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Red Star: The First Bolshevik Utopia

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[A] surprisingly moving story." --The New Yorker

Bogdanov's novels reveal a great deal about their fascinating author, about his time and, ironically, ours, and about the genre of utopia as well as his contribution to it." --Slavic Review

Bogdanov's imaginative predictions for his utopia are both technological and social... Even more farsighted are [his] anxious forebodings about the limits and costs of the utopian future." --Science Fiction Studies

The contemporary reader will marvel at [Bogdanov's] foresight: nuclear fusion and propulsion, atomic weaponry and fallout, computers, blood transfusions, and (almost) unisexuality." --Choice

A communist society on Mars, the Russian revolution, and class struggle on two planets are the subjects of two arresting science fiction novels by Alexander Bogdanov (1873-1928), one of the early organizers and prophets of the Russian Bolshevik party. The red star is Mars, but it is also the dream set to paper of the society that could emerge on earth after the dual victory of the socialist and scientific-technical revolutions. While portraying a harmonious and rational socialist society, Bogdanov sketches out the problems that will face industrialized nations, whether socialist or capitalist.
Included are the 1908 edition of the novel Red Star, the novel Engineer Menni (1913), and a poem, A Martian Stranded on Earth (1927). Essays by Richard Stites and Loren R. Graham provide the political, social, and cultural context for these classic works of Russian science fiction.

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1908

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About the author

Alexandr Bogdanov

55 books45 followers
Alexandr Bogdanov (1873-1928) was born Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Malinowski at Sokolka, in what was then Russian Poland. He was a man who turned his hand to almost everything. Trained as a physician, he was also an economist, politician, revolutionary (rival of Lenin), philosopher, science fiction author, poet, and scientist. His work on organizational science foreshadowed present developments in that field and cybernetics. In Moscow, in 1926, he founded the world’s first institute devoted entirely to blood transfusion. Two years later, ironically, he died as a result of a transfusion experiment gone wrong.

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 163 reviews
Profile Image for Jim.
10 reviews4 followers
May 30, 2008
Alien abductions! Interplanetary romance! Scarily accurate technological predictions! Spacecraft powered by anti-matter! The threat of genocide on a global scale! Proletarian revolution! What else do you want from a utopian sci-fi novel published in 1908 by an eccentric Bolshevik scientist, writer, and revolutionary?
Profile Image for Carlex.
720 reviews168 followers
July 18, 2023
Tres estels (vermells) i mig

Normalmente procuro apartar-me de les obres de ficció amb un excés de proselitisme, sigui quina sigui la causa. Per descomptat que tot llibre té un rerefons ideològic, el que vull dir és que no m'agrada quan es fa massa evident "que em volen vendre alguna cosa". 

Malgrat l'anterior puc dir que "Estrella roja" m'ha agradat i que és una lectura que val molt la pena. No em pregunteu perquè, per contradiccions meves, o potser pel valor afegit de ser una obra clàssica molt interessant (publicada el 1908, una dècada abans de la Revolució d'Octubre), o potser simplement perquè estic una mica fart de l'etiqueta distopia i aquest llibre és precisament el contrari; i com molt bé s'esmenta al pròleg, amb els temps que corren necessitem més pensament utòpic. 

Així doncs des de el primer moment l'autor no amaga que la seva novel·la és un mitjà per expressar la seva visió d'una utopia socialista. Tot i això, l'especulació que fa és prou elaborada i ben feta, i suposo que això al final és el que compta. 
Profile Image for Argos.
1,205 reviews462 followers
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March 23, 2021
İlginç bir bilimkurgu, türünün ilk örneklerinden, bu nedenle de acemilikler bazen gülümsetiyor. Teknik ayrıntılar çok fazla ama öngörü, önsezi ve ileri görüşlülük bu biliminsanı-siyasetçi-yazarda üst seviyede.

Kitabı maalesef bitiremiyorum çünkü 129. , 132. ve 133., 136. ve 137. , 140. ve 141. , 144. ve 145. , 148. ve 149. , 152. ve 153. , 156. ve 157. sayfalar boş, 15 sayfa basılmamış, atlanmış.

Bu nedenlerle not vermeyi uygun görmedim. Yordam Kitap’a da üzüntülerimi sunuyorum.
Profile Image for Els Book Hunters.
450 reviews399 followers
December 20, 2022
La humanitat no està preparada pel que li acaben de revelar al camarada Leonid. Ell és un reputat científic i un estendard de la revolució, però resulta que existeix una societat científica secreta que ja ha desxifrat els misteris dels viatges per l'espai i han pogut trepitjar Mart i Venus, entre d'altres avenços. Es mantenen en l'anonimat perquè les classes dominants no monopolitzin els seus descobriments. Ara volen reclutar-lo per un viatge a Mart i ell es deixa convèncer. Però potser no li han explicat tota la veritat...

L'inici d'aquest clàssic rus de la ciència ficció és molt engrescador. El plantejament enganxa i intriga, però és que els girs argumentals no es queden curts. Bogdànov inventa una "space opera" per construir una utopia socialista situada a Mart, on hi desenvolupa el seu ideari revolucionari. Ens parla de sistemes de producció, d'educació, d'art i de sanitat, entre d'altres, de manera ben argumentada i exposant les millores obtingudes respecte el caduc model capitalista marcià.

Bogdànov converteix la seva obra de gènere en un manual de comunisme per exposar els objectius de la revolució bolxevic. Un autèntic visionari, tant en els aspectes de model social, com en la ciència que descriu. Però tot i que això confereix al text una densitat que no té d'inici, aconsegueix mantenir la intriga al voltant del protagonista i sobre quina en porten de cap els marcians. Sempre i quan t'interessi la teoria política, és clar.

M'ha semblat interessant i avançat al seu temps. Un relat de la utopia segons l'autor, que contrasta amb la tendència actual de descriure distopies. Segurament no és un llibre per tothom, ni per iniciar-se en el gènere, però autors com l'estimada Ursula K. Le Guin en són hereus. M'ha agradat molt descobrir Bogdànov, llegir aquesta obra icònica i poder-ho fer en català.

(SERGI)
Profile Image for Anna.
2,050 reviews969 followers
May 31, 2018
‘Red Star’ has been on my to-read list for a long time, after I presumably heard the phrase ‘Bolshevik Utopia’ and was instantly intrigued. I was subsequently reminded by Postcapitalism: A Guide to Our Future, as Paul Mason discusses its Martian socialism. However getting hold of a copy did not prove easy; only recently did I finally get access to a library that has it. The edition I read was from 1984, which gave an interesting cast to the essays that accompany Bogdanov’s two novellas and one brief poem. These naturally compare Bogdanov’s visions with the USSR. A more contemporary comparison that occurred to me was The Three-Body Problem and The Dark Forest: thought-provoking near future sci-fi from ostensibly-still-communist China. Also Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars Trilogy, which has definite echoes of ‘Red Star’. Despite being written in 1908 and 1913, Bogdanov’s novellas are prescient and striking. They depict a Martian society where work, gender, childrearing, and much else are entirely a matter of choice. It’s very appealing and reminded me of Le Guin’s The Dispossessed.

