Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1936-05-06
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
By Margaret Cermond.

Way dAc VIC, VIC living, 4UIUiouCA
life2"
The question put by Kira Argounova
to Comrade Taganov, strikes at the core
OF the most amazing experiment in the
wholesale RECOMMENDATION of human souls
that the world has ever witnessed. 1t is
question which all true Russians have
been asking themselves during the 10
years and more since the once formida-
BILE empire crumbled and the fate Of its
millions of stunned and helpless people
was assumed by prophets whose zeal has
proved to be greater than their wisdom,
and whose promiSe-or threat-to re-
model the political structures Of all ma
lions and create an idealistic interna-
tional Garden of Eden for all mankind
has thus far failed to materialize, even
in the land in which the idea was Graded.
There are thousands perhaps in this
and in other countries who have grasped
at the ideal and found it too faulty to
hold firmly, but who refuse to release 1t
entirely because they believe that in
essence 1t is pure and that when stripped
of its encumbrances it will give to the
human race that perfection of spiritual,
political and economic tranquility for
which hope never dies. But communism
as noble ideal and communism as
workable plan of governing millions of
people fail to conform to common de-
nominator. For those who still have
faith in the ultimate survival OF the
Soviet experiment, I'VE the Living" con-
tains compelling thought that merits
intelligent consideration. For those who
have judged without prejudice or bias
the results of nearly 20 years of SovietiSm
the novel holds Pickering hope that
there may yet be revival Of the will to
live and new struggle for the salvation
Of individualiSm.
Through the experiences Of three ex-
ceptionally vital characters, Ayn Rand
tells the story Of her native land under
Soviet rule. And through the struggles
of Kira Argounova for the right to live
are pictured the hatred. the graft, the
chicanery and the cruelty practiced by
those who, drunk with power, have
sought to destroy, for the glorification of
a triumphant proletarian universe. all
that is spiritually and culturally con-
structive.
When Kira asks Andrea Taganov why
his party forbids life to the living she
has been in the evil-smelling city of her
birth only a few weeks. In the early
days of the revolution her father had
fed with his family from st. Petersburg
to the Crimea. Five years OF waiting
for the new order to collapse or to be
brought to an end by the intervention Of
other powers have failed to convince
Alexander Argounova that the Commune
ist regime is not ready to topple. Those
five years have witnessed the growth OF
Kira into serious minded young wom-
an. She was child when they fed
from st. Petersburg. She is 10 when
they return to Petrograd. Hardship,
hunger. cold and lack of friendship have
taken their toll but. unlike the other
members of her family, she has not sur
rendered to despair.
Andrea Taganov ranks high In the Sc
cret police of the Communist party. He
is feared by all who have heard his name,
but Kira fears no one. She likes him.
and they become warm friends. The
hardShips and tragedies of his early life
ripened him for leadership in the cause
which he believes to be the cure of greed
and unhappineSS His answer to Kira Is
that the sacrifice of some lives for the
benefit of the millions is just. She ar
CUES that mo matter how much your
party promises to accomplish, no matter
what paradise it plans to bring mankind,
whatever your other claims may be.
there's one you can't avoid. one that will
rise to the surface as deadly poison
to turn your paradise into the most I'M
speakable of hells; your claim that man
must live for the state" And again she
asks questions: Don't you know that
there are things in the best Of us which
no outside hand should dare to touch?
Don't YOU know that there is something
in us which must not be touched by any
state. by any collective, by any number
of millions?"
On dark street in queer neighbor-
hood, following an unpleasant outing
with her cousin, Kira meets Leo koVa-
lensky, a refugee whose person is sought
by the Communist party. He has COM
mitted no crime and is guilty of no Of
Tense save that he is an aristocrat, the
son of an admiral who served his country
valiantly under the old regime. Kira
falls in love with him and together they
attempt to flee to Germany. They are
caught and returned to Petrograd and
severe punishment for both of them is
avoided only through the activities OF
Andrei Taganov.
The lives of these three become entan-
gled in the political and economic chaos
of Petrograd and for several years they
battle for and against each other in the
ceaseless struggle for the right to live,
the right to work and the right to love.
Both Kira and Leo are denied employ
ment because their families held wealth
and position before the revolution. They
are willing to do anything to earn the
right to eat, and they beg for employ
ment Only through Andreis influence
do they survive starvation. Leo becomes
ill and medical care is denied him be-
cause he Is an aristocrat and the prole-
tarians to be cared for are too numerous.
When all other sources of help fail, Kira
finds way, with AndreiS help, to send
him south, where he RECEIVERS and re-
turns to Petrograd to find conditions
worse than when he left.
High and low officials figure in this fic-
tional narrative of Soviet planning for the
welfare of the masses. It is story which
shows the unadorned reality of life under
the whip of spies, secret police and hum
dreds of minor officials whose pockets
are filled, whose tables are laden with
choice imported foods, whose houses are
richly furnished at the expense of the
millions in the bread lines with ration
cards. It is a story which shows the
futility of an educational system which
sweeps away the fundamentals upon
which intelligence is based and subSti-
tutes theories and PHILOSOPHERS which are
hevond the understanding of the limited