Alexander I. Solzhenitsyn: To Do Evil on a Massive Scale, Humans Must Believe What They Are Doing is Good

Alexander I. Solzhenitsyn (1918-2008), Russian novelist and historian

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KISWAHILI

“Ili kufanya maovu [kwa kiwango kilichofanywa katika karne ya 20] ni lazima kwanza binadamu aamini kwamba anachofanya ni kizuri, au sivyo, kwamba ni kitendo kinachozingatiwa sana na ni kupatana na sheria ya asili…ni katika asili ya mwanadamu kutafuta uhalali ulioendesha matendo yake.”

“Wakati Macbeth alipojaribu kujitafutilia uhalali kwa matendo yake, zilikuwa dhaifu—na dhamiri yake ilimfanya kuhisia ya hatia… [kwa sababu] hakuwa na itikadi.

“Itikadi kali—hiyo ndiyo inayoupa uovu uhalali wake uliotakiwa sana na humpa mtenda maovu uthabiti na azma inayohitajika.”

- Alexander I. Solzhenitsyn (1918-2008), mwandishi wa Kirusi na mwanahistoria.

ENGLISH TRANSLATION

“To do evil [at the scale it was done in the 20th century] a human being must first of all believe that what he’s doing is good, or else that it’s a well-considered act in conformity with natural law…it is in the nature of the human being to seek a justification for his actions.”

“Macbeth’s self-justifications were feeble—and his conscience devoured him… [because he] had no ideology.

“Ideology—that is what gives evildoing its long-sought justification and gives the evildoer the necessary steadfastness and determination.”

- Alexander I. Solzhenitsyn (1918-2008), Russian novelist and historian.

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Chanzo (source): Solzhenitsyn, Alexander I. The Gulag Archipelago: 1918-1956—The Authorized Abridgement. HarperCollins, 1985, page 127. Reissued in Harper Perennial Modern Classics with a Foreword by Anne Appelbaum, 2007. Digital edition, 2020. Kindle Edition. This work was originally published in three separate volumes in Russian in from 1973 to 1976, with English translations in 1974, 1975, and 1978 from Harper & Row Publishers.