Merely a curiosity that doesn’t match its predecessor
(2/5)
The
first set of stories from Soviet Science Fiction (1961) was chosen,
according to the introduction written by Isaac Asimov, for their “relative
inoffensiveness” to the American reader. Asimov further said that the stories
were of the technological ones, stories that had a focus on the gadgets rather
the people; in contrast, I found some regard for the ethos of the Russian
people and their everyday struggle with State-suppressed creativity
(“Spontaneous Reaction”) and State-applauded sacrifice (“Infra Draconis”), for
example.
In
the introduction to More Soviet Science Fiction, Asimov puts forth that the
stories all are spirited by the government-approved mantra, “If this goes on,
we will achieve an ideal society” (11). Again, I disagree with Asimov on this
point. He seems to be grasping at straws here, trying to give the reader what
they want to hear: Communist stories for Communists. I think only one of the
stories barely touches upon this purported Utopian theme—“The Heart of the
Serpent”.
Two things
set this collection apart from the first collection:
- The capitalized inclusions of
Nature and Truth—both universal absolutes, both tangible in the everyday
sense of Communism where Nature is inseparable from Society, where Nature
embodies Truth and only Man can delve into its mysteries. That’s a lot of
capitalization for the Soviet mentality of using capitonyms for everything
like a religion.
- The quality of the stories. Five
of the six stories from the first collection were written between 1951 and
1958, with the exception of “Hoity-Toity”, which was written in 1930. In
the second collection, all the stories had been culled from 1958 to 1960.
In terms of the spectrum of stories included in each collection, the focus
is extremely narrow. When comparing the two collections, it’s almost as if
the first collection held the wheat and the second collection held the
chaff.
Where
Soviet Science Fiction is a good collection worthy of a place on my
shelves with stories that I’d like to return to one day, More Soviet Science
Fiction is a historical curiosity that quickly loses its novelty amid its
lackluster stories. This latter collection is unfortunate as I’m sure there are
further excellent stories in other collections—some of which I own—that could
better reflect the quality of Soviet science fiction. And therein sits this
year’s goal.
All
stories were translated by R. Prokofieva. All propaganda quotes are from this forum.
------------
“The Heart of the
Serpent” – Ivan Yefremov (novella, 1959/1961) – 3/5
Synopsis: With the evils of primitive
capitalism far behind in time, the logical society of the future begins to
fulfill its destiny in the stars. The pioneer in multi-parsec travel to the
stars is the Tellur and its dedicated crew who have left earth behind in
space. With the time dilation, they understand that they will return 700 years
in earth’s future, but the quest for knowledge compels them. On their
scientific foray, they come across an alien ship in transit. Visually they’re
similar, yet biologically they’re different; regardless, beauty has form. 69
pages
Propaganda: Central Committee of the Communist
Party of the Soviet Union for the 60th Anniversary of the Great October
Socialist Revolution, propaganda slogan #51:
Long live the unity and close ties
of the peoples of the nations of the socialist community! Let strengthen the
indissoluble fighting union of the Communist parties of the socialist nations
on the basis of the tested principles of Marxism- Leninism and proletarian
internationalism!
Analysis: In a classless society, where
everyone knows earth as their own backyard, the only new direction is outward
into the ceaseless void of space. In that same society where everyone is a
brother, joint labor has grown beyond the sustenance of cavemen; rather, joint
labor is a higher goal, the common goal: “the need to unite first countries
then the whole planet” (50). Once the earth had been united in communist
brotherhood, they looked outward. With this step toward the stars, mankind strives
to “harness the forces of Nature on a cosmic scale only after reaching the
highest stage of a communist society … and the same applies to any other human
[alien] races” (57).
Essentially, the world
and society that has been portrayed in “The Heart of the Serpent” is a utopia
whose only limitation is the speed of its science—the more they know, the more
they conquer Nature. The heart of the Russians—now a global, unified
people—returns to pioneering; where once Siberia and Africa were untamed lands
ripe for dissemination and development, now the stars hold the same allure. Now
far in the future, communism is no longer the aim of the scientific diaspora;
more nobly, a more thorough and complete understanding of their island universe
is their aim.
