The Moscow trials form the pivot around which this interpretation
of the spirit and logic of the Russian Revolution is built. As an
interpretation it is brilliantly handled; as a novel it is almost
motionless; it appeals more as an exercise in revolutionary
ratiocination. Koestler, who knew several of the actual figures in
the trials, has chosen a fictional Rubashov to embody the
characteristics and activities of those involved. Through the
period of his prison stay, we see the mentality of the
revolutionist in his intellectual self-debates as he approaches a
period of doubt, questioning whether the end justifies the means,
whether the idea of mankind is more valid than the idea of man. For
this breach of faith he is executed. Many serious studies have been
made of the trials; this novel comes as near the sense of truth as
any of them. The market, however, is limited. (Kirkus Reviews)
Koestler's story, first published in 1940, of an old-guard communist who falls victim to Stalin's purges, yet attains a personal freedom in his destruction.
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