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Red Star: The First Bolshevik Utopia (Soviet History, Politics, Society, and Thought) Paperback – June 22, 1984
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"[A] surprisingly moving story." ―The New Yorker
"Bogdanov's novels reveal a great deal about their fascinating author, about his time and, ironically, ours, and about the genre of utopia as well as his contribution to it." ―Slavic Review
"Bogdanov's imaginative predictions for his utopia are both technological and social . . . Even more farsighted are [his] anxious forebodings about the limits and costs of the utopian future." ―Science Fiction Studies
"The contemporary reader will marvel at [Bogdanov's] foresight: nuclear fusion and propulsion, atomic weaponry and fallout, computers, blood transfusions, and (almost) unisexuality." ―Choice
A communist society on Mars, the Russian revolution, and class struggle on two planets is the subject of this arresting science fiction novel by Alexander Bogdanov (1873–1928), one of the early organizers and prophets of the Russian Bolshevik party. The red star is Mars, but it is also the dream set to paper of the society that could emerge on earth after the dual victory of the socialist and scientific-technical revolutions. While portraying a harmonious and rational socialist society, Bogdanov sketches out the problems that will face industrialized nations, whether socialist or capitalist.
- Print length272 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherIndiana University Press
- Publication dateJune 22, 1984
- Reading age18 years and up
- Dimensions6.1 x 0.78 x 9.24 inches
- ISBN-100253203171
- ISBN-13978-0253203175
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"Bogdanov's imaginative predictions for his utopia are both technological and social . . ." -- Science Fiction Studies
From the Publisher
About the Author
Loren R. Graham is Professor of the History of Science at MIT and author of many books on the history of Soviet science. His most recent book is Moscow Stories (IUP, 2006).
Richard Stites is Professor of History at Georgetown University. His most recent book is Serfdom, Society, and the Arts in Imperial Russia.
Charles Rougle is Associate Professor of Slavic and Eurasian Studies at the University of Albany. He is editor of Red Cavalry: A Critical Companion and translator of many works from Russian.
Product details
- Publisher : Indiana University Press; 2nd Printing edition (June 22, 1984)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 272 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0253203171
- ISBN-13 : 978-0253203175
- Reading age : 18 years and up
- Item Weight : 2.31 pounds
- Dimensions : 6.1 x 0.78 x 9.24 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #1,124,090 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #319 in History & Criticism of Russian & Soviet Literature
- #2,890 in Science Fiction Short Stories
- #6,722 in Science Fiction Crime & Mystery
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- Reviewed in the United States on January 23, 2024The book is quite interesting and well worth a read if you're interested in Soviet or Russian history, the social concepts of Marxist ideologies, early science fiction or any combination of the above.
But my main point is that this edition has a very nice thing that should be noted. The book contains, not just the novel _Red Star,_ but also the prequel short story _Engineer Menni_ and the poem that was meant as the outline for a (sadly never written) sequel "A Martian Stranded on Earth." All also written by Alexander Bogdanov. So for anyone wanting the entirety of the _Red Star_ "saga," so to speak, this is a wonderful edition. Why this fact is not included on both the front cover and the product description, I simply cannot fathom. But it came as a massively wonderful surprise to me.
- Reviewed in the United States on June 9, 2017Describes a socialist utopia on Mars. Martians are like earthlings except for a different planetary and life forms evolution. Protagonist is an earthling who has been selected by Martian leadership to help them solve some social issues. An novel perspective. The main subject is trying to perfect a utopia, not the devolution into a distopia that most "utopian" stories are about.
- Reviewed in the United States on October 25, 2003As the subtitle of this book points out, Alexander's Bogdanov's "Red Star" was "The First Bolshevik Utopia." Bogdanov was a major prophet of the Bolshevik movement and while the red star of his title is the planet Mars, he is clearly envisioning the kind of society that could emerge on Earth after the victory of not only the scientific-technical revolution, a belief that can be traced in utopian literature back to Francis Bacon's "The New Atlantis," but also the social revolution dictated by Marxism. The future of "Red Star" is the radiant future of socialism that Bogdanov believed would eventually triumphant everyone on earth. At one point in the novel the hero, a Bolsehvik activist named Leonid, declares: "Blood is being shed for the sake of a better future. But in order to wage the struggle we must KNOW that future." Of course, Bogdanov believes that he does indeed know the future, thanks to the writings of Marx and Engels.
