In 1978, a journalist requested the author to smuggle 'The Gulag Archipelago' into Moscow for a Russian friend. This act, later recognized as part of a CIA operation 'QRHELPFUL', highlights covert efforts to spread subversive literature behind the Iron Curtain. Many notable works, including those of Orwell and Camus, were facilitated by the CIA, driven by George Minden's belief in the crucial importance of literature for the oppressed minds in the Soviet territory. This initiative underscores the powerful intersection of literature and political resistance.
According to Charlie English's vibrant, beautifully researched and exciting The CIA Book Club, the Polish intellectual and political activist Adam Michnik read The Gulag Archipelago in prison; someone had managed to get a copy to him even there, courtesy of a CIA operation codenamed QRHELPFUL.
The inspiration behind the scheme was a charming-sounding CIA boss called George Minden, who believed, quite rightly, that the freedom to read good literature was as important to the imprisoned minds of the Soviet empire as any other form of freedom.
Collection
[
|
...
]