Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler 1940 211pp

The book is about the Stalinist purges and the Moscow Show Trial and was written in German while in Paris. 2/12/16 Rubashov one of the Old Bolsheviks finds meaning in politics, history, and philosophy. We see him wrestling with the meaning of suffering, senseless suffering versus meaningful suffering. He yields to the logic of the revolution as more important than any individual even when the accusations are complete fabrications. This book explains the period better than Stalin The court of the Red Tsar by Simon Montefiore 2005. The results of a godless, collectivist society. The Soviet Government is referred to as the Party while the Nazis are called the Dictatorship. Stalin is always called "Number1" Darkness at Noon is divided into four parts: The First Hearing, the Second Hearing, the Third Hearing, and the Grammatical Fiction. In the cell next to him is a person who supports the restoration of the Tsar He thinks back to people he had to expel from the party in Belgium as they never kept to the party dogma. One committed suicide. He is told that if he doesn't agree to the confession and public trial he will be at an administrative tribunal which is all secret. Tukhachevsky Soviet Chief of Staff purged. One of the greatest Russian generals Rubashov is interrogated by two secret police officials, the “good cop” Ivanov (a former friend) and the “bad cop” Gletkin (a younger, robotic apparatchik), The movement which was meant to improve conditions of the masses ends up terrorizing it people including it founders. R has expelled 2 people form the party Richard in Germany and Leowy in Belgium who committed suicide and the weight is heavy on Rs mind which accounts for his present situation. Ivanov the first examiner was a friend of R in the civil war. They were familiar with prison from being revolutionaries under the old regime. Ivanov was executed as he failed. The parties’ principles were right but the results were wrong. R is a synthesis of the people who were in the Moscow Trials a mixture of Trotsky , Bukharin and Radek – the dying old Bolshevik guard. Bukharin for example by following his ideal broke the oath of loyalty. Koestler was arrested on suspicion of being a Soviet agent. This book impressed George Orwell and Animal Farm and 1984 were inspired by it. By acting out the at the court he was persuaded to do one last thing for the party, but most did it to save their wives and children. The book was important before Russia joined the allies and then again with the Cold War. The old Bolsheviks were responsible for the Totalitarian Regime, they ignored the will of the people, and the Mensheviks remained democratic. Violent dictatorship eradicates individuality. Peasants are shown to be a reactionary class refusing government vaccination or burning a threshing machine. Koestler supports socialism. 402 represents the theme of individuality. Rip van Winkle was in jail 20 years as a revolutionary and then freed, came to the workers’ paradise and did not know that the Bolsheviks he supported were purged as traitors. The 1930 destroyed the goal of the revolution. R in the end discredits the Philosophy that the end justifies he means. If Lenin had lived longer he would have done the same as Stalin. The religious symbolism is shown. Rs patronym is obviously Jewish and there is a reference to Moses. After wondering 40 years in he dessert there is no sign of the Promised land and he has become a party scapegoat. 406 taps out Christian versus. R identifies with Christ rubbing his glasses on his sleeve is like the rosary. R is a savior but for what purpose is he dying. Stalin In the 5 years after Kirov’s death, the key intellectual leaders of the revolution had been purged or sent to Gulags . The Moscow Show Trials were to get public support for the government. The accused acted their role to save their families. Three trial s 1 Ivan Smironov one of 3 charged with Trotsky conspiracy. 2 Karl Radek accused of spying for Japan and Germany. 3 Bukharin recanted his confession and said he was innocent. Commitern was an organization to spread communism with a worldwide agenda in the 1920. Stalin was less committed to world foreign revolution and the with drawls of fund from those parties led to sever consequences for the party members. Bukharin was involved in this agenda but by 1930 Stalin’s priorities made him isolationist. Rs exhaustion is an expression of human limits he is guilty of opposition views . The masses are too immature to recognize their own interests thus justifying the dictatorship who led them into the darkness of night. It is better to follow immature ethics (old religion) than to be subjected to a dictator that irradiates individuality. Stalin was a prisoner of his own parties philosophy. The movement dedicated to rejuvenating mankind ended up enslaving it. The novelists aim is not to solve but to expose. 

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