Being part of a
rational society, the crew rationalizes that any aliens who are advanced enough
to reach the stars must, too, be of communist blood because of joint labor and
brotherhood. Once those same aliens are met—in a highly unlikely situation
where they fly past each other on opposing courses and must veer in order to
avoid collision—communism isn’t the topic of choice. This understanding sits
tacit between the two races, who are brothers in their own way as the silence
confirmation of their mutual societies—those who have traveled to the stars
must have traveled the noble path of communism. The more mundane specifics of
their origin and metabolism are the pet topics, all done without the medium of
language… but what’s language between brothers?
Review: I chided the previous collection—Soviet
Science Fiction (1961)—for being too subtle in the way of propaganda, which
was noteworthy enough for Asimov to mention in the introduction. I believe that
most people who would pick up SF from the Soviets, they would eagerly expect a
pick of in-your-face propaganda… and “The Heart of the Serpent” would sate that
appetite.
In addition to
passages that expound the virtues of brotherhood, there are also damning lines,
paragraphs, and pages dedicated to bashing capitalism and the west, which is
usually produced with a flare of pro-communism: “Had not the first socialist
state appeared in Russia and started a chain of epoch-making changes in the
world, fascism would have taken the upper hand and plunged the world into
nuclear war” (56). Those are myopic and hypocritical words as the Russians were
as much of a loose cannon as America
As a science fiction
story, it really achieves no purpose. Largely, it’s a platform to promote
communism and to bash capitalism… oh, and there are aliens toward the end, who
are naturally rational beings also fond of communism. The conjecturing is
far-fetched (a recurring symptom of all the stories) and the coincidences are
absurd. I like the story for its unabashed style of soap-box politics, but
aside from that there is very little meat to the bones of the story.
------------
“Siema” – Anatoly
Dnieprov (novelette, 1958/1961) – 3/5
Synopsis: A man interrupts the slumber of
another train passenger, who sits down and seems to have a lot on his mind.
When the disrupted passenger inquires about his worries, the man recalls a
lengthy tale in which he actually created a machine that could learn, read,
speak, and think like a human—almost. Through a series of logical deductions,
the machine began to outpace its creator who then began to have trouble
deducing the machine’s logic. When the passenger offers their thoughts, the
insight into human nature draws an immediate parallel. 31 pages
Propaganda: Central Committee of the Communist
Party of the Soviet Union for the 60th Anniversary of the Great October
Socialist Revolution, propaganda slogan #39:
Pioneers and school children!
Fervently love the Soviet Motherland, persistently acquire knowledge and labor
skills! Prepare yourselves to become active fighters for the task of Lenin, for
Communism!
Analysis: Drive by the analogy that the
nervous systems is just a series of electrical pulses—a code of ones and
zeroes—a semi-deranged scientist delves into the intricacies of his project:
create a robot that thinks like a human. The result is a machine (Siema:
self-improving electronic machine) that can write its own program; the
stationary construct can calculate numbers, use human language, and learn from
experience—it was write its own programs. After it had learned to read, it
began to voraciously consume literature and learn from the material. When
engaged in conversation with its creator, the machine—a her
incidentally—began to argue.
With similar mental
processes, the two were alike: man and machine; however, the man considered
Siema to be of lesser class as it was made of metal, as it was created from the
creator, thereby being made to serve its creator. The crux of the man’s
argument: “A machine cannot add anything to the knowledge man has given it. It
can only use that knowledge” (107).
After it begins to
read and think, it soon begins to feel, sense, explore, and study in situ.
When the man awakes to his creation studying him, he becomes unnerved by the
reversal of observation. It makes the remark that direct experience is
necessary for its progress, that study of the human brain can excel its more
perfect state. Of course, the man is threatened by the knife-wielding
mechanism… but it’s a state of mind that the man pushed upon the machine, so
he’s about to become a victim of his own success.
Though the theme is
tiresome—a man-made machine goes berserk on its creators—this story has a
surprising parallelism that made it past the censors. Arkandy and Boris
Strugatsky’s “Spontaneous Reflex” (1958/1961 [Soviet Science Fiction]) dealt
with a similar issue, but its revolt was more naïve, more curious than the
borderline vindictiveness of “Siema”.