Like Le Guin, Bogdanov understands that Man Gawps At Utopia, a popular theme in the 19th century, isn’t terribly interesting in and of itself. Both ‘Red Star’ and The Dispossessed deal with the new challenges and conflicts that eventuate in a fair, equal, peaceful society without capitalist competition. In Bogdanov’s case, the conflict is a shortage of natural resources. Perhaps the most vivid and memorable part of the book is a debate on how to deal with this. This debate has fascinating resonances in light of the later policies of the USSR, a resource constrained socialist country amid hostile capitalist nations. Bogdanov is especially, tragically prescient in identifying that nationalism and imperialism can poison countries even without capitalism. He also predicts a good many technologies (nuclear bombs, video calling, etc), although the accompanying essays point out in a somewhat deflating fashion that so did many other sci-fi writers of that era.

Although ‘Red Star’ is justly the focus of the book, the other novel ‘Engineer Menni’ was also well worth reading. Rather than viewing Martian society from the perspective of an outsider from Earth, it recounts recent Martian history: a terraforming project to build canals. The narrative explains the project management of this in sometimes excessive detail, although it has an astute grasp on how gigantic infrastructure projects reshape society and culture. One of the accompanying essays also notes that three generations in the titular Menni’s family provide an analogy for Marx’s stages of development: feudalism, industrial capitalism, and socialism. He advances the view that these generations can sympathise with each other without true mutual comprehension. Likewise, the visit to Mars from Earth tries so hard to understand the utopia that it precipitates a mental breakdown. Bogdanov clearly thought the psychological transition to socialism would be difficult and time-consuming. This book is interesting for its historical context, for its prescience, and simply as a utopian vision. It has aged well.
Profile Image for Anna Pardo.
300 reviews52 followers
February 19, 2023
Potser sí que és pamfletaire (això és necessàriament dolent?) i que gairebé la meitat del llibre s'ha de llegir amb perspectiva històrica i oblidant que es tracta d'una novel·la... Però planteja coses tan interessants, i té un últim terç políticament i ètica tan complexe, sumat a com de visionari em sembla Bogdanov en molts aspectes, que no només s'emporta les 5⭐ sinó que passa a ser un d'aquells llibres que em marcaran per sempre 🔥
Profile Image for Aylin.
178 reviews22 followers
March 11, 2022
Birkac kulak tirmalayan detay vardi, ama genel olarak cok sevimli buldum. Kesif gezisi sirasinda sanati, egitimi, teknigi, tibbi ayri ayri tasvir edip degerlendirdigi kisimlar guzeldi.

Bazi fazla idealist fikirler, minik minik cinsiyetcilikler rahatsiz etse de olsun. Keske sondaki aksiyonlar olmasaydi, tek kitapla bitirselerdi dedim. Ikinci kitapta daha farkli bir cabaya soyunacak yazar belli ki, ilk kitap daha teorikken ikinci kitabi pratik seklinde ilerleyecek muhtemelen.
Profile Image for Vaso.
1,644 reviews220 followers
May 5, 2023
Ρωσία, αρχές του 20ου αιώνα. Ο Λένι, προσεγγίζεται από ένα συνάδελφό του, ο οποίος του αποκαλύπτει μια τρομακτική ανακάλυψη για τα διαπλανητικά ταξίδια και του προτείνει να τον ακολουθήσει. Εκείνος το κάνει και βρίσκονται να ταξιδεύουν στο σύμπαν και ο Λένι, να μαθαίνει ότι οι σύντροφοί του, είναι Αρειανοί, που μελετούν τη ζωή σε άλλους πλανήτες. Του επιτρέπουν να εντρυφήσει στον τρόπο ζωής τους, να αξιολογήσει την σοσιαλιστική κοινωνία τους και τον τρόπο καταμερισμού της εργασίας.
Ο Bogdanov, γράφει ένα μυθιστόρημα επιστημονικής φαντασίας με ουτοπικό χαρακτήρα. Οι κάτοικοι του πλανήτη Άρη, έχουν φτιάξει μια σοσιαλιστική κοινωνία που δουλεύει ρολόι, καθένας απασχολείται εκεί που αποδίδει περισσότερο, το εκπαιδευτικό σύστημα κατευθύνει τα παιδιά αναλόγως, τα δύο φύλλα συνυπάρχουν αρμονικά αλλά...πάντα υπάρχει ένα αλλά...
Ο κόκκινος πλανήτης, δεν είναι παρά το όραμα ενος επιστήμονα για την μετέπειτα επανάσταση στη Ρωσία.. ένα όραμα γεμάτο ελπίδα για τη γνώση που δεν έχει ακόμη κατακτηθεί.

"Η εξέλιξη της ιστορίας του Άρη ήταν κάπως ηπιότερη και απλούστερη από εκείνην της Γης. Υπήρξαν βεβαίως πόλεμοι γενών και λαών, υπήρξε και ταξική πάλη •αλλά οι πόλεμοι έπαιξαν συγκριτικά μικρότερο ρόλο και σταμάτησαν εντελώς, ενώ η ταξική πάλη εκδηλωνόταν πολύ λιγότερο και σπανιότερα με τη μορφή βίαιων συγκρούσεων. [ ] Τη δουλεία οι Αρειανοί δεν τη γνώριζαν καθόλου. Η φεουδαρχία τους υπήρξε ελάχιστα στρατοκρατικη, ενώ ο καπιταλισμός τους απαλλάχτηκε πολύ νωρίς από τον εθνικό-κρατικό διαμελισμό και δεν δημιούργησε κανέναν θεσμό που να θυμίζει τους σύγχρονους στρατούς."
Profile Image for Jordi Balcells.
Author 18 books114 followers
September 10, 2020
3,5/5 Me tocó en la bolsa de regalos editoriales de la MiRCon (HispaCon de 2014, sí, antes las editoriales hacían estas cosas) y ya había olvidado su existencia hasta que leí la reseña de Manuti por aquí. ¡Gracias, manuti, por rescatar un “clásico o polvoriento”!
Dicen que la cifi, o ficción especulativa/prospectiva, no tiene intención de ser profética ni de adelantar acontecimientos, invenciones o tendencias sociales. Cierto. Pero a veces lo consigue de todas formas. En la parte central del libro visitamos museos, fábricas, escuelas… rojas (marcianas Y comunistas) y, sorprendentemente, gran parte de las innovaciones técnicas y sociales han sobrevivido muy bien al paso del tiempo, con la graciosa excepción del vampirismo sanitario: si le pasas tu sangre joven a una persona anciana, esta rejuvenece. Leer novelas sobre el futuro próximo escritas en 2020 y que te hablan de (por ejemplo) 2040 es una cosa, pero es otro nivel encontrarse con una de 1908 que imagina una utopía tecnológica roja ambientada en otra sociedad.
Por lo demás, destacan los personajes muy planos y la ausencia de trama hasta casi el final, que cierra muy abruptamente. La parte especulativa y filosófica muy bien, pero la literaria ya tal.
Ah, y si yo entregase una traducción tan poco cuidada, como mínimo me enfrentaría a una penalización económica para compensar a la pobre correctora. Repetid conmigo: “asimismo” como adverbio va todo junto y sin acento.
Profile Image for Michael Burnam-Fink.
1,655 reviews289 followers
January 24, 2017
Greeting Comrades! Board your Sputnik, and prepare for Space Communism.



