pilot is a whole other story, received medals for saving people andgot scars from agent orange all over his back in the process. He had a crazy life but didn't let it break him as it would most people. He literally did the American dream, after Vietnam he got out the military, became a master electrician, got married to my grandmother, bought property with over 300 acres, built his own house himself on it and became a citizen in 2008. Rip gramps, you definitely deserve it. See ya on the otherside.

[aaudiophile]

I am a former communist sympathizer from India...I was deceived by the Marxist-Leninist propaganda...but fortunately I happened to see Mr.Peterson's videos...and I got saved by it....keep educating us

[Spokenwisdom]

"If you live a pathological life, you pathologize your society, and if enough people do that then it's Hell." - Jordan B Peterson
This man is on the right side of history.

[robotwizard]

I have paid thousands of dollars to get a degree from a university and this ~2 hour video has trumped every lecture or class i have ever taken.

[billiebleach]

When I was 22 I met a lovely Rumanian woman and we started dating. One day I was wearing a Che Guevara T-shirt which sparked a vicious reaction from her side. She told me about her experience with communism under Ceausescu. She bought the Gulag Archipelago books and gave them to me as a present. I started reading and couldn’t stop anymore, finished the books within a week or so. Changed my life. I can’t recommend it enough. A true masterpiece that everyone in the West should read. A real eye opener

[MrLiquar]

Guys as Russian I recommend you to read these books about those times:
• Andrei Platonov - The Foundation Pit
• Mikhail Sholokhov - Podnyataya Tselina, ( Virgin Soil Upturned (1935); Harvest on the Don)
Just read descriptions of these books, I am sure you will get more info
• and of course Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Thank you
All great grandparents on my mother side were dekulakalized so I hope you will learn something new

[SefniAsheforr]

I can't believe these kids got such an incredible lecture. I graduated college this year, and not 1 course in 5 years was this profound. What a shame there aren't more men like Peterson.

[RedGunBullets]

as a russian im especially glad for this lecture to your western students.
"For us in Russia, communism is a dead dog, while for many people in the West, it is still a living lion." - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

[martinXY]

I read The Gulag Archipelago some time ago and it is the bleakest, darkest book I have ever read. The fact that it is non-fiction is horrifying. The fact that there are adults who don't know this work is terrifying.

[Jbell]

What I would have paid to sit in lectures like this instead of my "cultural awareness" classes in college that accomplished nothing but further radicalizing young naïve students. One of the things that really stuck with me after reading part 1 of the Gulag Archipelago. Solzhenitsyn described this ability to very quickly judge whether someone was genuine or not. From my memory (or perhaps the way I interpreted it) he speaks of this as a lantern that shines; illuminates the trustworthy). It is a remarkable feat his book ever escaped Soviet Russia, and he accredits much of this to his trusting of the that inner lantern. This sentiment really struck me, and I believe the essence of his book shines a light on the immense power of the limitless human spirit. Despite the unfathomable suffering and loneliness, the human spirit persevered and was able to find its way into good company. It is up to us to keep this spirit alive. Thanks you Jordan for sharing his work and putting it eloquently.

[yodamaycry]

The fact that these authors were never once mentioned in any of my schooling is just... dangerous. Thank you Dr P.

[sofuckingannoying]

My great-grandma, who was a young teenager during the bolshevik revolution and lived to the 1970s, was very bitter at the Soviets all her life. They were a poor peasant family and struggled for a long time, but through hard work were able to save to buy a cow, and things were finally looking up. Shortly after, the bolsheviks came, labelled them "kulaks", and took the cow away - back to destitution with you for the common good. Real people, real story, just a couple handshakes away. My respect to JP for recognizing and warning the world about the evil of Marxism. (But that wasn't real socialism!!1 - Yeah, it was. Collective guilt, collective farms, central planning and all.)

[israelcyabukombe]

"You can predict absolutely everything they are going to say. Once you know the algorithmic structure of their ideology..." Wow

[michaelrainer]

“The French seem particularly opaque to reason.” That is your quote of the day. Thank you Jordan.

[AMildCaseOfCovid]

Can you imagine having a professor like this every damn day for a semester? Just one of his lectures remains with me longer than any in my 4 year degree (plus every summer term).

[lorenza]

Fast forward to 2021 - Peterson saw this coming - now we have presidential inaugural speech referencing peoples skin/race/group as a primary identifier by which to identify individuals.
How this debasement of our values is not obvious baffles me.

[Carmie]

I didn’t start listening to Dr Peterson until after I had left the radical left….now I know what that bad feeling was that I had between 2019-2020. We’re not the crazy ones, they are. The radical left started out as a righteous movement for universal human rights, but has now turned into a creepy social policing of thought and word, always scanning for something to be offended by.

[guitarjam]

This particular lecture has an aura of greatness surrounding it. Possibly the most impressive dissection of a literary work that I've ever seen. I hope those students realize how lucky they were.