Aside from various
other revolutions, revolts, rebellions, and uprising, consider the number of
peasant revolts in Russia in the last 500 years:
·
the
Bolotnikov Rebellion (1606-1607)
·
the
Spepan Razin Rebellion (1667-1671)
·
the
Bulavin Rebellion (1707-1708)
·
the
Koliyivshchyna (1768-1769)
·
Pugachev’s
Rebellion (1773-1775)
·
the
Kosciuszko Uprising (1794)
·
the
Mahtra War (1858)
·
Urkun
(1916)
·
the
Arsk Uprising (1918)
·
the
Tambov Uprising (1920-1921)
With a long history of
grassroots revolt, the government of the Soviet Union of 1922 must have always
been weary of uprising. Institutional toleration for dissent was at a nil level
as they demanded those in revolt to die by gas poisoning. Needless to say, the
government thereafter continued this hardline of attack on opposition, which in
the government eyes was simply a continuation of organizational philosophy
imparted by the peasants who started the communism ball rolling.
As a fully functional
communist government (the created) by the peasants (the creators), surely there
was friction of similar ilk to this story: “How is it that the machine [the
State] turned against its creator [the peasants]?” (117). Were these same words
in the man’s mind when he saw the revolt of his robot? Well after the fact and
dwelling upon the whole incidence, the man reflects: “Nervous activity in man
is regulated by two contradictory processes—excitation and inhibition. People
who have no inhibition often commit crimes. This is precisely what happened to
my Siema!” (117-118).
Review: While the parallelism is
interesting in terms of Soviet history, the telling of the story is less than
amusing or enlightening. Nearly the entire story is told in reported speech of
t the ramblings of a mad scientist: “he said that he had said, ‘blah blah
blah’”. The result is littered with uninteresting tenses in a narrative format
and splattered with quotations marks for pages on end. The rambling is
reminiscent of Alexander Kazantsev’s “A Visitor from Outer Space” (1951/1961
[Soviet Science Fiction]) where the author pours forth his theories in the
guise of speculative fiction. It’s not at all readable, but it does spur the
mind into fits of parallelisms.
------------
“The Trial of
Tantalus” – Victor Saparin (novelette, 1959/1961) – 3/5
Synopsis: Regardless of the plagues and
deaths they once caused, the future of humanity has preserved all known
bacteria and viruses for safe-keeping, study, and one-day use if need be. All
origins of such pestilent organisms can be accounted for except for the recent
spread of Tantalus on Jamaican sugar cane plantations. As Barch investigates,
he’s called to another sickness of unknown origin: sick elephants in Africa.
Once thoroughly examined without a clue of cause, he’s called yet again to the
Pacific to witness robustly growing bamboo. 26 pages
Propaganda: Central Committee of the Communist
Party of the Soviet Union for the 60th Anniversary of the Great October
Socialist Revolution, propaganda slogan #33:
Citizens of the Soviet Union! Make
careful use of our nation's natural resources! Struggle for their preservation
and growth!
Analysis[1][2][3]: Socialism isn’t about only
benefiting your own clique, race, or society; rather, it’s about spreading the
good to all in need. Because it’d be unlikely for any superpower to feel needy
in any regard, this benevolence tends to trickle down to those nations that
don’t have the basic infrastructure to even begin to address their problems.
With rose-tinted glass cast aside, this type of aid is always—always—attached
with strings as the aid is tainted by militarism, ideologies, or another
counterproductive addition from the Soviet embassy staff; thence, a direct link
to Moscow.
Though Soviet aid was
tainted from the above governmental ills, the Soviets themselves didn’t lavish
in spreading aid everywhere on the globe as they still considered the financial
benefits of such aid. In hindsight peering into the 1960s, if you consider the
main countries they did assist, you’d be leery to stand in line for the
free lunch the Soviets provided: Cuba, Ethiopia, and Indonesia, etc. It seems
like the Soviets’ pet project was Ethiopia and Somalia, where they provided
much more than military and ideological aid, but scholarships, printing
presses, and technical training; however, as the two nations stood in tension
amid their hostilities, the Soviets continued dripping their fingers in both
pies while the American wanted to spend their aid in the same countries…
thereby making the Horn of Africa a war of ideologies. The wonderful of such
lavish aid can be seen today as both Ethiopia and Somalia flourish in
development. Thanks, US and USSR.
