Darkness at Noon is one of the pioneering anti-communism books authored by Arthur Koestler, a man of many talents. It was published in 1940, when the death-dance of Communism was in full vigour throughout the world. Koestler’s success in swimming against the tide is evident from the insights his book provides.

A former member of the Communist Party, Koestler quit in disgust when he heard of Stalin’s purges in 1938. The novel is the outcome of his reflections during his imprisonment in Spain by Franco’s soldiers. Darkness at Noon was originally written in German, but the German text has been lost. The translation I read is just about average.

The novel opens with a description of the protagonist Rubashov’s imprisonment. The rest of the novel alternates between the past and the present life of Rubashov, a veteran Bolshevik revolutionary now his fifties. He is imprisoned for crimes against the State, which he hasn’t committed. The entire novel is mainly Rubashov’s self-introspection with bits of conversation thrown in between him and the other characters. The plot gradually unfolds and exposes–very realistically–along the way, the motives and methods of dictatorship.

A committed Communist, Rubashov genuinely believes in all Marxist/Leninist theories of revolution, of history moving in a logical sequence, and of “following every thought to its logical consequence.” His firm faith in “ends justify any means” leads him to sacrifice people for the sake of “deliverance” aka the Communist paradise. He feels sorry for them but faith in his ideology–and the result of decades of indoctrination–prohibits him from having a conscience. He is made a Commissar, reports directly to No.1–it is anybody’s guess which historical figure No.1 represents–and then falls from grace. He is betrayed by the very system he helped to create.

Rubashov at first refutes the charges levelled, then accepts, and finally, in public, confesses his guilt for crimes he has not committed. He is mildly tortured–by the use of excessive light and depriving him of sleep for days. Rubashov at one point during his interrogation decides that he’ll be allowed to sleep if he admits his guilt on all charges at once. In a twisted logic of repentance/service to the Party, he decides to allow himself to be humiliated at every turn, as he calls it, “climbing down each step of the ladder, one at a time.” He is shot after his public confession of guilt.

Darkness at Noon stands unrivalled in exposing the precise methodology of conducting sham trials commonplace in Stalinist Russia. It exposes the hollowness of ends justify the means. Arthur Koestler uses the verse I jotted down in this entry–show us not the aim…–in the final chapter. The Revolution and the consequent society he helped to create, Rubashov finds too late in life, is ethically flawed, and truth is what the Party dictates at any moment. An agriculturist who maintains that Nitrate is good for a good crop yield is arrested and executed because it is against the Party’s policy, which favours Potash. Is Koestler hinting at Lysenko?

All this troubles Rubashov, but he refuses to acknowledge that the Revolution has failed. He believes that the paradise has to still wait, that what he is witnessing is still the toddling steps of the masses unable to fathom the noble idea behind all this, and that they are still immature. And with numerous other attempts at self-reconciliation, Rubashov tries to justify his own treacherous deeds in the past–all done in the name of revolution, all done, as he reflects, “with a mathematical calculation” to ensure maximum happiness of society.

Koestler gets “under Rubashov’s skin” to depict the “inner workings” of a man bred on the diet of ideology. And succeeds. We’re shown towards the end, when Rubashov reflects on civilization. He says (Ed: paraphrased), to the more highly civilized gorillas, the first human trying to walk on two feet must have looked amusing. And amusement turned to horror when they found this Neanderthal eating flesh. Again when Rubashov tries to cut through the “mathematics of history,” he mulls, we were taught that there’s no individual, free will means nothing, it must be abolished. Man is a mathematical figure of one million by one million. But something went wrong. They didn’t take into account that every person in that million is made of flesh and blood.

As the book progresses we find that the “old guard,” or the people who actually worked for the revolution are systematically wiped out so that No.1 can consolidate his position. People are suddenly detected as counterrevolutionaries or foreign agents, or words spoken long in the past are now interpreted as treasonous. Rubashov suffers the same fate. What is interesting in the book is that No.1 is only mentioned in the passing, and he mainly stays in Rubashov’s thoughts. There’s no description, no words to put a face to. Not just No.1, Koestler doesn’t mention the name of Rubashov’s country; he refers to it as the “bastion of revolution,” and the “Fatherland.”

Darkness at Noon is a compelling read mainly for its clarity of thought, literary devices be damned. There are a few of the latter: the white patches on walls, the portrait of No.1, which adorns the walls of every citizen’s home, and Rubashov’s prince-nez, which he always keeps polishing and which when he is led down the steps to his execution, finally falls down and breaks. Rubashov in his final moments has failed to grasp the flawed ideology that is Communism.

It is about 220 pages, a three-to-four-hour read. Buy it.