Socialism and ideal future in Russian selected literature

Russian Dystopia

Some Dystopias of Russian Literature: Prescient Predictors of Failure in the Early Soviet Era

In hindsight, it should hardly be surprising that the October Revolution that gave the Bolsheviks power in Russia and eventually what would be called the Soviet Union did not create the perfect society that its more idealistic progenitors envisioned. This revolution and the new form of national government it established were not truly the results of a movement born of the masses; Russia was in a time of great turmoil, with several different powerful factions vying to fill the vacuum that had been left by the toppling of the tsarist government in February of 1917. Though many of these factions were effectively silenced for the bulk of the twentieth century, their very strong and influential presence at the start of the new government had a definite effect on the ability of achieving true equality and even the sought-for utopia that socialism seemed to hold a promise of.

Russia in Revolt

The ongoing war in Europe had already worn through many Russians' patience by 1917, and this coupled with many internal issues -- most prominently the increasing disparity between classes, and widespread winter starvation for many in the face of luxury for the few -- led to the overthrow of the 300-year-old Romanoff dynasty. This did not settle Russia's problems, however, and in fact they arguably became more extreme in the immediate future. Though there had been ample agreement that change was needed, there had been very little agreement concerning what shape that change ought to take (Lynch 2005).

The war, for instance, was not ended by the tsarist overthrow, and this led to increased problems for the provisional government that was quasi-firmly established in July of 1917. Army desertion in the face of political weakness became rampant in the Russian forces, causing problems between the governmental and militaristic powers-that-were (Lynch 2005). Weapons that deserting soldiers took home with them, in the meantime, proved highly effective at forcing wealthy landowners to "redistribute" their holdings and their wealth, bringing Russia violently and suddenly out of the quasi-feudalism that had persisted in the country for centuries. When the Bolsheviks wrested control of the government in October, 1917, it was not a happy, settled, or unified people that they took control of -- but take control they did, and in a very direct and pervasive manner (Lynch 2005).

Cement

Difference -- of goals, priorities, values, and simply of opinion -- are the primary reasons that utopias simply cannot be achieved. This is clearly seen in Fyodor Gladkov's 1925 novel Cement. Without imagining any extraordinary circumstances, Gladkov is able to show how simple differences lead to degradations of perceived quality of life, happiness, and contentment, and these feelings eventually lead to overt action. This can clearly be seen in Dasha's brief internal struggle in deciding to effectively destroy her husband in her pursuit of the new way (Gladkov 1925, pp. 314). Their desires cannot coexist, which leads to the destruction of at least one of them.

Envy

In a somewhat more imaginative work, Yury Olesha explores more extreme actions and motives for rebellion against the new regime. His 1927 novel Envy is at once a critique of the lack of individuality and emotion in Soviet Russia and a lamentation for the failures of the human spirit in the face of the large Communist machine. Again, it is expressly and simply difference that leads to the primary conflict in this novel and the ultimate failure of the hoped-for-utopia, at least in the minds and lives of some. Kavalerov, the hero of the novel, at one point muses, "If I were a child…how many poetical, magical fabrications would flow out of my childish imagination…I'm a grown up now, and now I grasp only the general outline" (Olesha 1927, pp. 341). This can be seen as a comment on the Soviet way of making all minds the same, where individual imaginations are quashed under shared and generalized ideals.

We

In 1921, Yevgeny Zamyatin completed his hugely forward thinking novel We, which was similar to and several decades ahead of Brave New World and 1984. Difference is quite explicitly addressed and attacked by the government in this novel; all human beings are assigned letter-number combinations instead of names, and the glass-encased way of life allows for constant monitoring by the police and other citizens. Zamyatin seems to see some hope in this situation, however; just as difference is untenable in the Soviet system, the system -- in literature and in life -- was untenable in the face of difference.

Heart of a Dog