Mother

Mother by Maxim Gorky

Gorky was written in English by a Russian, and then later translated into Russian. It appears that the author wrote it to advocate for communism. However, it comes across as an identification of the pitfalls of peasant enablement. In the book, it keeps going back to the Mother. She at first cannot read and is baffled with what this revolutionaries are up to. Then she learns to read. She gradually becomes part of the movement, and even finds herself on the wrong side of the law.

Are these workers too subject to manipulation? They learn to read and then read the subversive publications. There is much effort made to continue to publish these to recruit more workers to their side. Are these people just being manipulated by a different group? First they are following their bosses and doing work. Then they are following revolutionaries and advocating for revolution. They have simple traded one allegiance for another without engaging in significant individual thought or autonomy. They are willing to carry out violence in the name of this revolution. The various publications appear to be a way of short-circuiting what would otherwise be a slow moving revolution. Is this short circuit a good thing? Do they just get one part without all the nuances? These are essentially early conspiracy theories. There are great efforts made to control the communication on both sides. Today there is widespread availability of different thoughts from all sides, but these leaves even more areas open for manipulation.