Red Star (novel)
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Red Star (Красная звезда) is Alexander Bogdanov's 1908 science fiction novel about a communist society on Mars.
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Themes
Socialist idealism
Life of the Martians is depicted by Bogdanov as a socialist, classless (but technocratic) society. The protagonists of the story, Leonid and Netti, view socialism as the peak of human social order, the clear determiner of an advanced and civilized society. As part of this socialist idealism, the Martians recognize equality for all, including gender, and goes so far as to have this equality visualized through the lack of discernible differences between the appearances of each gender (or even individuals, for that matter). For a book published in the early 20th century, the absence of gender roles in this book is remarkably forward thinking and thus certainly worth noting.
The Martian society is likewise extremely advanced in science and technology, as Bogdanov goes to great deal in describing the etheronephs and the minus-matter that fuels them. Nuclear photonic rockets are accompanied by the aspect of conquering nature (Grand Canals p. 62) and the brief description of a historical socialist uprising, spurred by one of Menni's ancestors. Medicine is also highly advanced, as the reader is exposed to hospitals for complex surgeries or treatment for nervous disorders. The hospital likewise encompasses a room for dying (the inhabitants of Mars may choose to commit suicide or assisted suicide as long as such an action doesn't have a large impact on the Martian society). Clothing is unisex, simple, and comfortable. To continue with the relative downplaying of gender roles, language does not have grammatical gender for words, and there is only one Martian language, which is spoken across the entire planet. The Museum of Art ignores individual accomplishments, as the exhibits are composed of simple monuments to commemorate historic events rather than people. As Bogdanov writes, "Mankind needs no dead symbols of an individual once he is no more.. The ballast of names from the past is useless to the memory of man." (Red Star p. 44).
As a professed Marxist, and a Bolshevik to be more specific, one can imagine that Bogdanov closely modeled the society of Mars after his ideal world. He likely quite enjoyed the prospect of constructing the hopeful result of the socialist revolution that was taking place in his homeland. As Richard Stites even writes in his introduction to the novel, the best conceivable outcome of the Russian socialist revolt was “a golden future where men and women could work, study, and love in total freedom, harmony, and community, liberated from the backwardness, poverty, and greed that had always tormented humanity. (Red Star p.4). This ‘golden future’ is perfectly reproduced in Red Star and is heavily juxtaposed with the ‘backward’ nature of humanity that Bogdanov depicts on Earth. One can imagine Bogdanov's dedication to the socialist cause in examining every fine detail that caused the Martian society to be so successful, from labor practices to intimacy.
Science and technology
For Bogdanov, socialism primarily advances society through science and industrialization, accompanied by the innate will of man to work. Science and industry therefore allow for a perfect workers’ society in which each individual works as many hours as he/she chooses and can change professions according to the society’s needs. Because Mars has idealized man to have an inner drive to work comparable to that of a machine, enough hours of labor are produced by the Martians in every industry so as to fully satisfy each Martian individual. Additionally, because there is no specialization in professions, there is never a shortage of labor in any industry, as the workers simply mold to match the society's best interest.
Freedom and happiness
For the Martians, happiness and freedom are directly related – as freedom increases, so too does happiness. This is perhaps best realized in the Martians’ labor practices, as all Martian laborers are not only able to choose the number of hours that they work, but also the profession that they work in. However, this direct relationship between freedom and happiness doesn’t only surface in the labor habits of the Martians, but also in their personal life – most notably through their practice of polygamy. Leonid observes, and engages, in the act of maintaining multiple intimate relations at once, seeing Enno when Netti is travelling to and from Venus. Likewise, he learns from Nella that Netti had previously maintained multiple lovers. Therefore, in the society free love is celebrated and actively encouraged, further lending to the positive correlation between freedom and happiness. The strong correlation between these two traits can likewise be seen through the museum, poetry, and plays that Leonid encounters during his stay on Mars.
