Mans FateEssay Preview: Mans FateReport this essayTo one who lives in a democratic society the word “Communism” means names such as “Marx,” “Lenin,” “Stalin,” and even “Anastasia.” But according to Rodney Guin, a high school history teacher, those within a Communistic system often worry about how they will feed their family tomorrow. The often heard, “Each according to his ability and each according to his need” is a slogan, not a reality (Communism 2). About Communism, Benjamin Cardozo wrote, “Again and again, the altruist has arisen in politics, has bidden us share with others the product of our toil, and has proclaimed the communistic dogma as the panacea for our social ills.” Matts Internet homepage states, “Under Communism, profits from the workers labor would be shared out for the benefit of the workers themselves. This would, obviously, lead to a much better deal for the people of the world.” Sounds good on paper, but numerous countries exist as proof that Communism in action is the opposite of any of those statements.
Having lived in China during the 1920s and witnessed the realities of struggle against Communism, Andre Malraux wrote Mans Fate, an example of how strong Communist strings can be. I found it interesting.?He achieves a balance between the setting of the story and exploring the psyche of a character. In the end, May redeemed herself when she goes to Kyos father, Old Gisors, and offered to take him with her to Moscow. In 1926, Kai-Shek, then a Kuomintang general, launched the Northern Expedition. In this campaign, Kai-Shek and his Nationalist army were victorious in Hankou, Shanghai, and Nanjing. Though Old Gisors refused, May is forgiven for hurting Kyo before his death and one hopes—even though she will live in a Communist society—that her future will be an easy one.
May and Gisors, like the great-grandmothers of China’s early dynasties, would never have left the scene, but they did try to show their respect to one another after the two fought. Both men and women became soldiers in “The New World Order”; one of them was a Communist. The other was a Russian. We could not agree on which were the great patriots; so when Gisors came under attack by some Soviet and Chinese agents in 1927, May decided to join the Russian army. May became a soldier after she took part in two “Russian Wars”; one the first to make it to Berlin and the other an adventure. Since she did not know what she was getting into she decided that it was time to be prepared. She read some of the Russian documents, then got acquainted with some of the officers of the “Red Army”, sent them to France where they met some of the “Mans Fate” officers who lived in Paris. May then found and befriended, not only the French agents, but also the old, old Communist officers from the Red Army who went to Germany and visited her. Once again, May’s life, character and work were on the line. She decided that they could not have an honest reunion without strong characters who could lead people to truth, peace and love with each other. We were told that May was a good wife and a good woman but it seems that her story is more true to life today when the story unfolds in Russia, in the Communist Russia, in the Communist Germany. May was a very hard worker, a fighter, a warrior, and a loyal man, for her family and for Moscow. She lived through her own country, she did not go and seek adventure in the Soviet Union, but at least she had seen some of the people who were around her in the 1930s and 1940s. She even had some friends who were close friends with Kommersant General Leonid Shishkin. Both Kommersant General, now in prison due to warring the USSR and his daughter-in-law were killed in 1944 by Stalinists in Berlin.
The main question now is: what was at stake for May? I am glad to read the opening chapter, if you will.
A few other notes: A couple of key moments that make this book worth revisiting: May was one of the first female politicians to run for office, and she became one of the most well known politicians of the 1930s. May is also a famous communist leader in the USSR. It may be interesting to read why, for example, May is credited with her victory in 1919 at the Democratic People’s Congress.
We find that this was due to her courage, not her charisma. This is certainly different from the Stalinists and Trotskyists who were so often seen in the USSR and the Western world as lacking courage. Both have much more of this in common: they came to power