The Madhouse - post II

There is a constant stream of debate happening in the mind of the hero of the book between Lenin, Stalin, Beria, Iron Felix (founder of the modern KGB) and Marx. They keep telling him that it doesn’t matter what he thinks the system is all about because it is flawed but that is irrelevant because to succeed you have to not only turn a blind eye to the failures but embrace them and become one of them.

Bullet points between pages 64 – 122

* JRF starts the process of becoming a party member not because he believes but because without that he cannot publish his thesis and move onto the next rung of the ladder

* But as he starts to consider becoming a party member the debate in his head about the relevance and the morality of the party starts to get louder with Stalin and Marx admitting that there works and approach were ‘shit’

* Meanwhile on the relationship front all of the running around to get his party accreditation means that he loses one girlfriend who he stands up and then almost loses another who is forced to stay locked in his room for hours

* But one girl remains faithful to him and he returns one night drunk and tired and finds that she has replaced his bed with an ottoman but when he wakes from a blissful sleep she has gone and he doesn't remember anything about her

* He starts to ingratiate himself with some of the movers and shakers in the academy and is asked to write the preface to a book that one of the directors is writing about scientists that have expressed negative thoughts about the regime

* All the time there is a debate raging in his mind with Stalin, Lenin and the voices from the KGB all discussing why the communist party is defunct and how he can climb the greasy pole by taking a few short-cuts

More tomorrow when hopefully I will have calmed down a little bit more about the bike being stolen. The attitude of the police was predictable with them showing little hope of getting it back or little interest in the whole case.