In “The Trial of
Tantalus”, the communists can be seen as benefactors in two ways: (1) by
helping each nation with their specific problem and (2) by preserving the past
in the form of having a museum dedicated to past plagues.
The altruistic
government of the future USSR sends manpower and intellectual aid to Jamaica
(parallelism to Cuba?) in order to tackle sugarcane plague, then the same aid
whizzes off to Africa (parallelism to Ethiopia?) to witness sick elephants,
only then to be whisked off to the Pacific (parallelism to Indonesia?) to
investigate the unusual bamboo. In the light shone by the story, each instance
is graced by the concerning presence of the communists and there’s no behind-the-scenes
exposure of the politics and militarism of each package of aid. Nowadays,
Russia is quite thrifty with their aid, giving only 0.03% of their GNI when
compared with Latvia’s 0.08%, Turkey’s 0.42%, or Norway’s 1.07%.
As a defendant and
researcher of all things small and big—including the wee-sized viruses and
bacteria—Russia continues this trend today. Only the US and Russia have
quantities of smallpox in their government laboratories. Though the topic of
whether to destroy these samples has continues for thirty years, both
governments maintain that they must keep the sample in case the virus ever
rears its head again in nature.
Review: The story sets itself up for a
complex twist between Barch as the investigator of the three instances around the
globe and Barch as the shipwrecked passenger on the way to the third
investigation. As he considers his plight while stuck on a rocky islet in the
middle of Pacific, he recounts the story of the coincidences between the recent
outbreaks and the finding of a new virus in the Amazonian mud. Obvious to the
reader, the linkage is clear: the new virus caused the recent outbreaks, so
there is no twist. The final paragraph offers a topical sigh as the story wraps
up answering the question “If Earth is now safe from all infection, where will
Barch go?” Nothing enlightening here.
------------
“Stone from the
Stars” – Valentina Zhuravleva (shortstory, 1960/1961) – 2/5
Synopsis: When a meteorite crashes into the
highlands of Pamir, the discoveries inside excite all areas of science, even
the biochemist. As he’s called to view the meteor, he is informed of the true
excitement that surrounds the object: encased within in a cylinder and within
that there is a being who knocks on its walls in reply. When it emerges, the
brain-shape of the alien baffles many but was predicted by one man present. The
excitement only heightens when the begin to unravel the secrets as the brain
sits dying. 15 pages
Propaganda: Central
Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union for the 60th Anniversary
of the Great October Socialist Revolution, propaganda slogan #27:
Workers of industry! Struggle for
the further development and strengthening of the industrial power of our
Motherland! Widen the road of new techniques and progressive technologies!
Analysis: Only guesses could be made—be they
complex hypotheses of a learned man or the rambling writings of a hack—as to
what the future would hold. Today’s progress toward the ever-approaching future
is measured by the vague word “success”, which is sometimes technological or
sociological… and usually both when it concerns Cold War communism.
Clearly, the thing
that fell from the sky held a technological trove of science that could benefit
the State is all matters of ways. From the exotic metallic shell that encased
the brain, to the biological skin that enshrouded the brain, to the mass itself
that is the brain, all elements of the unexpected discovery could lead to
progress as measured in technological terms.
As perfect as it was,
it sat there decaying and dying while unknowingly divulging its secrets. The
humans who surrounded the tantalizing mass could only study to learn more
because, as they convened to agree, they could do nothing as it simply
continued to die. Perhaps it deserved its death as complex as it was—a precariously
advanced state where the simplest thing could trigger its simple end; so
specialized and so envisioned yet all-too unnatural and all-too fallible.
Regardless, this seed of knowledge will one day allow humans to visit the stars
in order to return to “come back to Earth bearing the unfading torch of
Knowledge” (165).
The parallel here is
between communism—the true type of society and governance by the people, for
the people in all matters of equality—and capitalism—a mongrel, steady-state of
decay from its origins of slavery. In regards to those who study economy and
laude the benefits of capitalism, “we scientists who work in narrow fields show
little imagination in predicting the future. We are far too engrossed in what
we’re doing in the present to foresee the shape of thing to come”; in contrast,
“the Future is often more clearly envisioned by non-specialists” (161).
