Indiana University Press Red Star

A communist society on Mars, the Russian revolution, and class struggle on two planets is the subject of this arresting science fiction novel by Alexander Bogdanov (1873-1928), one of the early organizers and prophets of the Russian Bolshevik party. The red star is Mars, but it is also the dream set to paper of the society that could emerge on earth after the dual victory of the socialist and scientific-technical revolutions. While portraying a harmonious and rational socialist society, Bogdanov sketches out the problems that will face industrialized nations, whether socialist or capitalist. Alexander Bogdanov (1873-1928) was a Russian scientist, philosopher, and revolutionary. An early Bolshevik and a close associate of Lenin, he later quarreled with the Party and after 1921 devoted himself fully to scientific work. In 1926, he founded an Institute for Blood Transfusion and in 1928 died after transfusing himself with infected blood as part of an experiment. Loren R. Graham is Professor of the History of Science at MIT and author of many books on the history of Soviet science. His most recent book is "Moscow Stories" (IUP, 2006).Richard Stites is Professor of History at Georgetown University. His most recent books is "Serfdom, Society, and the Arts in Imperial Russia".