dissidents.
Many readers were overwhelmed by the book’s size, however, and sales of the next two volumes were considerably lower. Although some of Solzhenitsyn’s specific facts and details are now contested, the Gulag Archipelago remains one of the definitive works on the Soviet prison system.
EXILE AND RETURN
In February 1974 Solzhenitsyn was arrested, charged with treason, stripped of his Soviet citizenship, and expelled to West Germany. Party leaders believed that exiling Solzhenitsyn would be less damaging to their international reputation than sending him to prison. His second wife, Natalia Svetlova, and their sons were allowed to follow him a short time later. After a brief period in Europe, Solzhenitsyn moved to the United States, settling in Vermont.
After a tumultuous reception, Western sympathies towards Solzhenitsyn cooled after he articulated his moral philosophy in a series of articles and lectures, which concluded with his 1978 Graduation Address at Harvard. His attacks on Western culture alienated many, and he eventually withdrew into self-imposed seclusion in Vermont, where he worked on his Red Wheel series of novels. Solzhenitsyn also engaged in heated polemics with members of the dissident and emigr? communities who disagreed with his views and tactics.
In 1989 Solzhenitsyn’s writings began to appear in the Soviet Union, starting with The Gulag
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RUSSIAN HISTORY
Archipelago. Although he published some additional articles in the Soviet press, his absence from the scene limited his influence during the period of transition. Solzhenitsyn finally returned to Russia, amid great publicity, in 1994. Upon his return, he had a short-lived television talk show (1994-1995) and published several books. His didactic style has limited his audience, however, and he has had relatively little influence on Russian society since his return. Solzhenitsyn continues writing; one of his works, Dvesti let vmeste (Two Hundred Years Together, 2000), revived old accusations of anti-Semitism, charges which Solzhenitsyn and many observers reject as false. See also: DISSIDENT MOVEMENT; GULAG; NATIONALISM IN THE ARTS; NOVY MIR; SAMIZDAT; SLAVOPHILES; UNION OF SOVIET WRITERS
Pearce, Joseph. (1999). A Soul in Exile. London: HarperCollins. Remnick, David. (1997). Resurrection: The Struggle for a New Russia.. New York: Random House. Scammell, Michael. (1984). Solzhenitsyn: A Biography. New York: Norton. Scammell, Michael, ed. and intro. (1995). The Solzhenitsyn Files, tr. Catherine A. Fitzpatrick et. al. Chicago: Edition. Solzhenitsyn, Alexander Isaevich. (1963). One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, tr. Ralph Parker. New York: Dutton. Solzhenitsyn, Alexander Isaevich. (1968). Cancer Ward, tr. Nicholas Bethell and David Burg. New York: Far-rar, Straus and Giroux. Solzhenitsyn, Alexander Isaevich. (1968). The First Circle, tr. Thomas P. Whitney. New York: Harper amp; Row. Solzhenitsyn, Alexander Isaevich. (1974-1978). The Gulag Archipelago. 3 vols., tr. Thomas P. Whitney (vol. 1-2), H. T. Willets (vol. 3). New York: Harper amp; Row. Solzhenitsyn, Alexander Isaevich. (1980). East and West. New York: Harper Perennial. Solzhenitsyn, Alexander Isaevich. (1980). The Oak and the Calf: A Memoir, tr. Harry Willetts. New York: Harper amp; Row. Solzhenitsyn, Alexander Isaevich. (1995). The Russian Question at the End of the Twentieth Century, tr. Yer-molai Solzhenitsyn. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Thomas, D. M. (1998). Alexander Solzhenitsyn: A Century in His Life. New York: St. Martin’s Press.
BRIAN KASSOF
(1657-1704); regent to Tsars Ivan V and Peter I, 1682-1689.
