Written in 1939 and set in the 1930s, during Stalin’s purges, Lydia Chukovskaya's fictional account depicts the fateful life of the novel’s heroine Sofia Petrovna, a widow of an apparently wealthy doctor, who despite her occasional yearning for old days is genuinely trying to adjust to the new Soviet way of life. Sofia’s character is that of a diligent, intelligent, yet often naive single mother, who cherishes her job as a senior typewriter working for a Leningrad publishing house. By becoming a member of Metskom, a trade union committee at her work place, she demonstrates her aspirations to become a faithful Soviet citizen and a productive member of Soviet society.
Sofia's and Kolya's Embrace of the Communist Way of Life
Sofia dearly loves and is very proud of her only child Kolya, a handsome and intelligent young man, and a loyal member of the communist party. Throughout the novel, there is sense that through his relentless commitment to the communist cause and ideology, Kolya inspires his mother to reconsider any reservations she has about the Soviet system, such as her hidden discontent over having to share her home, in the process solidifying her own devotion towards the Communist regime.
Despite coming from an upper class background, Kolya seems to have no connection to his roots, and is quickly accepted into the Communist Party. An interesting contrast to this would be Natasha Frolenko, a young coworker of Sofia, who shares with her and Kolya her upper class roots, being a daughter of a wealthy colonel who passed away during the revolution.
Unlike Kolya she can’t join the Party, having been turned down whenever she applied for the membership, and throughout the novel she is often blaming herself and her class background, rather than the party for this, “My father was a colonel and a homeowner and, you see, they don’t believe that I can be truly sympathetic to the regime. And perhaps from the Marxist point of view they are right.” (11). There is a sense that although she is sympathetic to the Soviet regime, Natasha feels somewhat misplaced in it.
In contrast, Kolya’s socialist zeal is undeniable, underlined by his genuine commitment to class values. “But, Mama, would it really be fair for Degtyarenko and his children to live in a basement?”, asked Kolya when his mother remarked that they need more space in their home in order to accommodate Kolya’s maturity.
Sofia's Comformity and Naivety
A common theme throughout the book is Sofia’s and Kolya’s unequivocal support and faith in the Soviet system, which for Sofia becomes more pronounced as the story progresses. When Kolya’s unforeseen arrest turns her life upside down, she refuses to turn her back on the Soviet apparatus, and instead draws herself closer to it. Indeed her faith in the Soviet system and leadership appears to be at its peak during Kolya’s arrest, at the time when one would suspect her to lose confidence in it.
Her naivety and indeed cluelessness persist throughout the course of Kolya’s imprisonment, underlined by her firm, if not stubborn belief that her son is innocent while the relatives of other women sharing her unfortunate fate are guilty of a certain crime. This implicit and unintended hypocrisy inhibited by Sofia’s character is an ample illustration of her severe naivety.
Whether Sofia Petrovna’s character is an accurate depiction of the general attitude among Soviet civilians during the Great Purge is dubious, as her persistent naivety somewhat undermines the credibility of this fictional account. In addition I find her unrelenting sympathy for the Soviet regime despite having an upper-class background somewhat puzzling.
Her intellectual background and simplistic conception of reality construct an obvious paradox that obscures Chukovskaya’s attempts to sufficiently illustrate what was happening during the Great Purge period. A more realistic portrayal of the mood during this time period is perhaps inhibited in the character of Mrs. Zakharova, the wife of Sofia’s director’s; desperate and broken, but nonetheless aware and cynical of the appalling and unjust nature of the purges.
This is not to say that Sofia’s character is an erroneous depiction of the time period; certainly there were individuals who shared her naivety and blind faith. However it's easier to imagine such individuals to be Soviet citizens from working class backgrounds, specifically workers and peasants whose foolhardiness went hand-in-hand with their conformity. The idea that Sofia Petrovna, an apparently intelligent woman who undoubtedly lost a lot as a result of revolution, belonged to that group is simply a difficult one to grasp.
Nonetheless, her conformist character remains a persistent if not at times clichéd theme throughout the novel, with Chukovskaya noticeably prioritizing fictional intrigue at the expense of historical accuracy, which in my mind, is the fault of most fictional sources that try to depict important historical events. Whether Sofia finally manages to overcome her denial and naivety is analyzed in the second piece of this two part article series
Enver Guseynov - I majored in International Affairs with emphasis on Middle East and have written several research papers and articles on the region.
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