Возвращаясь на круги своя (СИ)

"Oh, I see. Well, I am sure you have heard the lies of the capitalist propaganda that communists were arresting people just because they were rich. This is not true: for example, this Perelman was arrested not because he was rich but for the crime he actually committed. He tried to destroy his own generator when we confiscated it. You see he was a scoundrel - this Perelman; he used the generator to make money by servicing only rich people at a very high price. He was looking only for the profit. But everybody needs electricity - does not? Even poor people do - those who could not afford his prices. Right? So, we nationalized the generator, paid him some money to compensate for the losses and that could be the end of the story. But the crook got upset and tried to destroy the generator. It was a criminal offense, called sabotage: destruction of the government property. He was punished according to the law."

"Why his entire family? That was the law then too."

"You think - it was draconian and irrational law? There is nothing irrational in life, young man. Everything has the reason. The law was made to avoid vendetta, to exterminate an "eye for eye" culture: it was made to prevent what you might call "cycle of violence". If a relative or a friend of the convicted criminal would be left alone, he or she could take revenge on authorities and then somebody else could take revenge on this person as well. And so on. But if you remove the entire family then peace comes to everybody, even to those who were sent to Siberia. Perhaps the law was not fair for everybody but braking the "cycle of violence" never is - correct? Or do you think that continuing of violence could be a better solution?"

"Me? I would accept my fate without any regret or hard feelings and I am telling you the truth. Many of my friends, young man, were unjustly persecuted by the Soviet authorities; their loved ones perished in the hands of KGB. Never the less, despite of the personal tragedies, most of them remained devoted communists and actively supported communist party all the time, even when they themselves had been unjustly persecuted. More than that. Few members of the KGB were involved in prosecution of their own families and friends but they still continued to work for that organization. Why? Well, because the true communists always believe in a higher predestination than to respond to the despicable actions of individual villain or fool, who, by pure accident, one time or another was able to obtain power and commit acts of injustice. Individuals could be wrong and evil, young man, but the communist idea which promotes equality and social justice for all - cannot."

"Oh, yes, I am sorry; I deviated too much from our original conversation. It is your fault, young man - you are asking too many questions. And my too - I like to answer them. So, returning back to Kohanskis. I just wanted to tell you how different two brothers were. One of them, Dovid der Shloser, was, (and I think I mentioned to you this already) (did I?), a "blue color" worker, he had large family and, if I"m not mistaken, rented from the older brother apartment in his own house. When we, communists, gained power in 1940 and asked for volunteers to run local affairs he offered himself to be a deputy chief of police. He learned this new trade pretty fast and did a good job by catching thieves, burglars and bandits - those who wanted restoration of the old dictatorial regime, although he did not join our party... "

"Were all communists Jewish? Why did you ask that? Of course, not. There were non-Jewish communists also. My late husband Yurgis, for example, was not Jewish. (I am Jewish in case if you are curious. No, not in religious sense, that is for sure, but just Jewish). Jurgis, though, was from the devoted and very strict catholic family (he himself later became an atheist). It might be difficult for you to understand... We were internationalists (if you know what it means); we did not differentiate people by the color of their skin or by their religion or by their culture. We differentiated people only on the account of oppressors and oppressed - those who were rich and those who were poor. And we always were on the side of the oppressed poor people."