Since, I am writing an 11 part series on all of Ayn Rand’s works—her novels, novellas, screen plays, and stage plays—writing a book on We the Living was the next logical installment in this series. 

Besides adding another title to my Ayn Rand Analyzed series, I wrote “Critical Essays” to show readers, in specific ways, precisely how badly people fared under Communism, especially Ukrainians. 

Since, under the big brother protection and leadership of the U.S.S.R, the individual effort to further your own life—to make a better life for yourself—was replaced by an ethic of self-sacrifice. Was replaced with the doctrine that Russian citizens should sacrifice themselves out of existence for the glory of the Soviet State. Because under the Soviets all sacrificed to all and all were equally miserable. Since, all yielded to all at gunpoint. By turning their work, lives, and persons, over to a dictatorial government. To a socialist welfare State that systematically erases characters identities in order to fit Marxist plans for a new Soviet man to emerge. Through state mandated social construction. 

So, to show people how a collective ethic harms people lives in many ways, I wrote “Critical Essays on Ayn Rand’s We the Living” to concretize an easy-to-understand, written-lesson on State tyranny. Via the realistic portrayal of a cast of highly credible characters struggling to cope with the abysmal evils of Soviet Communism, every day.

We the Living’s main message is that being yourself, as a freethinking individual, by determining your own beliefs, choosing your own direction, and building your own life, is a fundamental right of all human beings. Since, characters, like Kira Argounova, and Irina Dunaeva, strive to live for themselves in Soviet Russia. So, they can preserve their human rights, and personal dignity, through their own individual agency, despite facing overwhelming pressure to conform their identities to a Soviet tyranny.  

Indeed, the main message of Emre’s book is that a proper government should protect their citizen’s natural right to peacefully pursue their own goals, even if they are not the State’s aims. So that citizens are free to chose their own careers, build their own lives, and raise their own children. So, people are free, happy, fulfilled, and successful. As opposed to sacrificing individuals for the sake of a collective group ethic.

“Critical Essays on We the Living,” examines, in human and particular terms, the historical origins of the current war between Ukraine and Russia. By showing readers how Ukrainians and Russians were at loggerheads in We the Living, and in history. Since, in the book, unnamed Soviet characters, requisition and sell Ukrainian grain to other countries while Ukrainians starve at home. Besides starving recalcitrant Ukrainians in Russia and Ukraine, the novel also mentions the life-and-times of a Ukrainian military commander named Nester Makhno. Who lead large peasant armies—sometimes numbering in the tens-of-thousands—to not only take back their food but also to expel (or kill) Soviet representatives. So, Ukrainians could be good farmers. By reclaiming local administrative of village affairs. 

Besides examining how the book’s Soviet minders strip Ukrainians of their agricultural harvests—in a perpetual hunt for food to sell to the West—Gurgen’s book also notes how We the Living often tests people, like Kira Argounova, about “the latest amount of coal produced by the mines of the Don Basin” (324). Since, Kira has to periodically pass political loyalty tests regarding Soviet Russia’s hegemony over Ukraine, otherwise she is fired for disloyalty. For not possessing all the facts about Russia’s control of Soviet Ukraine. Here, Emre claims that such a demand by We the Living’s Soviet government, suggests how Russia’s historical fixation on Ukraine underpins today’s current war. 

Besides examining the historical conflict between Ukraine and Russia—as shown in We the Living—my book also describes the horrors of the Soviet Union in Russian history. 

Specifically, my 200-page annotated bibliography, analyzes how requisitioning detachments were sent to Ukrainian cities, towns and villages, seizing everything in sight, including stew from family pots and pillows from underneath the heads of sleeping babies. Prompting many Ukrainian kulaks to resist the seizure of their food. By creating makeshift armies of peasant resisters, which sometimes numbered in the tens-of-thousands. Armed with pitchforks, scythes, wooden spears, axes, and sometimes rifles, these Ukrainian peasants really did burn Soviets alive (as described in my first essay and as shown in We the Living).

