We are exiting from communism in a most unfortunate and awkward way. It would have been difficult to design a path out of communism worse than the on… - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Surely people should eventually cease to be surprised at anything? And yet they continue to be.

There is a word very commonly used these days: "anti-communism." It's a very stupid word, badly put together. It makes it appear as though communism were something original, something basic, something fundamental. Therefore, it is taken as the point of departure, and anti-communism is defined in relation to communism. Here is why I say that this word was poorly selected, that it was put together by people who do not understand etymology: the primary, the eternal concept is humanity. And communism is anti-humanity. Whoever says "anti-communism" is saying, in effect, anti-anti-humanity. A poor construction. So we should say: that which is against communism is for humanity. Not to accept, to reject this inhuman Communist ideology is simply to be a human being. It isn't being a member of a party.

The solemn pledge to abstain from telling the truth was called socialist realism.