It all comes together more in the last third, but for the most part, expect each chapter to be a new story or complete change of scene. One after another, dedicated Party members-chosen almost at random-disappear, and everyone is considered guilty except the real shooter, who isn't considered at all.Įach chapter is a separate story, especially at first different characters appear and you have to start over and figure out what's going on. Anyone associated with Tulayev is under suspicion, and suspicion means guilt. Comrade Tulayev, an official very high in the government, is shot dead on a quiet street one night and the Soviet machinery swings into action. In Moscow in the 1930s, the Terror is well underway. Serge remained a Marxist until the end-though I certainly couldn't tell from this novel. (This is a very short and cockeyed summary of a very complicated life, so by all means look Serge up properly.) Comrade Tulayev was written near the end of his life. He was in and out of prison before being deported and spent the rest of his life in Belgium, France, and Mexico-where he died in 1947. Victor Serge was born Russian, was a young anarchist, joined the Bolshevik Revolution in 1919 and rose fairly high, but joined the Trotskyites and got really critical of Stalin.
Here we have a Russian novel, except that it's written in French.
The Case of Comrade Tulayev, by Victor Serge
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