Published from obscurity after Serge's death in 1947, this compelling and quite shocking novel has risen from under lock and key to become possibly the greatest fictional writing on the Stalinist rule, but there is just as much based on his own life in all his written work, that undoubtedly leads to the feeling that Serge wrote with a hidden agenda, more for himself than anyone else. And although his fictional work as in 'The Case of Comrade Tulayev' is fictional, he writes with truth and fury to expose the cold, brutal character of Stalin's control and policed authority. I get the impression that whist being held over long periods in solitary confinement he spent the time writing, mentally in his head that is. Born in Brussels to politically exiled Russian parents, Victor Kibalchich (Serge) followed in their footsteps in more ways than one, anarchist, prisoner, Trotsky aid, and exile, his condemnation of Stalin's totalitarian Soviet State would lead to his expulsion from the Communist party, and thus begin his writing of historical fiction.
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