Further, Emre’s bibliography shows that due to Ukrainian dekulakization detachments, 2.5 million Ukrainian peasants took part in approximately 14, 000 revolts, riots, and mass demonstrations against the Moscow regime. Since, these Ukrainians wanted to escape the jurisdiction of Moscow’s 1932 Molotov Commission, which blacklisted all districts in which the required collection targets had not been met. Ultimately, arresting and executing thousands of Ukrainian agricultural workers and farm-managers suspected of minimizing production. Yet, the real reason why many Ukrainian farms could not reach their quotas was because of unattainable industrial targets set by Soviet authorities. 

Emre’s annotated bibliography also shows readers how the Ukrainians hated Soviet Russians for causing the Great Ukrainian Famine of 1932-1933. Since, during this time, Russia systematically starved 6 million Ukrainians, in the span of only a few short months. For daring to resist the seizure of their food and property; for daring to object to their deportation to frigid Siberia; for having the gall to fight against their forced internment in work camps, labor colonies, and soviet prisons; and, above all, for basically trying to live as dignified, free, human beings, in a highly regimented Soviet society based on forced collectivization. Thus, historical Ukrainian resentments are in reaction to the regime’s ruthless use of artificial man-made famines against them. To get them to conform. Since, the Soviets systematically starved the Ukrainians out. Until they no longer had the energy, numbers, or financial capital, to effectively resist their own suppression. Since, the Soviets starved the Ukrainians,  until they were too meek, weak, and docile, to put-up any resistance. 

Additionally, Emre’s lengthy bibliography also examines propaganda tours that Russians gave to Western diplomats to persuade them that life in Soviet Russia was fine and that everyone was free and happy. To realize this goal, historically Soviet authorities gave foreigners propaganda tours to model Ukrainian children’s farms. To trick Western officials to report back to Western media sources that Ukraine was prosperous under the Soviet empire, when the reverse was true. When 4 million Ukrainian peasants died working shriveled public lands.

In sum, Emre’s book illuminates the present war between Ukraine and Russia by identifying some of the historical reason why these two groups or people are so opposed to each other. Especially, Ukrainian peasants, who fought against Soviet collectivization, so they could reclaim administration of village affairs, retrieve their confiscated tools and cattle, destroy the collective farming system, reintroduce free trade, reopen churches, restore all goods to Ukrainian farmers, get back peasants who were deported, and abolish Soviet power in Ukraine. So, the Ukrainians could regain their national independence.

The core message of Emre’s book appeals to several target audiences of potential readers. Besides attracting lovers, of Ayn Rand, super fans, of her books, and aspiring objectivists—who often use We the Living to understand the roots of Ayn Rand’s Objectivist philosophy—my book also appeals to people interested in Russian life under Communism. 

Specifically, students of Soviet Communism, who want to see a realistic portrayal of the conflict between individual freedom and State control play out in a realistic, fictional, Communist society. Also, general readers, who are similarly interested in the human cost of oppressive regimes, may read my book. 

Other potential readers include Ukrainian readers, who want to better understand the historical conflict between Ukraine & Soviet Russia; anti-totalitarian readers, who seek human stories that value people’s freedom; philosophically curious people who are generously receptive to Objectivist ideas; People interested in the everyday impact of political systems on human lives, as opposed to the divorce of political theory from real life; people who need to see individual human rights expressed, in human-and-particular terms, through creative literature. Through a realistic depiction of the idea of what a human right is and how it applies to people’s everyday lives. Proponents of individualism, who need to see individual rights expressed through literature, may also buy Gurgen’s book. Because it not only concretizes the idea of what a human right is but it also portrays how human rights apply to different people in different contexts and situations. Gurgen’s target audience also includes historical fiction enthusiasts, who want to read a first-hand account of what life in Soviet Russia was like in the 1920’s; political and philosophical thinkers interested in the moral consequences of Communism Vs. Capitalism; members of the middle class who want to learn what people like them—i.e. the Bourgeoise—survived Russia Communism; members of the gentry who need to see people striving to make themselves happy through their own individual actions and character not because they belong to a group. 

Lastly, The American Public, especially readers who have little, or no, prior knowledge of Soviet Russia, would enjoy reading my Fountainhead book. Since, by reading it they may further appreciate, if they do not already, a capitalistic democracy, like America, where people are free to form their own characters, live their own lives, and be who they are, without suffering from political imprisonment, state nationalization, food lines, eavesdropping, execution, deportation, and all of the other terrible horrors related to Soviet Russia. Since, American readers will learn, by reading Gurgen’s book, how living in a dictatorship chokes off their lives, by suffocating their spirits, while, conversely, living in a liberal democracy, like America, enables people to be true to themselves.

