In 1917 Russia’s Revolution presented the world with its first Communist state, and the victorious Bolsheviks proclaimed their slogan: “From each according to his work, to each according to his needs”. The vast majority of the “new men” who faced the daunting task of constructing this earthly paradise were barely educated and often illiterate, many of them peasants who had left the their villages to fight for a foothold in the city. Both the incomers and the original urban poor had little energy to spare for building Socialism, and Russia had been laid waste by four years of civil war. The Communist Party had few resources to draw on to make Socialism a reality, with the masses living in grinding poverty. In the overcrowded cities they had to defend every inch of their cramped…
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Citation: Murphy, A. B.. "Mikhail Zoshchenko". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 06 May 2005 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5905, accessed 23 April 2024.]
