On fiction: subversive aliens
There's a tendency for creative types living in the West to pat themselves on the back, "at least we don't have to work under the constraints imposed by Soviet propaganda". True, but not quite a complete picture. Censorship has many forms, many disguised by the mechanisms that power the publishing and distribution industry, and it can be found everywhere, including in countries that value freedom of speech. Conversely, how censorship manifested itself in the Soviet world and its satellites varied from place to place and time to time. It wasn't necessarily the case that an unpleasant author would find themselves with a new unwanted hole in their head, or splitting rocks in some frozen wasteland.
But still, the assertion is true that, in countries with Communist regimes, the kind of world that art and fiction were allowed to show (if it was to be approved for circulation) was one of Communism triumphant, or imminently victorious. History marches inexorably to its end as depicted by Marxism dialectics; all imperfect and enslaving systems fail under their internal inconsistencies, leaving only one, the Perfect, Communism as the ultimate and final political structure. Nothing politically significant will take place next. Private drama can still happen, of course. People are imperfect. Even officials may be corrupt. But as a whole society is happy, self-correcting of its faults and fair. Guaranteed to last forever.
"Or is it?"
I've been reading "Beetle in the ant-hill", by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, one of the works produced in that climate of imposing a party-approved future on authors (the book was first published in 1980). And indeed, future Earth is Communist and, mostly, happy about it. Humanity is content with its own planet and, while space exploration happens, space conquest does not. No Imperialist tendencies in Communist Utopia! Only the benevolent "progressing"- a kind of shadow counterpart to the Prime Directive of Star Trek, it involves "helping" alien civilizations that are less developed into achieving their own utopias.
But there's a giant spanner in this work. The Wanderers, ancient, mysterious, incredibly advanced aliens, their purpose inscrutable. "Say no evil of the Wanderers", a kind of mantra invoked by several characters goes. Surely beings of such advanced progress are benevolent? Surely they have reached the same conclusion as to what the best political system is? Surely they are like us?
No. Nothing is known of the Wanderers' mind.
And when a sarcophagus of embryos is found, containing human embryos in Wanderer technology, this lack of knowledge is acutely felt as a decision must be taken. What to do with the embryos? "Think no evil of the Wanderers", some characters suggest. But others, and the authors along with them, advise caution.
Already there is a bit of irony here. Communist Earth, not too bothered to interfere in the history of other planets, sees a potential interference from the Wanderers into its own as something to avoid. But there's a more significant revelation, made possible by the Wanderers remaining mysterious throughout.
The authors never assure us the Wanderers are Communist. This advanced civilization causes doubts in the fictional inhabitants of Earth that what they have is an end of history, perfect system. One character even voices the issues that the theory of Progress (Marxist dialectics, but not named as such) may be wrong, or wrongly interpreted. Or that the Wanderers themselves may be in the wrong, but that in itself invalidates the thesis that there is only one stable system towards which history tends.
I've previously shown an example of a science-fiction writer producing something quite inimical to the prevailing, and forcefully enforced, ideology. Here is another, from half the globe away. I'll need to read more of the Noon Universe books of A&B Strugatsky to tell how much of this is their intentional doing, and how much is the innate pressure of SF to challenge orthodoxy.
But the fact remains. Even in a country that tasked its writers with imagining its glorious future (the USSR of the 80s), even in a book where the dreamt-of Communist Utopia was real, one finds that the Universe is a bit bigger than human designs. There is no such thing as an ultimate system. Assume otherwise at your peril.
But still, the assertion is true that, in countries with Communist regimes, the kind of world that art and fiction were allowed to show (if it was to be approved for circulation) was one of Communism triumphant, or imminently victorious. History marches inexorably to its end as depicted by Marxism dialectics; all imperfect and enslaving systems fail under their internal inconsistencies, leaving only one, the Perfect, Communism as the ultimate and final political structure. Nothing politically significant will take place next. Private drama can still happen, of course. People are imperfect. Even officials may be corrupt. But as a whole society is happy, self-correcting of its faults and fair. Guaranteed to last forever.
"Or is it?"
I've been reading "Beetle in the ant-hill", by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, one of the works produced in that climate of imposing a party-approved future on authors (the book was first published in 1980). And indeed, future Earth is Communist and, mostly, happy about it. Humanity is content with its own planet and, while space exploration happens, space conquest does not. No Imperialist tendencies in Communist Utopia! Only the benevolent "progressing"- a kind of shadow counterpart to the Prime Directive of Star Trek, it involves "helping" alien civilizations that are less developed into achieving their own utopias.
But there's a giant spanner in this work. The Wanderers, ancient, mysterious, incredibly advanced aliens, their purpose inscrutable. "Say no evil of the Wanderers", a kind of mantra invoked by several characters goes. Surely beings of such advanced progress are benevolent? Surely they have reached the same conclusion as to what the best political system is? Surely they are like us?
No. Nothing is known of the Wanderers' mind.
And when a sarcophagus of embryos is found, containing human embryos in Wanderer technology, this lack of knowledge is acutely felt as a decision must be taken. What to do with the embryos? "Think no evil of the Wanderers", some characters suggest. But others, and the authors along with them, advise caution.
Already there is a bit of irony here. Communist Earth, not too bothered to interfere in the history of other planets, sees a potential interference from the Wanderers into its own as something to avoid. But there's a more significant revelation, made possible by the Wanderers remaining mysterious throughout.
The authors never assure us the Wanderers are Communist. This advanced civilization causes doubts in the fictional inhabitants of Earth that what they have is an end of history, perfect system. One character even voices the issues that the theory of Progress (Marxist dialectics, but not named as such) may be wrong, or wrongly interpreted. Or that the Wanderers themselves may be in the wrong, but that in itself invalidates the thesis that there is only one stable system towards which history tends.
I've previously shown an example of a science-fiction writer producing something quite inimical to the prevailing, and forcefully enforced, ideology. Here is another, from half the globe away. I'll need to read more of the Noon Universe books of A&B Strugatsky to tell how much of this is their intentional doing, and how much is the innate pressure of SF to challenge orthodoxy.
But the fact remains. Even in a country that tasked its writers with imagining its glorious future (the USSR of the 80s), even in a book where the dreamt-of Communist Utopia was real, one finds that the Universe is a bit bigger than human designs. There is no such thing as an ultimate system. Assume otherwise at your peril.
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