Red Star is one of those weird historical scifi artifacts. Written in 1907 by an early Bolshevik and good friend of Lenin's, it imagines contact between contemporary Earth and a Martian socialist utopia. Leonid, our narrator, is a communist revolutionary who is selected as the idea ambassador between Earth and Mars by a secret Martian mission equipped with an anti-gravity spaceship. He journeys to a world where the revolution has won. Mars has advanced industries that require only a single shift per week from each citizen, managed by a complex statistical bureau. The people are happy, healthy, clear and logical. There's the standard utopian plans for production, housing, and health, but I enjoyed the little details that Bogdanov let slip in. In the socialist future, poetry will have strict rhyme patterns in geometric harmony with the universe, none of this free verse nonsense. Meetings will be orderly and to the point, with little bloviating or pointless repetition. Of course, Red Mars is not perfect. They're decades away from running out of key resources and a complete ecological collapse. The Martian's only options are to colonize Earth or Venus, both incredibly dangerous prospects. Somehow, central planning can't see a way out of their dilemma. Engineer Menni is a prequel of sorts, concerning the building of the Martian canals and a metaphor for dialectical materialism as an inter-generational drama. It simply isn't as good as Red Star. This edition also includes some great historical notes on Bogdanov and his place in history.

If science fiction is about (among other things) contact between radically different minds, than it is harder to image a mind more different from our own than the dedicated revolutionary and scientific mystic Alexander Bogdanov.
Author 2 books454 followers
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February 10, 2021
Politik söylem hikayeyi fazla boğmuş. Bilim kurgu yönü zayıf kalmış.
Profile Image for Irati Oskoz.
21 reviews7 followers
July 31, 2024
super sartuta euki nau, duela asko nobela batek enindula hola harrapatzen.
Flipante hau idatzi izanaz etorkizunaz, eske ez det iruzkinetan sartu nahi ere, irakurri.

Hitz klabeak: martzianoak, iraultza sozialista, mundu zahar eta berria, umeak, lana, zoriontasuna, iragana, etorkizuna, maitasuna, borroka... eske lol fumada interplanetaria super oinarritute
May 2, 2019

Un'operetta morale

Ho cominciato sulla trentina a leggere gialli ma con l'ucronico niente da fare: non ce la faccio.
Con questo ho fatto una eccezione per il semplice motivo che dei Wu Ming mi fido e volevo toccare con occhi, corteccia occipitale e mente, dovunque essa sia ubicata nel cervello, quello che avevano elaborato in Proletkultur.
Ma nonostante la loro puntuale e "dotta" prefazione (anche qua una eccezione in quanto evito di farlo: i W.M. , in effetti,valgono di più quando vanno a briglia sciolta), non solo sono costretta a smentirli - Stella Rossa è un'operetta morale in cui B. "drammatizza" le sue teorie socio-filosofiche- ma soprattutto mi sono annoiata.

Sì, alcune intuizioni sanno di preveggenza: quella dell'esaurimento delle risorte naturali a causa dello sfruttamento; o quella del fallimento del socialismo per cause interne, oltre che esterne; o l'annientamento di interi popoli per motivi razziali; il progresso della tecnologia e della scienza e di conseguenza di armi di distruzione di massa.

Visto anche in "La storia vera" di Luciano di Samosata puoi trovarci qualche riferimento al presente, ne deduco che "tanta preveggenza sia dovuta nella riflessione...sulle caratteristiche di qualsiasi organizzazione" e non può che essere partorita dalla immutabile struttura mentale umana, non modificata almeno fino ai tempi del compagno Bogdanov.
Del perfetto socialismo marziano non ci ho capito nulla, come del resto Leonid, il protagonista che in quell'Eden viene tradotto. E il poveretto si chiede, appunto, perché gli scienziati di Marte abbiano scelto lui per farne, dopo opportuno indottrinamento, l'ambasciatore della loro superiore civiltà che avrebbe dovuto divulgare e avverare sulla terra. Perché non Lenin o Gorki? Visto che B. sembra avere autocensurato la risposta dei marziani al quesito, quella che ci viene data da leggere è ancora più incomprensibile del resto.

Insomma, l'unico vantaggio ricavato è che la speciale edizione del libro è a tiratura limitata e un giorno avrà un suo valore aggiunto.
Profile Image for David.
559 reviews8 followers
November 8, 2017
Written by a Bolshevik physician / intellectual in the waning days of the 1905 Russian Revolution. A major part of the book is like the 19th century "guided tour of the future" utopian fiction. However, there is more plot and characters than those tended to have. It does have a short-coming similar to the original Star Trek series in which several top crew members are indispensable in doing every kind of task.

For those interested in socialist speculations, this is an important portrait.

One interesting point is the importance in this society of maintaining and analyzing data to reallocate resources and optimize the functioning of society. It's what you might expect in a computer-age story, but not a 100+ year old story.

One point which does not seem to have bothered readers (who wanted to believe) back when the book first came out: The premise is a well-established socialist society on Mars. It's explicitly stated in the book that different conditions distinct to Mars resulted in the establishment of a single, worldwide socialist society with less difficulty than was realistic for Earth. After all the years since Red Star's publication, readers may not find this as insignificant.

