The Madhouse - post VI

The battle for the harvest ends in waste and disappointment and is used by the STA as a metaphor for the failure of communism. The different types of personality and reaction to communism is also shown by those who work and those who shirk. The entire experience seems to sum up the misery of living under a system that no longer has any ability to inspire fear or respect from its people.

Bullet points between pages 322 – 368

* There is an argument between JRF and one of the hard working members of the team who says that he cannot relate to the young man but in the end the argument is diffused after someone points out they are both striving to be individualists and are very much alike

* The rains come and things start to get hairy for the workers who have not been issued with proper waterproof clothing and now face pressure to get everything picked before the crops get ruined

* But with the transport system being halted by mud the workers are told to put the food they dig up into storage pits in the ground where everyone knows they will be left to go rotten and then when the building supplies come in to build proper storage theft is rife

* The period in the countryside ends with bitter feelings over the theft of the building supplies with most having to be put back after an inquiry is launched and the commissar is exposed for having a relationship out of wedlock and it all gets a bit messy

So ends parts three of the book and the final part should revert back to JRF and pick up the story of the KGB investigation. More tomorrow...