There is many reflections I could write down from reading The Gulag Archipelago. But the best thing for each if you choose to take the time, is to read it yourself. But some I still want to write and share with whoever takes interest in reading this. And this second one that it is largely clear to me that, if not the direct responsible for each prison camp, at least the order givers used this, in part, as an experiment on people. There is really no other reason to my mind, why a lot of what happened, happened. As the resulting situation inside the prison camps as described in the book, is as close to a literal hell as it can be. And the obvious answer most will at one point as is; didn't anyone resist and work on stopping this? And; how was this allowed?. Short answer is, yes some did resist, and the so-called free people didn't know how horrible it was inside the prisons by large, not to mention that they was afraid to be imprisoned themselves.
Now what was found from this experiment? Well, for one that its easy to control a fearful population, and its easy to manipulate the minds of a survival mindset. But also that envy easily turns into hate that makes people easily manipulated, in a sense, into enslaving others to get what you was envious of others for having. Not to mention how far people are willing to go to stay alive, even if you suffer and live in horrible environments. So then you could answer the question of: Why was a literal hell on earth created?, with: To test the limits of human suffering, and they're will to live.
Now all prison camps was as bad, some was livable and it changed with time as the regulations from above changed. But an experiment nonetheless. Why else would anyone knowingly send everyone who knew how to grow food into prison, to create socialistic farms run by people that was controlled by fear of not getting enough food. That didn't get any of the food they took part in growing. From how I see it, a shortage of food was knowingly created. And as for the working man programming that was done inside the prison camps, or slave camps if you will, that was stared, forcing them to work in mines and lumber camps. Why would you starve the workforce to the point of death when that clearly reduces productivity?. Not that they had any lack of workforce, when there was constantly arrests happening. OH, did I mention how a lot of this took place in places where the temperature was at negative 30C? At winter time?
Separating men and women into separate parts of the prison was also done, even thou this just created more problems for the prisons and slave camps. And as we see is happening in a different form in some places today, prisoners was manipulated against each other by punishing everyone in the prison or certain groups if 1 or 2 didn't do as they was told. And some prisoners was given the option to be a kind of a boss over other prisoners to get some benefits like a better place to sleep or a little better food.
But what is this information used for? You may ask. Well what my mind came to realize is this. Every bit of what was learned during the Socialist era of the soviet when the GULag prison camps was used. Is being used on the people today the the so called free world. But in a way more subtle way. As from what I read in this book, and what I see happening today in Japan, in China, in Canada, in USA, in England...there is too many similarities for this to be by chance. This is likely also what Jordan B Peterson sees in his way, when he refers to the pattern of communistic tendencies in today's western society. And I agree with him on that point.