Chapter 116 Part Three - Twelve

One of the two people who came in was a young man, not tall, with a thin body, wearing a leather jacket with a lining and a pair of high leather boots.He walked in briskly, carrying two steaming pots of boiling water in his hands, and a piece of bread wrapped in a turban under his armpit. "Oh, so here comes our prince," he said, putting the teapot between the cups, and handing the bread to Maslova. "We've got some nice things," he said, taking off his fur coat and throwing it over everyone's heads onto the corner of the bunk. "Malkay bought milk and eggs, and it's time for a dance today. Emilia always keeps the house clean and tidy," he said, smiling at Emilia.

"Come, now you make tea," he said to her. -------- ①From the context, this should be Emilia.Mao De's English translation as Emilia seems to be correct. There was life and joy in the person's appearance, movements, tone of voice, and eyes.The other person who came in was not tall, thin and bony, with high cheekbones on a gray face, a pair of beautiful pale green eyes set wide apart, and two thin lips.He was the exact opposite of the previous man, with a melancholy and listless look.He wore an old cotton overcoat, overshoes over his boots, and carried two crocks and two bark baskets.He put the things in front of Emilia, and only nodded to Nekhludoff, but kept his eyes on him.Then reluctantly stretched out a sweaty hand to him, and slowly took the food out of the basket and put it away.

Both political prisoners were of civilian origin: the first was Nabatov, a peasant, and the second, Marchai, a worker.Marchay was a middle-aged man of thirty-five when he joined the revolution; Nabatov at eighteen.Nabatov first studied in a rural elementary school, then entered middle school because of his excellent grades, and supported himself by working as a tutor. He won a gold medal when he graduated from middle school, but he did not enter university. Among the common people of birth, to educate the forgotten brethren.He really did this: he first went to a village as a clerk, and was soon arrested for reading pamphlets to peasants and setting up production and consumption cooperatives among peasants.He spent eight months in prison the first time, and was still under surveillance after he was released from prison.As soon as he was released from prison, he went to a village in another province, where he became a teacher and still engaged in those activities.He was arrested again.This time he was imprisoned for one year and two months, and his revolutionary beliefs were further strengthened in prison.

After his second release from prison, he was exiled to Perm province.He escaped from there.He was arrested again, served another seven months in prison, and was exiled to Arkhangelsk Province.There he was sentenced to exile in the Yakutsk region for refusing to swear allegiance to the new tsar.As a result he spent half his adult life in prison and exile.This turbulent life did not make him irritable or deplete his energy, but made him more energetic.He loves to move, has a voracious appetite, is always full of energy and life, and is always on the go.No matter what he does, he never regrets it, nor thinks wildly, but always uses all his wisdom, tact and experience in real life.After he left prison, he always fought for the goal he set, which was to educate and unite the laborers, mainly rural civilians.Once in prison, he remained vigorous, down-to-earth, in touch with the outside world, and managed to arrange his life as best he could, not only for himself but for the community.First of all, he is a member of the village community and always puts the interests of the village community first.He himself wants nothing, lives in poverty, but seeks the interests of the collective everywhere, and can work non-stop, whether it is physical labor or mental work.He was born in a farmer, industrious and clever, quick in work, good at controlling emotions, and treated people with courtesy, not only considerate of other people's feelings, but also respect their opinions.His old mother was a widow, illiterate and superstitious.Nabatov took care of her and visited her often when he was not in prison.Every time he goes home, he always carefully understands her life, helps her with work, and has frequent contacts with his former partners, those rural youths.He smoked doglegs of cheap tobacco with them, fought with them, and preached to them that they were all deceived and should wake up from this deception.Whenever he pondered or explained what good the revolution would bring to the people, he, a man of common origin, always thought that the people's living conditions would be the same as before, except that they would have land and there would be no landowners and no bureaucrats.He believed that a revolution should not change the basic way of life of the people.On this point, he differs from Novodvorov and Novodvorov's follower, Marka.In his opinion, the beautiful, strong, grand old mansion he loved should not be demolished, but the rooms inside should be redistributed.