Though many books have been written about Soviet Communism, my book is different from the existing competition. Since, it shows readers, in realistic ways, how Communism degrades the lives of ordinary people living in Saint Petersburg, Russia. For We the Living’s Red State forces their citizens to turn over their own minds, work, and life, to the government. Thus, my books shows readers, in human-and-particular terms, the detriments of political communism on everyday people, especially the bourgeoise, or middle class. In detailed ways that historical books on Marxism simply do not show. Since, most books on Communism only analyze Marxism in terms of its political impact on nations – or wide groups of people – while my book shows readers Ayn Rand’s own experience while living under the regime she so aptly describes.

Further, unlike other competitive titles, my book actually shows readers how Russian citizens suffer under the yoke of Communism, directly. Since, in We the Living the government nationalizes characters homes, stores, factories, bank accounts, and safety deposit boxes, so the State can loot, and distribute, their private property. Similarly, my book shows readers how an all-powerful collective state also forces characters to waste their lives and damage their health by waiting in endless bread-lines for scant food distributed by provision centers, communal kitchens, and state co-operatives. Food like moldy flour, mildewed millet, rancid sunflower seed oil, rotten eggs, spoiled cabbage, and crusty bread, otherwise they starve. 

Besides examining how the novel’s collectivist state creates a dictatorship of food, where characters are forced to eat what they can get, Gurgen’s book is different than the competition. Because it shows readers, within We the Living’s storyline, how Russia’s Soviet leaders regularly fire characters, such as Kira Argounova, Leo Kovalensky, and Irina Dunaeva, in a quarterly Reduction of Staffs. Because they exhibit political disloyalty, are anti-social, descend from a privileged class background, or because they are not State employees, party members, or in a trade union. 

Additionally, Gurgen’s book is unique because it examines how We the Living’s Soviet tyranny subjects’ young people to Soviet dogma in robot factories they call schools. Gurgen does this by synergizing information from We the Living, the Black Book of Communism, the Soviet Penal Code, his own knowledge, and many other sources, to fully unpack what goes on in We the Living’s schools. How they pound the virtues of factory work into students minds in all subjects, how they often close for lack of fire wood, how they purge students for having anti-Soviet ideas. Such a close analysis, then, of We the Living’s Russian schools, transmits to readers the observations of a person who actually attended school in Soviet Russia during the time in question. Again, this focus on the experiences of a person who actually lived in Russia during the period in question, sets my book apart from the competition. Since, technical historical books do not create dialogue between characters; nor do they fully express to readers how the State Textile Trust makes Russians feel. Only, a fictional novel, can do that. By building a believable Soviet world that divulges characters inner most thoughts. 

Another factor that differentiates Gurgen’s book from other works on Communism is that unlike dry histories that only analyze how the Soviet Union’s State Textile Trust distributes clothing and cosmetic powders to Russians, my book actually shows the State doing these things and characters talking about it. Instead of just saying that the State Textile Trust does this, or that, to Russians, Gurgen’s book shows what specific dresses the State Textile Trust make characters wear and how these dresses make these people feel. How Irina and Kira frown when they see each other wearing the same black-and-white stripped dress that everyone else has. Since, the State makes women who pass each other by on the streets feel like “the inmates of a huge orphanage,” who must swallow their pride, as they “lose all joy in their new garments” (242). Indeed, by examining how the novel’s State Textile Trust makes characters feel like regimented zombies, Gurgen’s book (unlike histories) actually reveals the human effects of the State Textile Trust over the lives of everyday Russians. Since, finding clothes that are attractive and fashionable is an almost unattainable dream in Soviet Russia. 

Further, Gurgen’s book is different from the competition. Because unlike other books that analyze Soviet Communism, Gurgen’s book shows readers how Ukrainian peasants located in villages along the Volga river are starved to death on purpose. Other books just tell this, with maybe one, or two, examples. However, most books do not really show, in human and particular terms, how collective farming really degraded people’s emotional lives, not just their material ones. 