A significant historical note is that one discussion in the book mentions the possibility that one (or a few) isolated socialist nations surrounded by hostile capitalist nation might become distorted under the pressures. Some believe something like this describes what happened to the USSR. (Perhaps, some other explanation is needed to explain how later Communist nations followed the same pattern from their birth.)
Profile Image for manuti.
327 reviews96 followers
November 10, 2020
Dentro del verano rojo que me he pegado. Este libro me ha resultado más interesante que Aelita que era una Space Opera con un aire revolucionario.
Sin embargo, en Estrella Roja encontramos un intento de imaginar la sociedad comunista perfecta: producción industrial sincronizada, crianza de los hijos y enseñanza por parte del estado, planificación urbanística centralizada, eutanasia, etc. El libro es más un repaso a lo que se imaginaban que podría ser un planeta entero comunista que una novela con trama. Al final si que ocurre algo más o menos interesante y que se podría haber aprovechado mucho más, pero entiendo que nunca hubo esa intención.
Le doy 4 estrellas **** y lo recomiendo para entender los ideales del comunismo en ese momento en Rusia. Esta edición tiene un posfacio interesante que me ha llevado a leer Utopía con la que comparte muchas semejanzas y seguro que está fuertemente inspirado en ese libro.
Profile Image for Jedermann.
55 reviews1 follower
April 7, 2020
Weit mehr als nur Science Fiction - Alexander Bogdanow „Der rote Planet“

Es gibt gute Bücher auf die trifft man durch Zufall! Dazu gehört für mich Alexander Bogdanows „Der rote Planet“. Der utopische Roman erschien im Jahr 1908 in deutscher Übersetzung. In ihm wird die Reise zum und der Aufenthalt des Revolutionärs und Naturwissenschaftlers Leonid auf dem Mars geschildert. Die Handlung des Romans ist in vier Teile gegliedert.
Im Teil I werden beginnend die Lebensumstände der Hauptfigur, in der durch blutige Auseinandersetzungen geprägten Vorrevolutionszeit Russlands, geschildert. Dann folgen die Bekannschaft mit den Marsmenschen, der Aufbruch zum , der Flug und die Ankunft auf dem Mars. Die Marsmenschen sind als Erdenmenschen getarnt, die vorgeben Revolutionäre, Kampfgefährten aus anderen Teilen Russlands zu sein. Als Individuen einer überlegenen Zivilisation sind sie in der Lage, die Voraussetzungen für die Zustimmung Leonids zum Marsflug zu legen. So erreichen sie, ohne schwere Nachwehen zu erzeugen, die Trennung von seiner Partnerin. Anschließend erläutern sie ihm die Gründe warum gerade er ausgewählt wurde und können seine Skepsis zerstreuen und seine Neugier auf eine bessere zukünftige Welt wecken. Die technischen Errungenschaften der Marszivilisation lernt er bereits auf dem Flug kennen. Die Marsianer gewinnen Energie aus radioaktiver Materie und treiben ihre Raumschiffe damit an. Auch die Beschleunigung des Raumschiffes durch fly-by beherrschen die Marsianer, und sie besitzen als weitere einzigartige Energiequelle die Minus-Materie, also das, was wir heute als Antimaterie bezeichnen. Leider hat der Mars nicht ausreichend Lagerstätten an radioaktiven Mineralen, um eine der technischen Entwicklung schritthaltende Energiegewinnung zu ermöglichen. Dieses Dilemma führt auch im späteren Verlauf der Handlung zum moralischen Konflikt mit dem Leonid konfrontiert wird. Leonid hat während der langen Reise ausreichend Zeit die Sprache der Marsianer zu lernen und zumindest ansatzweise in die technischen Errrungenschaften und die sozialen Strukturen dieser Zivilisation einzutauchen, sich einzulesen.

Die Teile II und III spielen auf dem Mars. Leonid lernt die Produktionsstätten kennen, in denen autonome Maschinen agieren. Die Last der Erwerbsarbeit ist den Menschen genommen. Sie sind auf freiwilliger Basis tätig. „Die Arbeit ist das natürliche Bedürfnis eines entwickelten, sozial denkenden Menschen, und jede Art maskierten oder offenen Zwangs ist völlig überflüssig.“* Ich möchte hier nicht all die futuristischen Elemente des Romans anreißen, schließlich kann man diese beim Lesen kennenlernen. Mir gefällt innerhalb der Schilderungen, dass immer wieder aufgezeigt wird: Nicht alles verläuft konfliktfrei, auch nicht in so einer fortgeschrittenen kommunistischen Gesellschaft. Und was mir besonders wichtig erscheint, der Mensch – hier ist der Erdenmensch in Vertretung durch Leonid gemeint – ist überfordert. Er zweifelt, ob auch nur annäherungweise mit der Ausprägung in unserer Rasse eine bessere Gesellschaft überhaupt möglich ist. Die charakterliche Vollkommenheit seiner geliebten Marsfrau Netti gibt ihm Kraft. Er kämpft gegen seine Zweifel, und dann geschieht etwas Unerwartetes. Er findet die Aufzeichnungen einer Konferenz, die sich mit der Resourcenverknappung und den möglichen Lösungsansätzen für die weitere erfolgreiche Entwicklung der Marszivilisation befasst. Eine Lösung besteht in der vollkommenen Auslöschung der Erdenmenschen, um die Erde zu besiedeln. Das zerreißt Leonid, gerade durch seine starke Liebe zu Netti. Einerseits erkennt er die Überlegenheit der Marszivilisation an, anderseits hängt er mit schmerzhafter Liebe an der Menschheit, an jedem Individium: vom zukunftsweisenden Proletarier und Revolutionär, bis zum rückwärtsgewandten Kapitalisten und Kleinbürger.
In der Darlegung des Ausrottungsplans behandelt der vortragende Marsianer eine Eigenschaft kulturell homogener Gruppen auf der Erde, die im Falle der Auseinandersetzung mit anderen zum Tragen kommt. Das ist der Patriotismus! Aufgrund dessen gibt es aus seiner Sicht keine Alternative zur vollkommenen Ausrottung der Erdenmenschen, im Falle der Ausführung des Planes der Erdkolonisation. Der Vorschlag wird jedoch auf der Konferenz der Marsianer wegen Inhumanität abgelehnt und in Perspektive die aufwändige und sehr gefährliche Ausbeutung der Venus angestrebt.
Leonid tötet letztendlich den Verfechter der Kolonisierung der Erde. Dieser Marsgelehrte war auch einmal der Mann seiner geliebten Marsfrau Netti und ist damit sein direkter Kontrahent. Nach dem Mord fällt Leonid in geistige Verwirrtheit.

Der IV Teil spielt wieder auf der Erde, und dort im Irrenhaus. Der Ort der weiteren Handlung, das Irrenhaus, suggeriert unweigerlich, dass andere Umstände zum Erleben des Helden Leonid beigetragen haben könnten. Für Leonid gibt es daran natürlich keinen Zweifel. Bogdanow lässt im IV. Teil bewußt offen: ob oder ob nicht, war Leonid auf dem Mars oder nicht? Einerseits werden Gründe beschrieben, die zur Einlieferung in die Irrenanstalt führten, anderseits erscheint eine ominöse Frau bedeckt mit einem Schleier, die Leonid mit sich nimmt.