The fifth daughter of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and his first wife Maria Miloslavskaya, Sophia spent her youth in the terem, where her freedom was restricted, but she also came into contact with the new cultural trends of Tsar Alexei’s later years. Many historians describe her as a pupil of Simeon Polotsky, but, although she was literate, there is no hard evidence that she studied with him. Those who regard Sophia as ambitious believe that she prepared for power during the reign of her brother Tsar Fyodor (r. 1676-1682) by attending his sickbed and making political alliances, notably with Prince Vasily Golitsyn, whose lover she is said to have became. However, evidence of an intimate relationship, which would have seriously breached Muscovite moral codes, rests mainly on hearsay and rumor, as do Sophia’s early political ambitions.
Following Fyodor’s death in 1682, in the absence of mature males of royal blood, Sophia entered the political arena, as Muscovite conventions allowed royal women to do. She was motivated by the decision to make her half- brother Peter (b. 1672) sole ruler in preference to the elder, but physically and mentally handicapped, Tsarevich Ivan (b. 1666). Exploiting the Moscow militia’s (musketeers’) action to air grievances and take revenge on unpopular officers and officials in Peter’s government, in May 1682 Sophia and her party were able to secure Ivan’s accession as joint tsar with Peter. Most historians refer to Sophia as regent to her brothers, although she was never formally appointed as such. Even so, she was widely regarded as ruler and consolidated her authority by successfully quelling the continuation of musketeer unrest in 1682 during the period known as the Khovanshchina. She began to add her name to those of her brothers in royal edicts and to take part in public ceremonies and receptions, discarding some of the restrictions of the terem.
The dual monarchy required a new configuration of power at court in order to defuse tensions and achieve a consensus. Many additional men were promoted to boyar status. The ascendancy of the Mloslavsky clan was marginal, and by the late 1680s they lost ground to Peter’s maternal relatives the Naryshkins and their clients. Sophia relied on Prince Vasily Golitsyn to spearhead both her foreign and her domestic policy, although later the
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Portrait of Regent Sophia Alexeyevna by Ilya Repin. © ARCHIVO ICONOGRAFICO, S.A./CORBIS secretary Fyodor Shaklovity rose to prominence. The regime’s crowning achievement was the 1686 treaty with Poland, which ratified the Treaty of An-drusovo (1667) in return for Russia’s agreement to sever relations with the Ottoman empire and enter the Holy League, a stepping-stone toward Russia’s ascendancy over Poland, achieved later in Peter I’s reign. At home, efforts continued to maximize the fulfillment of service requirements and the payment of tax liabilities and to maintain law and order. Mildness in some areas, for example banning the cruel practice of burying alive women who murdered their husbands, was offset by savage penalties against Old Believers (edict of 1685). At the same time, developments in foreign policy forced the regime to relax restrictions on non-Orthodox foreigners, which annoyed conservatives. Russia offered sanctuary from persecution to French Protestants and made concessions to foreign merchants and industrialists to encourage them to set up businesses. In 1689 commercial treaties were signed with Prussia. Russia’s first institute of
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higher education, the Slavo-Greco-Latin Academy, founded in 1685, also relied on foreign teachers.
Like many powerful women, Sophia has been accused of Machiavellian tendencies. Although there is no evidence that she intended Peter harm, she did adopt a highly visible rulership profile and began to use the feminine form of the title “autocrat” (samoderzhitsa). She sponsored an impressive building program in the fashionable Moscow Baroque style and had her portrait with crown, orb, and scepter painted and reproduced in prints. Poets praised her, playing on the associations of her name (Sophia the Holy Wisdom). All this fueled fears that she planned to be crowned and spawned rumors of plots against Peter and his mother. Ultimately, her regime was undermined by the failure of two military campaigns against the Crimea in 1687 and 1689, leading to a standoff provoked by Peter’s supporters. This time the musketeers’ support for Sophia was lukewarm and did not quell her opponents. Some of her supporters were executed, and Sophia herself was banished to a convent. In 1698 the musketeers rebelled again. Rumors circulated that Sophia was the instigator, but the evidence was inconclusive. Nevertheless, Peter forced her to take the veil under the name Susannah. She died in the Novodevichy convent in Moscow in 1704. See also: FYODOR ALEXEYEVICH; GOLITSYN, VASILY VASILIEVICH; IVAN V; PETER I;