-------- ①Russian farmers roll their own cigarettes, shaped like dog legs. He also adopted a completely peasant attitude towards religion.He never contemplates illusory issues, does not consider the origin of all things, and does not speculate on life in the underworld.He looks at the question of the existence of God in the same way as Arago, except that he still thinks it is unnecessary to put forward such a hypothesis.How the world was created, whether Moses was right or Darwin was right, did not concern him at all.His comrades believed that Darwin's theory was extremely important, but he felt that this theory, like creating the world in six days, was nothing more than a thought game.

-------- ① Arago (1786-1853) - French physicist and astronomer. He is not interested in the question of how the world came to be, because the question of how man can live better in it is always before him.He never thought about life in the afterlife.Deep in his heart is a firm belief passed down from his ancestors and shared by all farmers, that all animals and plants in the world will never disappear, they just change from one form to another from time to time, as manure becomes Millets, millets become hens, tadpoles become frogs, caterpillars become butterflies, acorns become oak trees, and people will not disappear, they just change.He has such a belief that he always faces death without fear, even with joy, and bears with strength all the pains that lead to death, but he does not like or is good at talking about such matters.He loves his work, is always busy with business, and pushes his comrades to devote themselves to practical work as well.

Among this group of prisoners, another political prisoner from the people, Marche, has a completely different temperament.He became a worker at the age of fifteen, and started smoking and drinking to relieve the humiliation he vaguely felt.The first time he felt this humiliation was at Christmas.At that time, their child laborers were taken to the Christmas tree decorated by the factory boss's wife. The gifts he and his companions received were a flute worth only one kopeck, an apple, a walnut wrapped in gold paper and a dried fig. What the children got were wonderful toys, which he later learned were worth more than fifty rubles.When he was twenty years old, a famous female revolutionary came to work in their factory. She found Marchai's superhuman talent, so she sent him books and pamphlets, talked to him, and explained to him that he was in this situation. Causes of misery and ways to improve lives.Once he realizes that he and others can be liberated from this oppressive situation, he finds this unreasonable situation all the more cruel and terrible. He not only urges liberation, but also demands punishment for causing and maintaining this injustice. people in a reasonable situation.It is said that knowledge is needed to achieve this goal, and Malkay spent all her sleep and food in pursuit of knowledge.He does not know how to rely on knowledge to realize the ideal of socialism, but he believes that since knowledge can make him understand that his situation is irrational, then knowledge can also eliminate this irrational phenomenon.Besides, having knowledge can also make him appear smarter than others.Therefore, he quit smoking and drinking, and read whenever he has free time, and since he became a warehouse manager, he has more free time.

The female revolutionary taught him to read, and was amazed at his peculiar ability to absorb knowledge hungrily.In two years, he learned algebra, geometry, and his favorite history, dabbling in various literary works and critical works, especially socialist works. Later, the female revolutionary was arrested, and Marchay was also arrested because banned books were found in his home.He was imprisoned and later exiled to Vologod Province.There he met Novodvorov, read many revolutionary books, and kept them in his heart, which further strengthened his socialist ideas.At the end of his exile, he led a general strike that ended in smashing the factory and killing the factory director.He was arrested again, sentenced to deprivation of public rights, and exiled to Siberia.

He is as negative about religion as he is about the current economic system.As soon as he saw the absurdity of the religion in which he had been brought up, he threw it off with resoluteness, at first with some hesitation, but later with relief.Henceforth, as if he wanted to avenge the deceptions he and his ancestors had been deceived, he laughed bitterly at priests and dogma at every opportunity. For a long time, he has developed the habit of abstinence, and his requirements for material things are extremely low.Like all people who have been accustomed to labor since childhood, he is well-muscled, and he can do any physical work with joy and ease.He treasured his time very much and studied hard all the time in prison and on the station.He is now studying the first volume of Marx's works, which he carefully hides in his bag as a priceless treasure.He is relatively alienated and indifferent to his comrades, but he especially admires Novodvorov.Whatever opinion Novodvorov expressed, he regarded it as indisputable truth.

-------- ① Refers to the first volume of the Russian translation of "Das Kapital", published in 1872. He had an irrepressible contempt for women, whom he regarded as an obstacle to all serious work.But he sympathized with Maslova, treated her kindly, and regarded her as an example of the exploitation of the lower classes by the upper classes.For this reason he did not like Nekhludoff, did not talk to him, did not shake hands with him, and did not extend his hand to him unless Nekhludoff greeted him first.