Glasnost Doesn’t Include Works by Solzhenitsyn

The Kremlin’s new ideology chief said today he opposes the publication of the “Gulag Archipelago” and other works by exiled author Alexander Solzhenitsyn because they would undermine Soviet society.

“I am against the publication of a number of works by Solzhenitsyn, and in the first place such works as ‘Lenin in Zurich,’ and the ‘Gulag Archipelago,’ ” said Politburo member Vadim A. Medvedev.

“To publish Solzhenitsyn’s works would mean to, in effect, undermine the foundations on which today’s life rests,” Medvedev said in response to a reporter’s question at a news conference.

Under President Mikhail S. Gorbachev’s policy of glasnost, or greater openness, many previously prohibited works have been published. Medvedev’s statement indicated there still are limits on the amount of openness allowed under Gorbachev’s reforms.