In diesem Buch wird gerungen, mit Zweifeln; es wird gekämpft, gegen Zweifel, und selbstlose Liebe scheint möglich! Aus diesen Gründen würde ich einen Stern mehr auf die zum Vergeben verfügbaren setzen.

* Zitat aus Teil II, aus dem Kapitel „In der Fabrik“
Profile Image for Patrick.
201 reviews3 followers
February 11, 2025
A very rich and melancholy text. So much possibility, so much hope. The view of the martians is right—how could we earthlings ever get there? And yet we are somehow, impossibly, struggling towards it. Bogdanov, though controversial, seems incredibly empathetic and thoughtful, a gentle guide. Stylistically very underdeveloped, but convincing and interesting. Written today the martians would simply say “they not like us!!”
Profile Image for Caragolet .
121 reviews3 followers
December 28, 2024
p.104: «Per entendre del tot la bellesa d'un altre món, s'ha de conèixer en profunditat la vida d'allà, i per transmetre als altres una idea d'aquesta bellesa, hom ha d'esdevenir una part orgànica d'aquesta vida. Vet aquí la raó per la qual no puc descriure el que vaig veure i em limitaré a compartir al·lusions, referències incompletes d'allò que em va impressionar més»
Profile Image for Víctor Juan abelló.
205 reviews14 followers
November 21, 2023
Una novel.la que explica la història d’una utopia socialista protagonizada per marcians. Això escrit el 1908, i amb temàtiques tan actuals com l’obtenció de recursos, les relacions laborals i les amoroses. Trama senzilla però plena d’elements suggerents.
Profile Image for Rebecca Russavage.
269 reviews4 followers
April 17, 2025
Great example of early utopian literature. All the dreams and purity of a person who believes absolutely in the promise of their own principles are on display.
Profile Image for Two Envelopes And A Phone.
326 reviews41 followers
November 3, 2022
Russia, 1905 - just as a bloody Revolution is occurring, a Martian reveals himself to our narrator, Leonid, and persuades him to travel to Mars - temporarily, of course, of course - to experience the perfect Socialist Utopia. Except that it’s not. Not perfect, that is. That’s what’s so fascinating about Red Star, and I was glad that in the “Afterword” of my edition - called “Bogdanov’s Inner Message” - co-editor Loren R. Graham helps me with my “Is it just me, or is there some dystopia seeping through this Bolshie utopia??” musings.

This Russian SF from 1908 turns out to be quite the hidden must-read, for SF fans. I loved the SF elements: the wonky anti-grav tech that propels the space-craft, the Martian/Earth-dude love story that blossoms (though Bogdanov’s rather plain style, translated, doesn’t exactly scream steamy bodice-ripper), and the now thoroughly trashed but nevertheless imaginative conception of a habitable Mars. In fact, things have been going on there for some time; I hinted at a few imperfections in this “everyone free and equal Paradise”, and besides the social and political aspects that suggest that not all is as utopian as it seems (you know there’s a problem in paradise when visitor says “so everyone is happy, obviously.”, and indigent says “oh no no, no one is happy...”), but the Martians are on the verge of exhausting the precious natural resources that fuel their entire society. So, there’s a debate behind closed doors about where to invade and start over: Venus, or Earth. Leonid, coming off some sort of weird mental breakdown, gets wind of this, gets mixed up in the thick of it in the worst way - and it also kind of screws up his love life.

I adored Red Star, but the prequel from 1913, called Engineer Menni, is a bit dry and uninvolving for my tastes; Bogdanov seemed to generate more emotional reaction from me, even with a somewhat dry style, when he at least gives us a first-person, fish-way-the-f-out-of-water narrator who experiences mental issues the longer he is on Mars. The prequel gives a serviceable rendition of how Martian society become super-socialist, and the Menni of that era does have personal trials and tribulations that add a human, uh, I mean Martian angle. But it’s not quite the same. Luckily, the book ends with a poem, ‘A Martian Stranded on Earth’ - actually Bogdanov working out the premise for a proposed third novel featuring his Martian socialists - which brings back a bit of passion and angst to close everything out.

I am not political, and went to this book thanks to a list of Radium Age SF recommendations, not because I need the Martians to help me build a socialist paradise on Earth - so I fervently suggest this book to anyone interested in early Russian SF, or really, early SF in general.
Profile Image for Fabulantes.
498 reviews28 followers
April 10, 2014
Reseña: http://www.fabulantes.com/2013/04/est...
"Desde la óptica de la ciencia-ficción, Estrella Roja recuerda indudablemente a varias novelas del Ekumen, la saga espacial de Ursula K. Le Guin. Es notable la idea de vecindad espacial que pone a una sociedad teóricamente utópica a las puertas de un mundo capitalista, tal y como ocurre en Los desposeídos. Sorprendentemente, hay otro rasgo más de la obra de Bogdánov en Le Guin: al igual que la escritora californiana rompiera las fronteras de género en La mano izquierda de la oscuridad, el revolucionario bielorruso describe a las mujeres marcianas con los mismos rasgos que los varones, una 'evolución' que ocurre debido a la liberación femenina. Sería ridículo decir que Le Guin leyó a Bogdánov, ya que éste no fue traducido al inglés hasta 1982, pero baste nombrar estos dos temas para describir la rabiosa modernidad de esta novela centenaria.

En la época en la que Bogdánov escribió Estrella Roja no existía ni tan siquiera una nomenclatura de la ciencia-ficción. No había un vocabulario unificado para hablar de naves espaciales o viajes intergalácticos, muchos de los avances científicos en los que se apoyan los escritores modernos todavía no existían, y cualquier relato prospectivo podía considerarse fantástico. En esta obra se adelantan los combustibles radioactivos, los problemas del frío espacial, se habla de antimateria, de trayectorias gravitacionales, de métodos de control de natalidad y suicidio asistido, de transfusiones sanguíneas e incluso de cine en tres dimensiones. Los viajeros del espacio todavía no son cosmonautas ni astronautas; para Bogdánov eran eternautas, y el enorme vehículo esférico en el que viajaban, no era un cohete, sino un Eteronef."
Profile Image for Raül.
638 reviews31 followers
July 13, 2023
A les portes de la Revolució Russa, el protagonista d'aquesta història, un revolucionari destacat, viu un viatge i una experiència sorprenent: viatja a Mart, on existeix una civilització d'inspiració socialista, secreta i totalment desconeguda per a la Terra i els seus habitants.