Indeed, unlike most books on Soviet Russia, Gurgen’s book actually explores people’s emotions in relations to specific events and happenings. For example, it shows readers (rather than just telling them) why the Soviets created artificial man-made famines; it shows readers (rather than just telling them) why characters are sacrificed out of existence to build Russia’s industrial sector; it shows readers (rather than just telling them) how a character’s privacy rights are violated when tenants are moved into their private flats; it shows readers (rather than just telling them) how characters are exposed to multiple diseases, like typhus, scurvy, glanders, and tuberculosis (especially on trains) because the Soviets cannot keep Russia clean; it shows readers (rather than just telling them) how characters have to use noisy, dirty, smelly, kerosene contraptions and wood burning stoves to cook their food and keep warm. Thus, what makes Gurgen’s book so special is that unlike historical books, which could never do this, it processes characters thoughts, emotions, epiphanies, and reactions, in response to a specific Soviet event or policy. 

Gurgen’s book is also different from the existing competition because it shows readers how Sovietized characters are forced to live in tiny apartments that have no electricity, no plumbing, leaky rooves, and no significant heat source; how collectivized characters eat dinner around a small candle that flickers in linseed oil; how impoverished characters, like the Argounovas, drink liquids from broken beer bottles; how characters are beset by political loyalty officers, governmental minders, red intelligence cells, the secret police, and other forms of State power, which can arrest, deport, or execute them at any time, for any reason, or for no reason, at all. 

Further, my book is unique because it shows readers how romantic love is exposed to the grey rot of daily Soviet existence (just like everything else) via socialist magazine interviews that encourage characters, such as Leo and Kira, to not love, or marry, the petty bourgeoise.   

Gurgen’s book is also distinctive because it examines how characters are the State’s captive population, who must stand idly by while Russia’s free press ceases to exist as an independent, freethinking, entity. Since, under the Soviets, Russia’s independent, non-Bolshevik, newspapers are closed. Replaced by a Wall Newspaper, instead. A placard newspaper that is posted on the wall of every workplace; a propaganda sheet that dictates to characters how they should live their lives, in every way imaginable. For this Wall Newspaper is the voice of social activity that every citizen must obey; even Andre Taganov. 

Gurgen’s book is also different than existing works on Soviet Communism. Because it closely examines how We the Living’s characters must bear the regime’s intentional destruction of their cultural symbols associated with their various belief-systems. Other books do not show this as well. Since, other books do not show readers how characters must cope with their churches being destroyed, their church bells being melted, their Greek pagan statues being disfigured, their chivalric coats-of-arms being ripped off their hinges and burned to ash, and the former Czar’s imperial eagle being removed from his royal viewing box at the Mikhailovsky Theater. Evidently, by obliterating the outward signs of opposed belief systems, the novel’s Soviet leaders want to eradicate any ideology that might challenge Communism for political control.

Other unique topics Gurgen’s book examines include how characters constantly display propaganda images of Soviet leaders (Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, Frederic Engels, Gregory Zinoviev, and Anatoly Lunacharsky) in their homes, offices, stores, and street kiosks, because in a dictatorship loving the chief is like loving the regime. How churches are destroyed (or allowed to go into disrepair), so the state can eradicate any thought system that goes against its’ one-party rule. How the book’s Soviets expropriate Church riches, including gold and silver relics, precious stones, historical treasures, and other valuable icons. To build up Soviet industry on Church money. How characters are suspicious and watchful of one another, since they are always weary of political informers who, if given half-a-chance, will trade other people’s personal information to the State for some type of reward. (Like better food rations, for example, or the ability to live alone, for instance, without tenants being forced on them).

While, most books on Soviet Marxism do not have a 200-hundred-page annotated bibliography designed to point readers to topics they need to learn further about, my book does have this works-cited section. Since, my book shows readers where they can read more about We the Living, Russian Communism, the Soviet Union, and the rest of it, according to their area of interest and study. It does this by annotating over 75 books, essays, videos, documentaries, and journal articles, which either analyze We the Living, scrutinize the Soviet Union, or dissect Russian Communism, from different human perspectives and life experiences. Thus, unlike most other works, my book writes about the thinking of over 50 reputed scholars, who wrote 79 different works, whom readers can read and study, to complement their personal interests, or research concerns. Since, my book, shows readers—through the works of many other scholars—how Russian Communism harms people lives in hundreds of little ways that readers might not realize.