# XXIII: Returning to Moscow explained — My Disillusionment in Russia

> Chapter companion for My Disillusionment in Russia by Emma Goldman.

## What happens

The narrator recounts a difficult journey to a poor village near Zhmerenka to procure provisions, encountering disillusioned intellectuals and a young Communist teacher who criticizes local abuses. Returning to Moscow, they learn of Makhno's alliance with the Bolsheviks, the death of John Reed, and share a moment with Louise Bryant about Reed's final disillusionment.

## Themes in this chapter

### Disillusionment with Revolution

The narrator and characters like the woman physician and the young teacher express deep disillusionment with the Soviet regime's realities, despite initial revolutionary faith.

### Suffering of the People

The village's poverty, the doctor's harsh life, and the teacher's account of unheated schools illustrate widespread suffering.

### The Role of the Intelligentsia

The intelligentsia face hostility and accusations of being bourgeois, as seen in the doctor's experience and the teacher's struggle against local abuses.

## Character check-ins

### Unknown Narrator

The narrator travels to a village for provisions, reflects on rumors and disillusionment, and later visits Louise Bryant in Moscow.

### Jack Reed

Mentioned as having died; the narrator recalls nursing him in Petrograd and discusses his final disillusionment with Louise Bryant.

### Louise Bryant

The narrator visits her in Moscow after Reed's death; she expresses bitterness about Reed's treatment and shares that Reed repeated 'caught in a trap' in his delirium.

### Nestor Makhno

Posters at Bryansk announce Makhno is again fighting with the Bolsheviks against Wrangel, surprising given previous Soviet portrayals.

### Zinoviev

Mentioned in a rumor that he was ducked in 'Sovietsky soup' by factory workers.

### Wetoshkin

The narrator mentions not having the chance to see Wetoshkin again to share a joke about Rakovsky.

### Doctor Pervukhin

The woman physician in the village, sister of an Odessa Bundist friend, living in isolation and disillusionment.

## Key lines

> It was only for the sake of her child that she continued the sordid life, the woman said; 'otherwise it were better to be dead.'

The woman physician said she only endured her miserable existence for her child's sake; otherwise she would prefer death.

_Illustrates the extreme disillusionment and suffering of the intelligentsia in rural Russia._

> How uncanny! ... 'Caught in a trap' were the very words Jack repeated in his delirium.

Louise Bryant exclaimed that Jack Reed had deliriously repeated the same phrase 'caught in a trap' that the narrator used to describe their own feelings.

_Highlights the shared sense of entrapment and disillusionment with the Bolshevik regime._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/my_disillusionment_in_russia_se/chapters/xxiii-returning-to-moscow
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