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I'm afraid Solzhenitsyn is a bit naive in thinking that would've caused the oppression to stop. The authorities would have just moved in the troops and introduced military law, shooting people without hesitation. After all that's what they did in Budapest in 1956 and Prague in 1968.

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I think you miss the point. Of course someone with a stick against the NKVD is at a serious disadvantage. Of course Stalin didn't hesitate to murder millions.

The point is the bitter shame at having gone quietly and meekly to the camps. The regret at having not fought to defend oneself.

The counter example would be the Warsaw ghetto.

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