Chapter Eight - A Duel Between Professor and Poet
Posted: Wed Oct 18, 2017 2:52 am
MM8
As we approach the glorious centenary of Red October on 7 November this year, it is timely to pause to reflect on the tens of millions murdered by fanatical communists over that century, how the red of communism signifies the blood they have shed of all who see merit and skill as more important than political connections as a basis for success in life.
As to why October is in November, we can also reflect on the block-headed Russian opposition to astronomy, which meant they stuck with the ancient calendar rather than accepting the western Gregorian correction that deleted ten days in 1582, ten days that shook the world.
The whole communist model is based on the idea that the poor can rule by uniting against the rich. Unfortunately, the result of that political agenda is ideological denial of some core facts about why the rich are rich, and how incentives operate in markets and society. That obstinate refusal to engage with evidence then drowns the society in blood. Yes there is a large measure of sheer class oppression that explains resentment by the poor. However, the enduring success of the ruling classes is as much due to talent, and reliance on personal initiative, drive and interest to succeed in business and life. Kleptocracies tend not to be sustained for very long.
Communism deflects entrepreneurial life skills into politics instead of trade, producing a gross corruption of economic and social incentives. Good riddance to bad rubbish we might say about the current return of communism as a fashion, except that the young have forgotten why we had the concept of the free world. Too many see the failings of the political right wing as evidence in support of revolutionary change, and thereby ignore the dangerous lessons of history of why violent class based revolution is generally a stupid path of suffering, not a viable political strategy.
But what, you may ask, does this rant have to do with The Master and Margarita? Chapter Eight begins with Ivan in the psych ward, remaining in denial about how his behaviour is perceived by others. That syndrome of denial is used here by Bulgakov as a parable for the wounded vanity of the Bolshevik rank and file who were purged by the so-called 'democratic centralists' who established the totalitarian tyranny.
You might have heard the gross delusionists of the Trotskyite Internationals arguing that if only Trotsky had defeated Stalin then Russia could have made paradise on earth, spreading communist victory to the whole globe. Such insanity deserves patronising contempt, but these communist true believers are like Ivan in the wild sense of their own rational coherence, and in their fury at the inability of the world to see things their way.
Ivan explains to the psychiatrist Stravinsky that the devil had explained to him how he was personally present at the interview of Jesus Christ by Pontius Pilate and the devil had then precisely predicted the death of Berlioz. We the readers are in on the magic realism secret, that Ivan is being totally honest and accurate in his account. But Bulgakov carefully presents this so Ivan’s language tends to gibber, leading his hearers to see him as schizoid.
I read this chapter as a satirical tragic parable for Bulgakov’s observation of war communism in the 1920s. To get a sense of the extremism of the Russian civil war, consider Lenin’s ‘Hanging Telegram’, translated by the historian Robert Conquest. Lenin wrote:
As we approach the glorious centenary of Red October on 7 November this year, it is timely to pause to reflect on the tens of millions murdered by fanatical communists over that century, how the red of communism signifies the blood they have shed of all who see merit and skill as more important than political connections as a basis for success in life.
As to why October is in November, we can also reflect on the block-headed Russian opposition to astronomy, which meant they stuck with the ancient calendar rather than accepting the western Gregorian correction that deleted ten days in 1582, ten days that shook the world.
The whole communist model is based on the idea that the poor can rule by uniting against the rich. Unfortunately, the result of that political agenda is ideological denial of some core facts about why the rich are rich, and how incentives operate in markets and society. That obstinate refusal to engage with evidence then drowns the society in blood. Yes there is a large measure of sheer class oppression that explains resentment by the poor. However, the enduring success of the ruling classes is as much due to talent, and reliance on personal initiative, drive and interest to succeed in business and life. Kleptocracies tend not to be sustained for very long.
Communism deflects entrepreneurial life skills into politics instead of trade, producing a gross corruption of economic and social incentives. Good riddance to bad rubbish we might say about the current return of communism as a fashion, except that the young have forgotten why we had the concept of the free world. Too many see the failings of the political right wing as evidence in support of revolutionary change, and thereby ignore the dangerous lessons of history of why violent class based revolution is generally a stupid path of suffering, not a viable political strategy.
But what, you may ask, does this rant have to do with The Master and Margarita? Chapter Eight begins with Ivan in the psych ward, remaining in denial about how his behaviour is perceived by others. That syndrome of denial is used here by Bulgakov as a parable for the wounded vanity of the Bolshevik rank and file who were purged by the so-called 'democratic centralists' who established the totalitarian tyranny.
You might have heard the gross delusionists of the Trotskyite Internationals arguing that if only Trotsky had defeated Stalin then Russia could have made paradise on earth, spreading communist victory to the whole globe. Such insanity deserves patronising contempt, but these communist true believers are like Ivan in the wild sense of their own rational coherence, and in their fury at the inability of the world to see things their way.
Ivan explains to the psychiatrist Stravinsky that the devil had explained to him how he was personally present at the interview of Jesus Christ by Pontius Pilate and the devil had then precisely predicted the death of Berlioz. We the readers are in on the magic realism secret, that Ivan is being totally honest and accurate in his account. But Bulgakov carefully presents this so Ivan’s language tends to gibber, leading his hearers to see him as schizoid.
I read this chapter as a satirical tragic parable for Bulgakov’s observation of war communism in the 1920s. To get a sense of the extremism of the Russian civil war, consider Lenin’s ‘Hanging Telegram’, translated by the historian Robert Conquest. Lenin wrote:
We can readily appreciate that people describing such mind-boggling brutality from Lenin might not be believed. In similar fashion, Ivan is explaining something he personally knows to be true, but is treated as a madman. Bulgakov is saying communism is beyond belief in its venal insanity.“"Comrades! The insurrection of five kulak districts should be pitilessly suppressed. The interests of the whole revolution require this because 'the last decisive battle' with the kulaks is now under way everywhere. An example must be demonstrated. Hang (and make sure that the hanging takes place in full view of the people) no fewer than one hundred known landlords, rich men, bloodsuckers. Publish their names. Seize all their grain from them. Designate hostages in accordance with yesterday's telegram. Do it in such a fashion that for hundreds of kilometres around the people might see, tremble, know, shout: "they are strangling, and will strangle to death, the bloodsucking kulaks". Telegraph receipt and implementation. Yours, Lenin. Find some truly hard people.”