In the forthcoming book Cosmic Missions: Religion and Space Exploration, there is a fascinating essay about a forgotten history. “The World of Tomorrow: Soviet Communism, Russian Cosmism, and the Fate of Utopia” tells the history of “cosmic utopianism,” or the belief among Soviets in the early 20th century that the communist revolution would take place not only on Earth, but in space.
The essay’s author is Victoria Smolkin, a professor at Wesleyan University. Professor Smolkin is an expert on Russian history and a lucid and engaging writer. She should come to this year’s Anti-Communist Film Festival and be a speaker at future festivals.
In “The World of Tomorrow,” Smolkin argues that the atheistic communists early on had their own kind of theology. It was a belief in the gods of science and technology, which would launch the human race into space and bring about not only utopia but the ability to resurrect our dead ancestors. It is largely forgotten that in 1908 Marxist revolutionary Alexander Bogdanov wrote Red Star, a story of how Martians take a young Russian student back to Mars, a planet that is a communist utopia in which women have escaped “domestic slavery.” Bogdanov would become a rival to Lenin for the leadership of the Russian Revolution.
Smolkin argues that “although typically explained in decidedly earthly (scientific, political, and, above all, military) terms, social imaginaries of human space exploration have always also been driven by metaphysical, mystical, and religious motives, even—perhaps especially— in the context of the Soviet Union’s atheist regime.” We see this “religious” influence “when we explore the genealogy of the Soviet space program, the origins of which lie in the philosophical program of Russian cosmism. Emerging in the late nineteenth century under the influence of the philosopher Nikolai Fedorov, cosmism was developed in the early twentieth century by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, the provincial librarian and amateur rocket scientist who became the ‘grandfather’ of the Soviet space program.”
She goes on:
The cosmic utopianism of Russian cosmism intersected with the political utopianism of Russian revolutionaries, informing the “revolutionary dreams” of the early Soviet period. It may be surprising that the Soviet space program, perhaps the paradigmatic symbol of Cold War scientific and technological competition, had such philosophical, mystical, and even religious origins. But without Fedorov’s philosophical audacity and Tsiolkovsky’s faith that he could develop the science and technology to realize Fedorov’s vision, it is difficult to imagine how the first generation of Soviet space scientists like Sergei Korolev could have sustained such a tenacious commitment to the possibility of human space travel. We can see cosmism, in other words, as the utopian energy that propelled Soviet cosmonauts to leave Earth’s orbit—a “great task” inspired by a leap of faith. Even before the Bolshevik Party’s seizure of power in October 1917, generations of Russian intelligentsia dedicated themselves to the task of revolution—a project they believed to have an importance much bigger than politics and a scope much greater than Russia. Indeed, it was construed as a planetary event with cosmic significance for all humanity. We can see this in material terms not only through the extensive Soviet investment in science, technology, and enlightenment but also in “religious” terms, through the proliferation of cultural and aesthetic movements dedicated to humanity’s emancipation from Earth’s gravity.
It’s a fascinating contrast that while the Soviet space program and Russian science fiction writers were promising utopia, Western science fiction writers like Robert Heinlein, Harlan Ellison, Isaac Asimov, C.S. Lewis and Frank Herbert were warning against totalitarianism and reminding readers that human nature doesn’t change and will follow us into space. I’ve written on HotAir before about inviting the cast of Dune: Part Three to the Anti-Communist Film Festival. Dune is not an argument for a messianic leader to come and save us, but about resisting the lure of such a figure. After supporting Richard Nixon then seeing the president resign, author Frank Herbert had an epiphany. “Nixon taught us one hell of a lesson,” he said, “and I thank him for it. He made us distrust government leaders.” One sequel to Dune offers the story of Leto II, a politician who becomes a tyrant in order to teach people a “lesson their bones would remember.” Leto abused the people then offered this lesson; “I expect you to be exceedingly careful about the powers you delegate to any government.”
The last Dune novels Frank Herbert wrote were composed while the IRS hounded Herbert for unpaid taxes, and in Heretics of Dune the mere mention of the word “liberal” elicits rage from one character. She lives 25,000 years in the future, yet just hearing someone say “liberal” reminds her “how much viciousness lay concealed in that word” and “how much secret ego demanding to feel superior.” She concludes, “Liberal bigots are the ones to trouble me the most.” Another character argues that “Liberal governments always develop into aristocracies.”
“The underlying question is not whether Paul wins or loses,” critic Michael Whittaker once observed about Dune. “It’s about whether he remains a hero or becomes the morally murky protagonist. Dune: Part Two is both horrifying and romantic, presenting a far, far future that is recognizable because people never change. While the war may be portrayed as a jaw-dropping spectacle, the answers to all those political and moral questions may leave the audience deeply uncomfortable. Herbert would be proud.”
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