Detailed Outline

Outline of Individual Oral Presentation. This will look at the cultural setting of the work and the influence of the culture in specific instances in the book “We”
I) Totalitarianism

A) In We, the atmosphere of totalitarianism is a product of Zamyatin’s history with the Soviet Union
1) Zamyatin supported the 1905 revolution and published articles in the socialist magazines at the time
2) Zamyatin also supported the October revolution of 1917, although he opposed the system of censorship under the Bolsheviks and became increasingly critical of the regime.
(a) “True literature can only exist when it is created, not by diligent and reliable officials, but by madmen, hermits, heretics, dreamers, rebels and skeptics” –Zamyatin
3) This antiestablishment, creative mindset pervades the novel We by satirizing the folly of the totalitarian state.
(a) Most of this criticism is aimed at the Soviet Union
B) The Secret Police
1) In We, the Gaurdians police the citizens to make sure they are following the rules.
2) Secret Police featured heavily in the Soviet Union
(a) KGB, NKVD, ect.
(b) Informers also
(i) Some Poster/quote urging people to inform on disloyalty
C) The Benefactor
1) In “We” he is the all-powerful leader of the One State
(a) Some quote
2) Influenced by powerful leaders supported by propaganda depicting them as benevolent and kind
(a) Lenin, Stalin
(i)
(ii) Some old propaganda poster
D) Unanimity Day
1) Everyone votes for the same person
(a) Quote
(b) Brainwashed masses
2) Influenced by the quasi-democracy of the Soviet Union
(a) One-party democracy (commies)
(b) Some example.
II) Rationalization of labor
A) In We every number’s life is strictly controlled for maximum efficiency
1) Extensive mathematical metaphors play into this
(a) Root -1
(b) X
(c) Mathematical language
B) Zamyatin was working as a shipbuilder during the time of increasing efficiency
1) Fredrick Winslow Taylor was an industrial engineer who sought to improve efficiency
(a) He thought that by analyzing a work cycle, “one best way” to do work would be found
(b) He would do this by breaking a job into its component parts and then measuring each to the hundredth of a second
(c) For example, he determined that the most efficient shovel could carry 21 and a half pounds, and he designed shovels that could carry that amount
2) In We the numbers follow the philosophy of Taylorism
C) Lennin was also a supporter of Taylor, so by including the idea of Taylorism Zamyatin criticizes the controlling nature of the rationalization of labor and the Soviet Union which supports it
1) “We must raise the question of piece-work and apply and test it in practice; we must raise the question of applying much of what is scientific and progressive in the Taylor system”
D) Zamyatin’s criticism of Taylor goes along with his views of the Soviet Union: at first supporting but then not
III) International Communism/ The Integral
A) Basically a criticism of Marxist theory on worldwide revolution
1) A revolution in one country would be followed by others in other parts of the world
(a) “to make the revolution permanent until all the more or less propertied classes have been driven from their ruling positions, until the proletariat has conquered state power and until the association of the proletarians has progressed sufficiently far – not only in one country but in all the leading countries of the world – that competition between the proletarians of these countries ceases and at least the decisive forces of production are concentrated in the hands of the workers.” -Marx
(b) This obviously did not happen.
2) However, through organizations such as the Internationale, the Soviet Union was in support of exporting communism
(a) This is where the integral comes in
(i) It criticizes the idea of one culture forcefully implementing their idea of a more evolved society onto a less evolved one
· Communism onto capitalism
· Taylorism onto the aliens
(ii) Quote
(iii) Quote
(iv) Quote