From a historical perspective the key thing to keep in mind is that Bogdanov is writing well over a decade before the Russian Revolution. In fact, he is writing in reaction to the 1905 revolution that compelled Tsar Nicholas II to issue a constitution and create a parliament. This came after the 1903 split of the Russian Marxists into the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks. Like the hero of "Red Star," Bogdanov went with the former and Lenin, and was one of the original "twenty-two" who met in Switzerland to form a group dedicated to disciplined revolutionary action. As part of this effort, Bogdanov wrote "Red Star."
What is most interesting is that the "tectology" that Bogdanov envisions in constructing his utopia on Mars does not ignore the dangers of collectivisim and high technology (which were at the heart of many of the anti-utopian fantasies of the late tsarist period). He even has a sense of humor: the vegetation on Mars is red, and Leonid calls it "socialist vegetation." On Bogdanov's Mars you will find clothes made out of synthetic material, three-dimension movies, and a death ray, but no political state. Citizens engage in both voluntary labor as well as leisure and culture. The conflict in the story comes when someone tries to change the Martian utopia. Ultimately, you can make the claim that "Red Star" is more science fiction than propaganda, since Bogdanov creates a perfect world where the "labor question" has been made moot by the industrialization of farming. There is no peasant class on Mars for Russian readers to relate too, provided, of course, they were inclined to reading a science fiction utopian novel.
"Red Star" was extremely popular during and after the Russian Revolution and is a fascinating example of utopian literature in that it deals with the problems faced by industrial nations, whether socialist or capitalist, such as atomic energy, the environment, biomedical ethics, and shortages of food and natural resources. The illustrations for "Red Star" are taken from the 1923 Moscow edition. This volume includes Charles Rougle's translations of the complete texts of not only "Red Star," but also Bogdanov's 1913 novel "Engineer Menni" and a 1927 poem "A Martian Stranded on Earth." These latter two works appear in English for the first time in this collection. "Engineer Menni" takes the then current beliefs about the natural history of Mars and uses it to tell a story about the construction of the canals as a parable of class struggle. The heroes of the story, as the title indicates, are the engineers, who would indeed do great work in transforming the Soviet Union in the 20th century. "Red Star" is an important example of utopian literature that should be back in print.
- Reviewed in the United States on January 19, 2017Pre-revolutionary sci-fi from Russia. The writing isn't great (translation plays a role in that, I'm sure) but the pacing, plot, and ideas aren't done well, either. It's still a fascinating read simply for it's historic value as part of a canon of pre-revolutionary works that explored the concepts that later lead to the Soviet Union. Utopian in design, it attempts to tackle some of the misgivings of those who questioned whether humans could live in the ideal "socialist" system through the use of a non-human Martian society laying naked the socialist vision. At times it can be ham-fisted in its approach but the intensity of belief and desire for world these Martians have created comes through in a genuine fashion.
I read this book alongside Zemyatin's "We", a 1924 totalitarian dystopian novel that was the first book banned by the Soviet Goskomizdat. I would strongly recommend reading those two books together as they are a fascinating intersection of utopian and dystopian viewpoints regarding socialism straddling the cultural and temporal demarcation of a real world socialist revolution. We
Top reviews from other countries
- P. KeenanReviewed in the United Kingdom on December 31, 2015
5.0 out of 5 stars If you want to know Why the soviets did what ...
If you want to know Why the soviets did what they did from 1917 until 1957 read this book. Its the manifesto of Lenin and his cronies.
- Jamie SimsReviewed in the United Kingdom on February 6, 2015
4.0 out of 5 stars A very valuable book
No work of literary genius and hardly a fast-paced thriller, Red Star and Engineer Menni do however provide a lot to think about for anyone interested in Marxism, revolution and future communist utopias. His vision of a planned economy, with no coercive state, compulsory labour or limits on consumption (ie a full realisation of: from each according to her ability, to each according to her need) is especially relevant today, - issues of ecological limits to growth are given an important place (Martian society even faces climate change). The accompanying essays provide important commentary on the role of utopian science fiction, the historical context.