Darkness at Noon: An Indictment of Communism?
It was Woodrow Wilson who said "There is no higher religion than human service. To work for the common good is the greatest creed". This remark is not referring to communism but the principals can be associated with one another. The Communist ideals of the Russian revolution; moreover, their Bolshevik leaders, were steadfast and determined to the utmost degree. Not to say their principals were of great moral integrity, but they enforced them ruthlessly nonetheless. In the novel, Darkness at Noon, the author, Arthur Koestler, illustrates a fictional character, Rubashov, dealing with the very real tyranny of the communist regime that he helped create. He was exiled from his role of leadership and sent to prison by the newly founded regime. While in prison he reflects... "...All of our principals were right, but our results were wrong. This is a diseased century. We diagnosed the disease and its causes with microscopic exactness, but wherever we applied the healing knife a new sore appeared... we should have been loved by the people. But they hate us. Why are we so odious and detested?"(Darkness at Noon, 47) This statement is heavily laden with underlying meaning of Koestler's reflection on the system that he himself help
Only two or three of them were left over. " (Darkness at Noon, 192) Rubashov earlier had said that ". When in reality Stalin's purging became the never ending brutalizing of the Russian people by the very leader who supposedly stood for ultimate and eventual Communism. " (Darkness at Noon, 48) Of the men who created the revolution that lead to Stalin's regime, all but a few had been systematically eliminated for their differentiation in opinion from Stalin's. The century was in fact diseased but with their own mishandling of power, not western liberalism or even their previous government's malfunctioning. Stalin asserted his power in his "purges" following the power struggle between himself and Leon Trotsky. Unfortunately for the Russian people, their situation did not follow the model of Karl Marx and the proletariat never gained power of the minority ruling body. The "healing knife" in this case, was the October Revolution that marked the first ommunist revolution of the 20th century. The main character, Rubashov, is what was called an "old guard Bolshevik revolutionary" which means primarily that he was a Bolshevik revolutionary before Stalin acquired his power. This of course lead to opposition to the government by many for the oppression forced upon them by their supposedly glorious revolution. This can also be what Rubashov means when he says that "our results were wrong". It was clear to many, Rubashov especially that their ideals had been jaded and that the leadership was now taking them in a direction that most certainly was not freedom for all and power for none; on the contrary, it was freedom for none and power in the hands of one. Rubashov said that "We diagnosed the disease. Rubashov truly believed in the revolution and its original intent but most certainly did not see his own imprisonment and sub sequential death as a possible outcome.
Common topics in this essay:
Darkness Noon,
Josef Stalin,
Arthur Koestler,
Unfortunately Rubashov,
Karl Marx,
Soviet Union,
Stalin's Rubashov's,
Woodrow Wilson,
Communism Rubashov,
Russians Rubashov,
healing knife,
results wrong,
darkness noon,
original intent,
russian people,
true communism,
character rubashov,
diagnosed disease,
josef stalin,
october revolution,
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