Amb aquesta excusa, l'autor fa una anàlisi i apologia del comunisme que ell mateixa estava contribuint a instaurar en la Rússia real de l’època. Contrastant la civilització marciana amb el capitalisme terrestre, destaca les bondats del socialisme, però no d'una manera acrítica, ja que aprofita per a criticar les posicions revolucionàries que li semblaven incorrectes. Moltes de les seues propostes sobre organització del treball, educació o sexualitat son molt modernes i trencadores per a l’època en les que les va escriure. Una obra en la tradició de les obres utòpiques del canvi de segle.

L'estil de Bogdànov és directe i concís, sense perdre capacitat descriptiva i evocadora de sentiments i sensacions. La traducció és excel·lent.

En defininitiva, una novel·la de ciència ficció fundacional, original i que es llegeix molt bé més de cent anys després de que fora escrita. Imprescindible.
Profile Image for Helen.
732 reviews104 followers
March 31, 2018
The book contains two utopian novels and a poem written by a Russian intellectual and friend of Lenin's after the failure of the 1905 revolution, along with an introductory essay by Richard Stites and an afterword by Loren Graham. Since the novel sometimes appears to be a vehicle the philosopher-physician author is using to convey his ideas on many subjects, there are many conversations that are philosophical and rather thought-provoking in nature. The books do not make for quick reading, albeit they are fascinating.

The book is a slog, since the author lived at a crucial moment in world history and the novels and poem may have been his way of metaphorically expressing his socialist hopes and ideals.

Sadly, as Mr. Graham's essay points out, the protagonist of "Red Star," Leonid, may represent Bogdanov, and Bogdanov's death in the late 1920s, as Stalin's grip on power was tightening, may mirror Leonid's - and Menni's - death or presumed death in "Red Star."

Mr. Bogdanov no doubt eventually realized that the revolution was not proceeding along peaceful idealistic lines, but instead had become barbaric and violent. The dichotomy between what might have been, as represented in the novels about the socialist Martian society, and what seems to always befall idealistic dreams on Earth, was suggested by some passages in these novels, which were written after 1905 but prior to 1917.

Earth cannot peacefully attain socialism the way the Martians achieved it. Yet even Martian society - as described in detail in "Engineer Menni" - is riven with conflict and chaos, as the privileged angle to regain power.

This is a fascinating "trilogy" of works by an extremely interesting Russian thinker, who spent years trying to systematize or find the commonality of all human knowledge, the thought being that if a common organizing principle were found, it could be applied to solve any problem of the upcoming socialist State. The novels were another way for Bogdanov to convey his ideas on organization - how they had worked out on Mars, the "socialist future" vs. the "nascent" emerging socialist revolution on Earth. The novels probably can be read as "moral tales" that were intended to encourage Russian revolutionaries by imagining what an ideal/utopian/socialist society on Earth might look like if it mirrored what the socialist Martians had achieved in these fictional works.

The quotes:

From the Stites essay:

"The red star is Mars, but it is also the dream set to paper of the kind of society that could emerge on Earth after the dual victory of the scientific-technical revolution and the social revolution."
"..."canals," suggesting massive engineering projects, a huge labor force, and advanced minds..."
"From about 1890 to the eve of the Revolution of 1917, at least twenty Russian tales of utopian societies, fantastic voyages, and interstellar space travel appeared."
"The industrialization of Russia in the 1890s and the accompanying growth of technology, transport, and urbanization opened up broad vistas for utopian speculation."
"After the Russian Revolution of 1917, a kindred surge toward anonymity, egalitarianism, collective creativity, and iconoclasm burst forth for some time before it was repudiated by the authorities, who soon began to set up live heroes, stone statues, and cultic idols of the Revolution."
"At the end of "Red Star," Bogdanov makes fleeting reference to the Old Man of the Mountain, an invaluable, hard headed, but somewhat conservative and inflexible revolutionary leader. Bogdanov was clearly referring to his comrade Lenin."
"Bogdanov recalled years later in his autobiography that the barracks and prison like atmosphere of his school had taught him as a schoolboy "to fear and to hate those who coerce and to flaunt authority."
""Engineer Menni" is a novel about socialists and labor leaders, capitalist villains and blind aristocrats -- but it is especially a novel about engineers, a profession that has played an enormously important role in Russian and Soviet development in the last ninety years and is only recently being studied by serious scholars."
"Like the American socialist Jack London, whose "Iron Heel" was written in the same year, Bogdanov warns of the coming time when capitalists and ruling classes would use the latest technology to persecute and provoke the proletariat into a premature uprising which the provocateurs would then crush."
"The most striking of all these passages ... referred to the possibility of a revolution and the establishment of a few islands of socialism surrounded by a hostile capitalist sea."
"It is difficult to foresee the outcome of these conflicts," says Sterni, "but even in those instances where socialism prevails and triumphs, its character will be perverted deeply and for a long time to come by years of encirclement, unavoidable error and militarism, and the barbarian patriotism that is their inevitable consequence."
"Bogdanov's works pointed the way to an enormous blossoming of revolutionary science fiction in the 1920s, a period that saw the publication of about two hundred works of this kind, most of them dealing with the two main themes of Bogdanov's work: capitalist hells, militarism, fightful weapons, greed, and exploitation leading to catastrophe, and communist heavens adorned with life-easing technology and complete social justice."
"After the Bolsheviks came to power [Bogdanov] ... threw himself into the Proletkult, the proletarian culture movement that he had helped to found before the Revolution, and established thousands of cells and studios all over Soviet Russia and issued a huge number of publications with enormous circulations."

From "Red Star:"

