Summary and Analysis: Part 3—The Third Hearing—Chapters 1-2
Summary
Rubashov's second diary entry, made on the twentieth day of his imprisonment, discusses the "'pendulum movement in history, swinging from absolutism to democracy.'" He theorizes that the alternation between absolutism (which is also known as totalitarian dictatorship) and democracy reflects a situation in which economic and technological change outpaces the ability of a population to comprehend and adapt to this change. When the population has adapted to change, it becomes a democracy. However, Rubashov argues that until the population does adapt, absolutism is possible and sometimes even necessary. He claims that socialist theory failed to recognize this. Instead, it mistakenly believed...
(The entire section is 593 words.)
