The Created Legend · Chapter
V explained
Elisaveta agrees to speak at a revolutionary mass meeting, encouraged by Stchemilov.
What happens
Elisaveta agrees to speak at a revolutionary mass meeting, encouraged by Stchemilov. Tensions rise between Piotr and Stchemilov during a riverside gathering, where political and personal conflicts surface. Kiril shares his suffering under police oppression, and plans for a mass meeting are discussed.
Themes in this chapter
Revolution and Social Upheaval
The chapter centers on revolutionary organizing, class conflict, and the planning of a mass meeting.
Class Conflict and Culture
Tensions between the educated student Piotr and the worker Stchemilov highlight class divisions.
Love and Idealism
Elisaveta's idealistic commitment to the cause and her gentle interactions contrast with the harsh political reality.
Characters to notice
- Elisaveta
Agrees to speak at the mass meeting, shows calmness and gentle reproof towards Piotr and Stchemilov.
- Matov
Piotr Matov is irritated by Stchemilov's presence and engages in sharp political banter.
- Stchemilov
A young working man and Social Democrat who recruits Elisaveta as an orator and argues with Piotr.
- Kiril
A timid, suffering worker who complains of police harassment and expresses a desire to kill Zherbenev.
- Misha
Plays stone-skipping to distract himself from the tense political wrangling.
- Elena
Present at the riverside, feels sad and wants to cry.
Key passages
“You can draw a picture of the general condition of working men, and how capital is forging a hammer against itself and compelling labour to organize.”
You can describe the workers' situation and how capitalism is creating the very forces that will oppose it.
Stchemilov encourages Elisaveta to speak about capitalist exploitation and labor organization.
“The abyss that separates us from your cousin is too broad. And even between us and your father. It is hard to come together with them. Their chief concern, as you very well know, is to construct a pyramid out of people; ours to scatter this pyramid in an even stratum over the earth.”
The gap between us and your cousin is too wide, and also between us and your father. They want to build a hierarchy, while we want to level society.
Stchemilov explains the fundamental class divide between revolutionaries and the bourgeoisie.
“In order to kill a man you need to believe that one man is essentially better or worse than another, that he is distinct from the other not accidentally or socially, but in the mystic sense. That is to say, murder only confirms inequality.”
To kill someone, you must believe in inherent moral differences between people, which reinforces inequality rather than overcoming it.
Elisaveta argues against political murder on philosophical grounds.