"[Menni - to Leonid] Look how your Asiatic government uses European means of communication and destruction to oppress and eradicate all the most vigorous and progressive elements in the country."
"[Netti - to Leonid] Every worker is a creator, but what does the creating is mankind and nature. ...Menni had at his disposal the experience amassed by preceding generations and contemporary researchers, and he based each step of his work on that experience. ... Our science and our art preserve impersonally the collective accomplishments of all. ... [Sterni] ... will always willingly help you with anything your yourself bring to him, but he will never guess your needs for you."
"They never greeted one another, never said goodbye or thank you, never dragged out a conversation just to be polite if its immediate goal had already been reached."
"...the cold of the ethereal wastes seemed to pierce my heart..."
"Octopuses...have eyes what are unusually similar to those of ...the vertebrates. Yet the origin and development of the eyes of the vertebrates are completely different..."
"...wars played a relatively minor role in Martian history and ceased altogether rather early..."
"[Menni - to Leonid] The entire surface area of our planet is only one-fourth that of Earth; at the same time the force of gravity is two and one-half times less, making our bodies so light that we can move about quite rapidly even without man-made means of transportation. ... ...the small peasants were crowded out at a very early state by large-scale capitalist farming, and the land was totally nationalized soon after. The reason...the increasing aridity of the soil, which the smallholders were unable to remedy. ... ...their land fell to the large regional holders with enough capital to finance irrigation. In other cases, the peasants formed large cooperative associations... ... [which]... fell under the economic control of their creditors... ... When the means of production were socialized, there was no compensation in the true sense of the word. At first ....the capitalists were pensioned off."
"Levers rose and fell smoothly and evenly like giant steel hands."
"[Menni - to Leonid] Everyone takes whatever he needs in whatever quantities he wants. ...each new invention ... contributed to solving the main difficulty, namely the transition to a system in which each individual is perfectly free to choose his own occupation. "
"[Nella - to Leonid] If a child is to be trained to participate in society he must live in society. Children acquire most of their knowledge of life from each other. ... ...according to a universal law of life the development of the organism repeats in abbreviated form the development of the species. Analogously, the development of the individual repeats that of society. ... ...many adults also like to live alone. Most of them ... are deeply engrossed in scientific research or artistic creation."
"[Enno - to Leonid] You are saddened by the backwardness of your planet and the maliciousness of your humanity. ... ...our art museums...are scientific research institutes, schools at which we study ... the development of mankind through artistic activity."
"...the enslavement of women in the home and the feverish struggle for survival on the part of the men ... ultimately account for the physical discrepancies between them."
"...the Martians erected monuments ... ...only to important events..."
"[Enno - to Leonid] The more complicated the goal, the more difficult the path leading to it... .... ...if there is any happiness among us...it is not the tranquil bliss you were talking about."
"[Netti - to Leonid] ...your predominantly individualistic psychology...isolates people from each other...completely..."
"As a socialist I stood on the border between them, like a split second of the present between the past and the future. ... I was struck by the intensely businesslike character of the Martian's public meetings. ... It became increasingly obvious to me that ... I lacked ... the culture of concentration."
"Enno told me... [that] Menni had matured too late from boyhood into manhood and had thrown himself too early into the intense life of a scientist and thinker."
"Netti...fell in love with Menni before ever laying eyes on him... ... Like [Netti] ... [Letta]... loved Earth in his dreams and imagination and believed in the future union of the two worlds and the great prosperity and poetry of life that would result from that alliance."
"[Sterni - to Leonid] ...the very nature of their culture...is based on ownership protected by organized violence. ... ...patriotism ...includes a spiteful distrust of all other peoples and races, a visceral attachment to a particular way of life... ...the art of destruction on Earth is much more advanced than any other aspect of their peculiar culture. ...The ruling classes...rely on the army and sophisticated military technology, and in certain cases they may deal the rebelling proletariat ... a stunning blow that the cause of socialism will be frustrated for decades... If this happens, the individual advance countries in which socialism triumphs will be like islands in a hostile capitalist ... sea. ...the upper classes of the non socialist countries will...concentrate all their efforts on destroying these islands. ... ...the ruling class ... ...control the means of production and command the loyalty of ninety-nine percent of all the scientists and engineers."
"[Netti:] Even the few of us who know the facts find it impossible to picture the insane sophistication which the art of oppression has attained in the hands of the ideological and political organizations dominated by the upper classes of the most civilized nations of Earth. ... The unity of Life is our highest goal, and love is the highest expression of intelligence!"
"The revolution selects her glorious martyrs and paints her proletarian banner in their rich blood..."
"In this hazy, buoyant frame of mind I had no desire to think of the past,and it was pleasant to realize that I had been been forgotten by everyone, by the whole world."
"[Menni - to Leonid] ...the Old Man of the Mountain is exclusively a man of struggle and revolution."

From "Engineer Menni:"

