Russian Revolution

I have started reading Boris Pasternak's Doctor Zhivago based on Russian Revolution. I haven's read much on Russian Revolution except for my MA part 2 exam. I had a whole question for 25 marks on second world war and Russian Revolution but just like all other students I read it from the notes only. No extra reading.

But that reading also I found very interesting and I still remember that I wrote more than 15 full scape pages on it. (Yo !)

But this is the time to learn it from real sources. I had read Ayn Rand's We The Living long back. The book is also based on communists takeover in Russia. The story narrated in the novel is between 1922 to 1925 but it is against Communist regime.

Her theory of individualism became very popular in America and her other books like The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged promotes the same. But wait she cannot claim the whole credit for that. Much before her, Karl Marx came with the theory of alienation (in terms of workers).

Marx's Theory of Alienation says that it is the impact of capatalism. It occures because each one (workers) contribute to the common work but they do not get individual satisfaction out it. The reason he gave was that of the production system was privately owned and workers were mere instruments.

So back on Zhivago, I think instead of going for hardcore informative books, I should start with novel like Doctor Zhivago.

My colleague has also given me DVD of Doctor Zhivago but I want to finish the book first.