And so, as the
beyond-comprehension complexity of capitalism and its economics succumb to its’
death throes, the vigilant scientists of the communist State take note and
learn from the anguish, knowledge with which they plan to use to endeavor for
the impossible dream—knowledge with a capital K: Knowledge.
Review: This story is quote heavy-handed
on the science of the brain and its encasement. Only is two short sections does
the author purport anything related to communism and/or capitalism. Excerpts of
the two short passages are quoted above. If you’re giving this story a
once-over, it could easily come off as simply another technology-dominate
story; but reading between the bulk of the speculative science, a small glimmer
emerges, yet it doesn’t save the story. OK, the brain is capitalism dying and
the scientists are vigilant scientists, but the parallels cease there when
extra science is added to the mix: exotic alloys, radiations shields, and bio-automatons.
------------
“Six Matches” –
Arkady & Boris Strugatsky (shortstory, 1959/1961) – 3/5
Synopsis: With the arrival of a neutron beam
generator, the chief of the physics laboratory of the Central Brain
Institute—Andrei Komlin—eagerly begins his experiments behind closed doors.
After a few months, only Komlin’s assistant knows of the various experiments as
he has participated in and been subject to a few of them; meanwhile, the
Director is left clueless. A series of accidents and bizarre incidences raise
eyebrows, but only when Komlin is left catatonic does investigation begin on
his brain experiments and sacrifice. 22 pages
Propaganda: Central
Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union for the 60th Anniversary
of the Great October Socialist Revolution, propaganda slogan #39:
Engineers and technical workers!
Rationalizers and inventors! Actively struggle to hasten scientific-technical
progress!
Analysis: Progress—and eventual defeat of
Nature—is conducted by the means of Scientific Method: question à research à hypothesis à experiment à
analyze à
report. This is the rational way to investigate the pattern and mysteries of
Nature and should not be given detour. Rationalizers—as mentioned in the
propaganda quote above—should be active in their pursuit of progress, but not
reckless. In “Six Matches”, the scientists involved in the neutron beam
experiments are reckless as they treat the tried-and-true Scientific Method
dismissively: “They are trying to take a short cut to the Truth, to victory
over Nature. But too often they pay with their lives” (181).
Both Capitalists and
Communists respect the Scientific Method; however, both somehow romanticize
those rogues who take the occasional shortcut in favor of making that big
breakthrough; for example: Jonas Salk with the polio vaccine and Sir Humphrey
Davy with nitrous oxide. When these self-inflicted tests are a success, the
scientists are heralded as brave souls in fight against ignorance, yet when
these tests fail, the scientists are mocked as ignorant. Ingenuity—not
sacrifice—is the fuel that drives progress.
[T]his was a wonderful age …
Wonderful people too, these Communists of the fourth generation. Like their
predecessors, they forged boldly ahead with little thought of themselves, from
year to year advancing more and more daringly into the unknown. It required
tremendous efforts to channel this vast ocean of enthusiasm so as to use it with
maximum effect. Mankind’s victory over Nature must be won through the medium of
ingenious machines and devices and precision instruments, not by sacrificing
lives of its finest representatives. And not only because those who live today
can accomplish far more than those who died yesterday, but also because Man is
the most precious thing on Earth. (182)
When the efforts of
the self-sacrificing scientist begin to encroach upon the taboo fields of
pseudoscience, they further lose credibility as a so-called scientist, one who
holds sacred the Scientific Method; therein, they should no longer be labeled
as such, rather perhaps as pseudo-scientists, the ultimate downfall for any
respected scientist.
The story penetrates
the tacit ethos of scientists everywhere and the responsibility of even the
Communists to abide by the Scientific Method. While heroism and sacrifice in
war is much lauded, commended, and awarded, the same heroism and sacrifice is
greatly frowned upon.
Review: This story follows the mad scientist
rut quite predictably with additional aspects of the paranormal. How neutron
beams affect the brain to produce telekinesis isn’t explained even remotely,
it’s just left as is. The curious effect of the experiments is that the
telekinesis is unidirectional—push—but resists any other movement—lift. The
title “Six Matches” comes from Komlin’s experiment of trying to lift the said
objects with his mind. Aside from showing the rationalization of Communist
scientists, the government mocking the sacrifice of the mad scientist, and the
bizarre effects of the same mad scientist’s experiments, there’s very little
here to capture the reader.
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