Without anger and despair

Without anger and despair. Mikhail Khodorkovsky's memoirs "Prison and Freedom" appeared on the shelves of bookstores. The former owner of Yukos, who has been behind bars for nine years, is trying to take a look at his life and understand where he went wrong and where he turned out to be right.
Prison prose is a special literary genre. Many prominent people began writing while behind bars. It is generally accepted that captivity, with its unhurried passage of time, contributes to the manifestation of writing talents. In this sense, the prison has a kind of romantic halo: this is how you imagine a dungeon and a prisoner bending over a sheet of paper with a pen in the light coming through the window bars.
In fact, all this romance has little to do with reality. The Russian prison does not contribute to the manifestation of any talents, the entire system of execution of punishments in our country aims to break a person through the knee, teach him only to follow commands and wean him to think independently. And you either break or become stronger - there is no third way.
Aggressive environment
Writing behind bars is very difficult psychologically. After all, you share some innermost thoughts with paper, and this requires solitude and silence. Prison doesn't do any of that. Cigarette stink that gnaws at the eyes, the shouts of guards, cellmates peering over their shoulders, obsessive thieves' songs on the radio - all these are integral attributes of captivity. Analyzing, thinking and writing in a prison cell means overcoming oneself, psychologically resisting the system. Not just adapt, but grow through this overcoming.
Mikhail Khodorkovsky is an independent and independent person, it is especially difficult for such people behind bars. It is not surprising that in his book he talks about the inertia of Russian society, about the desire inherent in many of our fellow citizens to shift responsibility for their own lives onto the boss. It is in this, as it seems, that he sees the main problem of our country. And of course, in a colony, where a person has practically no opportunity to express himself, where people walk in formation, where your fate depends entirely on the “guard” and on the “owner”, such awareness comes especially sharply.
In talking about the prison, Khodorkovsky assumes the role of a kind of anthropologist: an observer who is included in the process being studied. This is a common mechanism of psychological adaptation in an extreme situation, when a person seems to keep a distance from the aggressive environment around him. Khodorkovsky's observations may be of interest to historians studying the penitentiary system. Comparison of his notes with the works of Solzhenitsyn and, for example, Bukovsky will provide rich food for the analysis of how this system has developed in our country from the Soviet era to our time. The main conclusion: the prison cripples; once in the “system”, a person has a much greater chance of forever remaining a part of the criminal world than returning to a normal life (regardless of whether he is justly convicted or not).
Reason for reflection
Despite this, reading "Prison and Liberty" does not leave the impression that Khodorkovsky became embittered during the years spent in prisons and colonies. On the contrary, he admits that he was a big predator at large - and this becomes an occasion for reflection and rethinking of the events and actions of the past. The author regrets and is ashamed that he “did not notice people” in the dashing nineties, that he adhered to extremely strict principles of competitive struggle. These torments manifested themselves even in his first articles written behind bars: one can recall at least the “Left Turn” of 2005, where Khodorkovsky raised the question of the social responsibility of business, which is not characteristic of Russian oligarchs. In prison, against the background of general cruelty, he seems to have become softer and wiser, learned to treat life philosophically and see in it far from only material wealth.
Nor is there any malice towards Khodorkovsky's obvious enemies - those who betrayed him, those who sent him to jail. For example, Vladislav Surkov, who started his career in his business empire and established himself in the Kremlin and the White House, is called by the author “a scalpel man”: he can be useful in good hands, but if he falls into bad hands, he will do evil. There is no malice towards Vladimir Putin, on whom the author holds the main responsibility for his arrest.
Khodorkovsky clearly does not fully understand the reasons for the president's hatred towards him, and in general he admits that he does not understand this person. Going through the episodes when he entered into an open confrontation with the head of state, Khodorkovsky was never able to say with certainty what exactly became the main reason for the command “face!” He does not say, however, that he would have behaved differently in the first years of Putin's rule, knowing for sure the consequences of such an independent line of behavior. After all, it clearly follows from the text that such a harsh reprisal came as a surprise to him.
Helps hope
However, what cannot be taken away from Khodorkovsky is his self-esteem. Nine years behind bars is an eternity for a young active person. To realize how long this is, it is enough to imagine that, for example, he never held a banal iPhone in his hands, which they began to produce a few years after his arrest. However, long imprisonment, vague prospects and the understanding that your fate is entirely in the hands of your enemy do not become a reason for the author to humiliate himself. All his reflections and attempts to rethink his own actions are not at all perceived as a plea for forgiveness. These are not Grigory Zinoviev's letters to Comrade Stalin from the detention center in the style of "I am no longer an enemy and there is no requirement that I would not fulfill in order to prove it." This is a worthy behavior of a person who is capable of moral growth and an independent view of his own life path, but is not ready to pay humiliation for freedom. „

He still believes that the years spent in captivity will not be in vain, that the country has a chance for change. And he, Khodorkovsky, clearly hopes to take part in these changes, although not very hidden pessimism often slips into his words.

“At the same time, Khodorkovsky, even behind bars, retains a state mindset and unequivocally emerges as an alternative to Vladimir Putin. Despite many years of isolation, he not only tries to follow the current political events in the country, but also constructs the image of the future Russia. In his notes and thoughts, hope is clearly manifested, which obviously helps to maintain dignity behind bars, and simply to survive. It seems that he still believes that the years spent in captivity will not be in vain, that the country has a chance for change. And he, Khodorkovsky, clearly hopes to take part in these changes, although not very hidden pessimism often slips into his words.
Memoirs are, as a rule, summing up the results of life. Mikhail Khodorkovsky is only 49 years old, and it seems to be too early to sum up. But he is an intelligent person who knows the history of Russia well and therefore understands that there may not be another opportunity. The author admits that he does not like the genre of memoirs and does not like memoirs too much. But what does a person have in prison besides memories? Only hope.