I have decided to do something different and review these two books together because they will prove an interesting tandem read, especially for those of us who marvel at the way history repeats itself. I often tell my students that human beings have not fundamentally changed since we climbed down out of the trees and walked upright across the Savannah. These two books read together support that hypothesis.
The first work is Angel of Vengeance by Ana Siljak. It is an extremely readable journey through the revolutionary movements of late nineteenth century Russia centered on the story of Vera Zasulich, characterized in the book’s subtitle as the ‘Girl Assassin’. Zasulich’ interaction with key revolutionary theorists and actors leading up to her attempted assassination of the Governor of St. Petersburg, General Fedor Trepov makes a perfect vehicle for bringing the human to the myth. Zasulich wanted to be accepted as a equal to her male counterparts but was faced with chauvinism from both the government and her revolutionary fellows. Becoming an instant celebrity after shooting and seriously wounding Trepov, her trial was one of those classified as the Trial of the Century. (The Zasulich trial seems to have been the model used by Dostoyevsky who was in attendance for the trial of Dimitry Karamazov in the novel The Brothers Karamazov) In court the defense played the feminine card which greatly dismayed Zasulich but also led to her acquittal. She was an emotional young girl who had fallen under the spell of Nechaev (a charismatic revolutionary leader) and was overwhelmed by the arbitrary cruelness and injustice of the decaying Romanov empire. In the years following the trial we see a women struggling to deal with her celebrity and questioning the efficacy of her actions.
The second work is A Russian Diary by the late journalist Anna Politkovskaya. Politkovskaya was murdered in her Moscow apartment building in October 2006. One trial against those involved led to an acquittal and another is pending. But justice in the Russia she describes under Vladimir Putin is unlikely, perhaps impossible. The book documents the daily struggles of those suffering under an increasingly autocratic regime to find if not justice at least some explanation, some truth. We see the complete disregard of human life spilling out of Chechnya, first to the surrounding regions and then to the heart of Russia herself. Politkovskaya leads us through events as they happen. From rigged elections and manipulation of the judicial system Putin tightens his hold on power. Along with this came the inevitable overreaction to criticism and the silencing of opposition. Since Politkovskaya’s death of course Putin has further manipulated the system by raising the former head of his Presidential Administration, Dimitry Medvedev to the rank of president and Putin himself has taken the role of prime minister in the Duma. But no one seriously believe the sycophant Medvedev is really in charge. One wishes we had the opportunity to hear what Politkovskaya would have to say about that.
The commonality in the two books can be seen on many levels. The political shifts of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century are being repeated in Russia today. The key is democracy, although liberalism is often thrown around in both books as a synonym which is incorrect. Democracy and liberalism are strange bedfellows. Democracy concerns the rights of people while liberalism concerns the rights of property and the two can and do conflict often. But at a deeper level both books reveal to us the personal trials and questions of two women who are passionate in their convictions dealing with a regime that has dug in their heels and questioning themselves and their actions. Critics and revolutionaries are still human beings. As crises of trust with the governance of society rise old allies begin to fall by the way. In Politkovskaya it is the early political and human rights activists of the post Soviet period who seem to be lagging behind, doing nothing. Zasulich and the younger activists of her time had also grown impatient with Turgenev and others from a generation earlier. We see both regimes resort to violence to silence critics which just as inevitably as it is used in these situations, it inevitably fails in the end.
Both activists display the naivete that often accompanies deeply held convictions. All of us who have been politically and socially active for unpopular causes or have challenged the status quo have thought if only this would happen then things would be better. It is never that simple. Again we are dealing with human beings. Politkovskaya has a view of a Western world which I don’t fully recognize. While physical violence by the authorities to silence opponents is not common in North America it is not unheard of and threats to career or other social sanctions appear regularly. Here in Canada we have a province which is in effect a one party state that tends to be heavy handed with its critics and Quebeckers can attest to the excesses of Maurice Duplessis. Anyone who has grown up in Canada knows that there are two legal systems, one for the rich and one for the poor. And bottom line our politicians care more for their continued well-being than that of the country. And like all Russians, Zasulich and Politkovskaya know what socialism / communism is and nobody else does. Russians seem to believe that they invented the concept. But Marx was a German and Proudhon was a Frenchman and they, like most leftist writers were writing tracts based on fully industrialized societies. Lenin, Bakunin and Stalin were mere pamphleteers trying to adapt the system to a backward agrarian society which was doomed to failure. If you can’t build a successful cabinet don’t blame the wood or the tools, perhaps you just had a lousy teacher or one that didn’t want you to make a successful cabinet.
Whether you read them in tandem or separately I highly recommend both books. Especially the Siljak book for its readability. There were moments when I forgot I was reading a history book and felt lost in a romantic novel.
Siljak, Ana. Angel of Vengeance. New York: St. Martin’s Press. 2008. 370 pages including notes and index. ISBN-13: 978-0-312-36399-4. $28.95
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Politkovskaya, Anna. A Russian Diary. London: Vintage Books. 2007. 323 pages including glossary and index. ISBN: 978-0-099-52345-1. $23.95
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