We Grow Out of Iron (1914)
Alexei Gastev
-Gastev was deeply involved in the promotion of the new soviet: a human shaped to meet the demands of an industrial collective society
-The human body can be conditioned to become productive and efficient, just like machines
-Industrialization beyond just economic and governmental, but as a spiritual transformation
-Comparison of the human body and iron: iron can be manipulated into a working, running machine, just as the human body can as well
-Strength, resilience, and modernity
The Death of Ivan Ilyich (1886)
Leo Tolstoy
-An existential crisis, spiritual awakening
-Conflict between societal expectations and personal truth
-Individuals serve society’s structures at the cost of their own authenticity
-Ilych’s life is controlled by other’s expectations, ambition, and a never ending desire for success, at the expense of a true purpose
-Conformity at the cost of individuality. Eventually leads to the alienation Ilych feels at the end of his life
-In an attempt to create a more harmonious life (appeasing his wife and business partners), Ilych realized that he was a meaningless cog in the machine. This mirrors the Soviet’s claims of individual sacrifice leading to a harmonious society, when in fact the outcome of this was individuals being used as tools by the state