Archival Instincts
I am very glad for the archival instincts that genetic and environmental factors seem to have planted in me. This was the thought that crossed my mind as I read through the text at this site. I have always felt some affinity for the people of Russia – not the apparently monolithic colossus of the Soviet state, but the warm and troubled people of a wide and richly-endowed country.
But why that sudden urge to celebrate the archival instinct? It was the simple joy very much like that of a man who, while being made into a non-person by the State, suddenly realises he has the State by the goolies and a vise in his hand. For 20 years after the Glorious Revolution, a mighty tome was written, and in that tome (and in the hundreds of other documents in the archives), the truth was hidden.
The State might have said that the Commissar was a bad one and that during his time in office, grain production dropped. But the official statistics of the State show that they were never higher than during his reign! The State might have said that he had said subversive things. But these things were attested by later historians to be true. The State might have done many things to disguise his star, but the facts were too obvious, too many, too bright. Perhaps they should never have made him the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs or for War; his efforts there cemented his legend. Even in his most difficult year, he was a hard worker and a voice of neutrality.
In the end, they exiled him, held show trials, and sent an assassin with an ice-pick for him. The assassin succeeded where the State had failed: the Commissar was transformed from a minor legend to an iconic myth. How had it all come to pass? It came to pass because the Commissar had in his head an archivist's mind. He was prolific in his exile and spoke too much truth against too much power. Fortunately for posterity, much of what he said has been preserved.
The same is true of good men or bad. It is a truth of the Bible as well. The archives of the written word hold truth; and the truth will (someday, and perhaps posthumously) set you free.
But why that sudden urge to celebrate the archival instinct? It was the simple joy very much like that of a man who, while being made into a non-person by the State, suddenly realises he has the State by the goolies and a vise in his hand. For 20 years after the Glorious Revolution, a mighty tome was written, and in that tome (and in the hundreds of other documents in the archives), the truth was hidden.
The State might have said that the Commissar was a bad one and that during his time in office, grain production dropped. But the official statistics of the State show that they were never higher than during his reign! The State might have said that he had said subversive things. But these things were attested by later historians to be true. The State might have done many things to disguise his star, but the facts were too obvious, too many, too bright. Perhaps they should never have made him the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs or for War; his efforts there cemented his legend. Even in his most difficult year, he was a hard worker and a voice of neutrality.
In the end, they exiled him, held show trials, and sent an assassin with an ice-pick for him. The assassin succeeded where the State had failed: the Commissar was transformed from a minor legend to an iconic myth. How had it all come to pass? It came to pass because the Commissar had in his head an archivist's mind. He was prolific in his exile and spoke too much truth against too much power. Fortunately for posterity, much of what he said has been preserved.
The same is true of good men or bad. It is a truth of the Bible as well. The archives of the written word hold truth; and the truth will (someday, and perhaps posthumously) set you free.
Labels: Institutions, Politics, Russia, Truth
etched with acid at 1:00:00 am
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