"...if their discoveries on the structure of matter were ...to become known on Earth, the militaristic rulers of our mutually hostile nations would gain control over weapons unprecedented might, and the entire planet would be devastated in a matter of months."
"The history of Mars...followed the same course from the tribal system through feudalism to the reign of capital and through it to the unification of labor. ... Martian humanity... never knew the worst forms of our slavery... ... The natural environment of the planet was poor and harsh, and the experience of thousands of generations built up the dim awareness that it is extremely difficult to restore what has once been destroyed. ... In about A.D. 1000 ... A cultural revolution was underway... a reformation of the ancient feudal faiths. ... [At] the end of the fourteenth century... ...a giant Federal Republic was established withich encompassed approximately three quarters of the planet. ... Working for [Ormen Aldo's agitation] ... were not only the power of the sacred past and the influence of the priests on the ignorant masses; an even more important factor was the painful economic development of the country, which had been invaded by commercial and usurious capital. ... By means of extortionary contracts they appropriated standing crops and future catches of fish and further increased their profits through systematic fraud... Commerce introduced new needs and temptations into the life of the peasants, but money was again necessary to satisfy them, and this only served to intensify the plunder. Economic ruin spread rapidly... ... ...the war ... enabled the Republic to recover from its economic crisis... "
"[Menni:] The desert there is a veritable Kingdom of Silence. ... ...Xarma ... despite his socialist views is the most learned and profound economist of our time... "
"[The Minister of Public Works:] [Menni's]... book on Libya ends in the words: 'All the deserts of the world have a future.'"
"[Menni's]... plan for nationalizing the land ...provided that all previous ground rent would serve as the source of capital for the Project. ... By that time... ... More than nine-tenths of all properties in land were in the hands of a few thousand grotesquely wealthy owners. ... Socialism preserved almost everywhere the strongly idealistic and philanthropic elements injected into it by theoreticians from the intelligentsia. ... By contrast, the bourgeoisie on Earth... .... is frightened by the thought of the blow which nationalization of the land would deal to the sacred principle of private ownership, the basis of the present social order. "
"[Arri:] ...my son Netti... ... studied a great deal; if to complete his education he attended the same schools as our [class] enemies, he did so in order to find new weapons for the defense of our cause."
"[Netti:] We cannot change this as long as the present order exists, as long as there is exploitation, as long as one class fears and rules over another. ... Thus far science is the weapon of our enemies. ... Nothing has been conquered for the proletariat until it has been won for everyone. ... Each branch [of science] has its special language which is the privilege of the initiated and serves to exclude everyone else. ... The proletariat must master [science]... by changing it. Ours is a difficult battle and cannot be otherwise, because our ideals are lofty. But if it were easy, brothers, would it even be worth talking about?"
"[Menni:] I want my case to be reviewed by another, a higher court - the Court of Humanity."
"[Netti:] I am a socialist and a follower of Xarma. ... Removed from the collective of millions of working people and from the chain of generations, [the worker]... immediately becomes a nonentity. ... ...a worker...exists and is real only when he is united in labor with countless human individuals of present and past generations. ... ...such is the attitude of the ruling classes toward the worker; they are prepared to treat him fairly and according to the law as long as he lives for himself, because then he is powerless. ... The individual in isolation cannot understand politics, where the clash of collective forces gives rise to enormously complex relations. "
"[Arri:] Menni is a man who did not know real love in his youth and who has spent many years in solitude. When he falls in love, it will prove stronger than he is."
"[Menni:] Where I find it self-evident to speak of the triumph of an idea, you see the triumph of labor. ... Exertion is merely the means, while the idea is the highest goal. ... The supreme essence of an ida consists in its logical nature."
"[Netti:] ...their labor, their efforts, their aspirations to develop their potential, and the creative work born in their minds ran into obstacles and encountered such overwhelming opposition that all this was reduced to impotence. ... Man knows no greater happiness than to feel himself a vital part of a mighty, all-encompassing impulse. The idea of freedom was such a universally sensed impulse. ... Daring explorers... ...returned with theoretical knowledge about forever dead sands and plains which was seemingly irrelevant but which in actual fact represented the crystallized effort of these pioneer explorers: knowledge to be used in the future war against the Kingdom of the Inert. ... Utopias are an expression of aspirations that cannot be realized... ...[logic's] only vital significance lies in the fact that it enables people to communicate with each other; that is, it allows them effectively to unite their efforts in labor or research. ... The idea of freedom was true because it led mankind to victory, to an enrichment of life that is the ultimate goal of all labor. ... Mankind moves on and sets itself new goals... ... Often one idea kills another one; thus freedom nullifies authority, scientific thought kills religion, and new theories replace old ones."
"...the working class...up until then had sometimes managed to assert itself economically, but had always been a convenient and obedient subject of political manipulation."
"[Teo's article:] Democracy must never rely on a single individual; it does not have the right to do so, for it is based on the principle of the majority."
"[Netti:] ... the strength of the power determined by democracy merely reflects the strength of democracy itself: it selects the means best suited to ensure the common good, and it must not be restricted in that choice. ... As for our President, in his famous book he wrote: '...social peace is more important than the egoism of the privileged.'"
"On the basis of old documents belonging to Feli Rao, Netti was able to reconstruct what had happened with the fifty deputies who had suddenly become millionaires and supporters of Rao."
"[The Vampire:] Everything dies: you, mankind, the world. Everything will be submerged in eternity. Only the truth will remain, because it alone is eternal. And it is eternal because it is immutable."
"[Death:] ...you will be no more. Your name and your body and your chain of memories will all disappear. ... In the infinity of mighty, living Being, what you loved more than yourself - your work - will survive."
"The skeleton was right: the sum of this reckoning is zero. ... We could not completely conquer time and space. ... What is dear to us instead is all that has been accomplished by our united efforts though thousands of centuries: our power over the elements, our understanding of nature, the beauty of life that we have created. "
"[The dream-image of Netti:] In a few minutes our planet will be no more, and its fragments will be cast out into infinite space along with our dead bodies and our living cause."
51 reviews
June 27, 2023
Des de que vaig saber de la seva existència, què tenia unes ganes boges de llegir aquest llibre. Així que, per Sant Jordi, va caure. Em motivava molt el fet de llegir un llibre de ciència ficció comunista, força anterior a la Revolució Russa.

El llibre és una novel·la amb un cert deix d'assaig polític. Ara bé, aquest equilibri, crec que no acaba de satisfer ni als que volen llegir una novel·la de ciència ficció, ni als que esperen una utopia política ben desenvolupada. La trama, si bé suficient, no llueix gaire, al ser senzilla i sense girs de guió inesperats (excepte, potser, el del final). D'altra banda, a part d'uns 4 capítols centrals, a penes es desenvolupa la forma de vida socialista de la societat marciana, deixant només unes pinzellades puntuals, que si bé compleixen en el marc de la novel·la, no formen un retrat detallat.

Sí que s'ha de reconèixer la capacitat de tractar certs temes de manera pionera, com ara la poligàmia, la gestió de l'egoisme en el marc d'una societat comunista o les diferents invencions científiques (amb més fonament del que sembla) que idea l'autor.

També m'agradaria destacar el magnífic pròleg que Sembra Editorial ha fet a l'edició en valencià. Penso que, tot i ser breu, contextualitza molt bé la novel·la i et fa adonar del mèrit que té.

7,5/10
Profile Image for David Mena Olivella.
9 reviews
November 28, 2024
Una exposició de l’ideal socialista emmascarada sota una lleugera història de ciència-ficció de principis de segle que beu de l’ideari verniani. Tot millora quan se centra en la proposta del que seria una societat perfecta a Mart i oblida les relacions entre els personatges, que, tot i vertebrar l’argument, desvien l’atenció del realment interessant: fer-te qüestionar l’status quo en què vivim, que, malgrat tenir 100 anys, és més vigent que mai.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Ibrahim Niftiyev.
61 reviews38 followers
December 2, 2022
İki kitap birleştirilmiş ama yine de sosyalizmin edebiyatla görüşü açısından çok güzel bir kitap. Özellikle de ilk kitap bilimsel açıdan hayretedici.
11 reviews1 follower
October 1, 2023
Una fantástica història de ciència ficció escrita fa 100 anys, però que continua totalment vigent. És el llibre en què està bassada la cançó "Robot rojo" de Zoo.
Profile Image for Clara Palop.
86 reviews3 followers
June 12, 2023
Estéticamente se nota que lo ha escrito un comunista. Ninguno fue poeta. Pero es pedagógico, creativo y extraño. Y sitúa la posibilidad de nuevas formas de vida y producción al alcance de la mano, como una pera que cuelga del árbol y la ves y la rozas pero no la puedes arrancar. Pero la rozas y adviertes su posibilidad. Mis camaradas ahora son más poetas. Las mujeres, sobre todo. Paula, en realidad.
Profile Image for Alex Quintero.
79 reviews5 followers
January 19, 2023
Marxisme i ciència-ficció. Aquesta relíquia de la Rússia presoviètica (1908), escrita pel marxista i fundador del moviment Proletkult Aleksandr Bogdànov, tracta sobre l'experiència d'una hipotètica interacció humana amb una societat extraplanetària regida per un sistema socialista -en aquest cas, al planeta Mart-. Tot i ser una novel·la, està dividida per blocs; la part on el protagonista encara inquietuds i debats amb els camarades marcians sobre temes com l'educació, la filosofia, l'economia, la poesia o, fins i tot, la medicina, és senzillament excepcional.
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