Red Dusk and the Morrow · Chapter
V: Melnikoff explained
The narrator visits Melnikoff's uncle, the Doctor, in Petrograd.
What happens
The narrator visits Melnikoff's uncle, the Doctor, in Petrograd. After initial suspicion, the Doctor accepts the narrator's identity and they discuss Melnikoff's disappearance and the suspicious behavior of Zorinsky. The chapter also describes a Bolshevik demonstration honoring Liebknecht and Luxembourg, revealing the regime's use of propaganda and crowd manipulation, and includes conversations with Dmitri and Shura about the nature of Bolshevism.
Themes in this chapter
Propaganda and the Corruption of Language
The demonstration for Liebknecht and Luxembourg is a staged event; soldiers are given bread and pamphlets to ensure attendance, and the crowd's understanding is shallow.
Totalitarian Control and Repression
The Bolsheviks suppress free speech and independent thought, driving intellectuals like Shura into opposition; censorship is described as a 'candle-snuffer' on public criticism.
Humanitarianism vs. Ideology
The Doctor values character over politics, contrasting with the Bolsheviks' ideological rigidity; Shura criticizes the regime for hating the bourgeois rather than loving the worker.
Characters to notice
- The Doctor
Melnikoff's uncle; initially suspicious of the narrator but becomes a trusted ally; holds radical views but values character over politics.
- Melnikoff
Nephew of the Doctor; missing and believed arrested; the narrator is working for his release.
- Captain Zorinsky
Suspicious figure; shows undue curiosity about the narrator's movements and gives evasive answers regarding Melnikoff's case.
- Shura
A law student and friend of Melnikoff; radical sympathizer who criticizes Bolsheviks for driving independent thinkers into opposition.
- Dmitri Konstantinovitch
A soldier who attended the demonstration for bread; shows indifference to the political meaning of the event.
- Stepanovna
Hostess; listens intently to the narrator's conversation with Dmitri about the demonstration.
- Varia
Present with Stepanovna; also listens to the discussion about the demonstration.
Key passages
“That is why I will fight to oust the Bolsheviks,” said Shura, “they are impediments in the path of the revolution.”
Shura declares that the Bolsheviks themselves are obstacles to true revolution because they persecute liberals and suppress free thought.
Shura's critique of Bolshevik tactics as counter-revolutionary.
“The crowds were just like little children. Totally unaccustomed to free speech, they appeared to imagine that anybody who spoke must ipso facto be right.”
The narrator observes that the Russian public, new to free expression, naively trusted any speaker, a vulnerability the Bolsheviks exploited.
Observation on crowd psychology and the manipulation of public opinion.
“The Doctor... realized one cardinal truth the Bolsheviks appear to fail to grasp, namely, that the criterion whereby men must ultimately be judged is not politics, but character.”
The Doctor believes that a person's character matters more than their political alignment, a principle the Bolsheviks ignore.
Contrast between humanistic values and ideological rigidity.
