My Disillusionment in Russia · Chapter
XIV: Petropavlovsk and Schlüsselburg explained
The narrator visits the Peter-and-Paul Fortress and Schlüsselburg, reflecting on their childhood dread of these prisons and the revolutionary martyrs who suffered there.
What happens
The narrator visits the Peter-and-Paul Fortress and Schlüsselburg, reflecting on their childhood dread of these prisons and the revolutionary martyrs who suffered there. Inside Petropavlovsk, they encounter a chilling inscription from an 'intelligent' about to be executed, revealing that the new regime continues the old repressions. At Schlüsselburg, they witness the destruction wrought by the proletariat but also the enduring horror of Tsarist cruelty, leading to a meditation on the cyclical nature of inhumanity and the betrayal of revolutionary ideals.
Themes in this chapter
Disillusionment with Revolution
The narrator's realization that the revolution has not fulfilled the dreams of the martyrs, as the new regime fills the same prisons with new victims.
State Power vs. Individual Freedom
The fortresses symbolize the oppressive power of the state, both Tsarist and Bolshevik, crushing individual freedom and dissent.
Betrayal of Revolutionary Ideals
The inscription 'Tonight I am to be shot because I had once acquired an education' highlights the betrayal of the revolution's promise of liberation.
Suffering of the People
The vivid descriptions of the prisoners' torture and endurance in Schlüsselburg and Petropavlovsk underscore the immense suffering inflicted by both regimes.
Characters to notice
- Unknown Narrator
The narrator recounts personal childhood memories of fear associated with the Peter-and-Paul Fortress and describes their emotional journey through the prisons.
- Angelica Balabanova
Encountered in the enclosure of the Peter-and-Paul Fortress, walking with the Italians, absorbed in her own thoughts.
- Peter Kropotkin
Mentioned among the revolutionary figures who suffered in the Peter-and-Paul Fortress, their spirits now seemingly at rest.
Key passages
“Tonight I am to be shot because I had once acquired an education.”
An intelligent is about to be executed for the crime of being educated.
This inscription shocks the narrator into realizing the new regime's persecution of the intelligentsia.
“So the dream of those who had given their lives for the liberation of Russia had not come true, after all.”
The sacrifices of the revolutionary martyrs were in vain, as oppression continues under the Bolsheviks.
The narrator's disillusionment with the outcome of the revolution.
“Is there any change in the world? Or is it all an eternal recurrence of man’s inhumanity to man?”
The narrator questions whether human cruelty ever truly changes or merely repeats itself.
A philosophical reflection on the cyclical nature of oppression.
“Not even the roaring waves dashing against the rock of Schlüsselburg can drown that accusing voice.”
The memory of the victims and the injustice they suffered remains loud and undeniable.
The enduring moral condemnation of the prison's horrors.