One last thing from part III, and then I’ll move on. One of the entertaining things about reading this book is that I know, roughly, what will happen in Russia forty years or so after this book was published. So when ever a character makes a comment about Communism or the Germans or something, I get a little thrill, because I know how prescient or not that comment is. For example, in the last chapter, Levin’s brother Nikolai makes this comment after Konstantin says he’s “never been a communist” (p. 350*) Nikolai says, “But I have been, and I find that it’s premature but reasonable, and that it has a future, like Christianity in the first centuries” (p. 350).
What I like about this comment is that Nikolai sees that Russia isn’t ready for the massive changes and upheaval that creating a socialist/communist society would mean. Further, Nikolai likens communism to Christianity. If you think about it, sometimes people talk about political systems like they are religions, and some people believe in them as though they really were religions.
* I’m reading the trade paperback edition translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky.