Yeah, this is my second post on Rybakov and his book "Children of Arbat". The first part in the trilogy: next comes Fear and then Dust and Ashes. And I must read the book, "The Thaw" by Ilya Ehrenberg. But lets come back to this book.
Well, as I said last time this is about a group of Moscow youths who grow up in a system which they idealize and which in turn, represses them. Unique! There is Sasha, who gets exiled for doing nothing wrong, but his exile is connected with arresting some other people. But you know, that part is the tragedy. Lots of people got repressed for no reason, for just being associated with someone the administration did not like.
The most fascinating aspect of the book is that it presents to the reader, two diametrically opposite views: that of the Soviet Man and that of the Administration. The Soviet Man is best personified with Sasha, Varya, Nina and their friends. They have the ideal within them to bring about a change: sacrifice for achieving something great, their faith in the Party and the ideals of socialism.
But what does the Party do? People like Sergei Kirov (who I think is depicted as a hero in this book) who understand the people and value their support continue to work tirelessly. But what can they do when Stalin is obsessed with the centralization of power? The book does paint a chilling psychological picture of Stalin by carefully analyzing his thought processes. Stalin was completely opposed to decentralization of power: all strings to himself,---a very dangerous game! But anyway, that's all history. But I just do wonder at times: that if people like Kirov had their way, not working at the very top, but among the people, helping and guiding them along, whether the experiment would have succeeded?
Did the rule of Stalin destroy the socialism in Russia? I think it did.
Simultaneously, we should remember that what the Russian people were also looking for was a complete change in society: where the individual would live, not only for self, but also for the community. The order matters, of course. Stalinist reversed the order, and committed numerous atrocities in that ideal. On the contrary, exploiting the other extreme, nations have become lousy capitalists.
A balance is necessary...but at which point? Next stop: The Communist Manifesto.
The book ends with two different points again. On one hand, Kirov is murdered by NKVD on the orders of Stalin (http://www.brushtail.com.au/july_04_on/kirov_assassination.html) and on the other Sasha realizes that he will probably never go back to Moscow. But in spite of that he has hopes: hopes for a life, a future, because for the first time, Varya has written him a letter.
Well, as I said last time this is about a group of Moscow youths who grow up in a system which they idealize and which in turn, represses them. Unique! There is Sasha, who gets exiled for doing nothing wrong, but his exile is connected with arresting some other people. But you know, that part is the tragedy. Lots of people got repressed for no reason, for just being associated with someone the administration did not like.
The most fascinating aspect of the book is that it presents to the reader, two diametrically opposite views: that of the Soviet Man and that of the Administration. The Soviet Man is best personified with Sasha, Varya, Nina and their friends. They have the ideal within them to bring about a change: sacrifice for achieving something great, their faith in the Party and the ideals of socialism.
But what does the Party do? People like Sergei Kirov (who I think is depicted as a hero in this book) who understand the people and value their support continue to work tirelessly. But what can they do when Stalin is obsessed with the centralization of power? The book does paint a chilling psychological picture of Stalin by carefully analyzing his thought processes. Stalin was completely opposed to decentralization of power: all strings to himself,---a very dangerous game! But anyway, that's all history. But I just do wonder at times: that if people like Kirov had their way, not working at the very top, but among the people, helping and guiding them along, whether the experiment would have succeeded?
Did the rule of Stalin destroy the socialism in Russia? I think it did.
Simultaneously, we should remember that what the Russian people were also looking for was a complete change in society: where the individual would live, not only for self, but also for the community. The order matters, of course. Stalinist reversed the order, and committed numerous atrocities in that ideal. On the contrary, exploiting the other extreme, nations have become lousy capitalists.
A balance is necessary...but at which point? Next stop: The Communist Manifesto.
The book ends with two different points again. On one hand, Kirov is murdered by NKVD on the orders of Stalin (http://www.brushtail.com.au/july_04_on/kirov_assassination.html) and on the other Sasha realizes that he will probably never go back to Moscow. But in spite of that he has hopes: hopes for a life, a future, because for the first time, Varya has written him a letter.
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