Part two of Serge's 'defeat in victory, victory in defeat' semi-autobiographical trilogy of novels, each book essentially chronicling his time in Europe during the First World War, being incarcerated (which is what Men in Prison dealt with - see my review) in France and then, on release, traveling to Barcelona whilst that City is in the throes of its own social unrest during 1917. For the first half of the novel we are introduced, via Serge's amazing method of descriptive characterisation, to each of the most important figures involved during a period that probably was an eventual precursor to the Spanish Civil War of the mid 1930's; Spain had a long history of oppression and inequality that saw it on occasion ferment into civil unrest, strikes and disorder. What gives Serge and the wide mix of characters some sort of hope however is the Russian Revolution which occurs, or at least starts during his time in Barcelona, and even though the uprising he becomes involved in is suppressed, he still maintains hope to what was happening at this time in St.Petersburg. And this is what guides Serge in his semi-autobiographical tale; a form of revolutionary êlan, like a light shining a beacon over the ravaged wasteland of war-torn Europe - symbolically and poetically described. When he leaves Spain to try and make his way to Russia, being incarcerated in a Prisoner of War camp in France for being a 'politico' does not diminish his 'hope', that a true workers revolution was occurring (as well as a feeling of his despair of the news reports his group in the camp were reading, creating a sense of impotence that world events were passing them by). What this novel also does, apart from the obvious politics, is describe what a war-torn continent looked like; an amazing slice and literal portrayal of history, including describing all the different nationalities churned up in this cataclysmic conflict, most notibaly in the POW camp; the comradeship and collective suffering (well, if you had the money there was a black market..) and so on. Serge knew incarceration all too well, and privation was never a new experience for him (probably just testing his mettal for supporting Trotsky later on).The eventual armistice arrives, there is hope what is happening in Germany (the mutinies et al), and Serge and several of his band from the POW camp are eventually exchanged as hostages for ex-Tsarist high ranking Generals from the new Soviet State. There is now hope; a new hope as they are leaving a devastated Europe and heading towards a beacon, a light in the darkness, a radiant egalitarian society being formed from the ashes of the old world. Or so Serge and his comrades wanted to believe. The reality is described clearly; instead of a city in the grip of fervor, the opposite is the case; starvation, lack of heating, the old tsarist buildings having their floorboards ripped up for kindle etc. A city in ruins. Not only this, but there is a fledgling bureaucracy being built up. Serge and his friends spend hours trying to find somewhere to stay and keep being pushed around to different 'departments'. The Cheka (the early Bolshevik secret police) are here too, who take away one of Serges' friends he had met when in Barcelona, whom then subsequently deliver a pistol shot into the back of his head for being in the pay of the 'enemy'. The seeds of later totalitarianism and dictatorship had already started to sprout, all painted too clearly. This is 'defeat in victory', whilst the energy and hope expressed in Barcelona during their uprising and subsequent suppression, is 'victory in defeat'.
