Homo novus in the Utopian Projects of Soviet Science Fiction Writers of the 1950–80s

Abstract

The article examines how the problems of social reconstruction of society and the re-creation of man were solved in the utopian projects of Soviet science fiction writers of the 1950–80s. The first such project in this period was Ivan Yefremov's novel “Andromeda: A Space-Age Tale”. This novel arose as a response to certain spiritual needs of the Soviet society during the “Thaw”. The utopian picture of the future presented in it was not a reflection of the official ideology and official political course, but deviated from them, expressing hope for further anti-authoritarian evolution. After these hopes in the late 1960s were not justified, Yefremov moves on to a more critical assessment of Soviet reality, but at the same time does not abandon the utopian element, in some respects even strengthening it, emphasizing the physical and spiritual perfection of the people of the future. Egalitarianism, characteristic of left-wing utopian projects, is complemented by Yefremov with a spiritual dimension, an appeal to Eastern (Indo-Buddhist) practices of self-regulation of the psyche, harmonization of interpersonal relationships and relationships with nature. The Strugatsky brothers went through a similar evolution: from the enthusiasm of the early 1960s (inspired, among other things, by Yefremov's novel) to disappointment and deconstruction of the utopian ideal they had previously created. But, faced with the impasse into which the humanistic project of man had reached, neither Efremov nor the Strugatskys dared to radically expand it, turning it into a post-humanistic project and including artificial intelligence, non-humanoid intelligent beings and posthumans, as modern social philosophers do.