Bolshevik Analysis in Doctor Zhivago

The Bolsheviks (derived from the Russian word for majority) were a faction within the prerevolutionary Russian Social Democratic Labor Party which eventually became the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Led by Vladimir Lenin, the Bolsheviks pursued a vanguard strategy which, though unsuccessful in 1905, allowed them to seize power in 1917. Though its factional origins had become anachronistic, “Bolshevik” remained a colloquial term for communists both in and outside the party throughout the Russian Civil War and later 20th century.

Bolshevik Quotes in Doctor Zhivago

The Doctor Zhivago quotes below are all either spoken by Bolshevik or refer to Bolshevik. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

Administrative re-elections were held everywhere: in house committees, in organizations, at work, in public service institutions. Their makeup was changing. Commissars with unlimited power were appointed everywhere, people of iron will, in black leather jackets, armed with means of intimidation and revolvers, who rarely shaved and still more rarely slept.

They were well acquainted with the petty bourgeois breed, the average holder of small government bonds, the groveling conformist, and never spared him, talking to him with a Mephistophelean smirk, as with a pilferer caught in the act.

These people controlled everything as the program dictated, and enterprise after enterprise, association after association, became Bolshevik.

Page Number and Citation: 230

Explanation and Analysis:

And everything used to give joy by its richness and shapeliness—church services, dances, people, manners—even though the family was from simple folk, tradesmen, from peasants and workers. And Russia, too, was a young girl, and she had real suitors, real protectors, not like nowadays. Now everything’s lost its sheen, there’s nothing but the civilian trash of lawyers and Yids, chewing words tirelessly, day and night, choking on words. Vlasushka and his retinue hope to lure the old golden times back with champagne and good wishes. Is that any way to win back a lost love? You’ve got to overturn stones for that, move mountains, dig up the earth!

Related Characters: Galuzina (speaker), Vlas “Vlasushka” Galuzin

Page Number and Citation: 368-369

Explanation and Analysis:

“[…] I grant that you’re all bright lights and liberators of Russia, that without you she would perish, drowned in poverty and ignorance, and nevertheless I can’t be bothered with you, and I spit on you, I don’t like you, and you can all go to the devil.

“The rulers of your minds indulge in proverbs, but they’ve forgotten the main one, that love cannot be forced, and they have a deeply rooted habit of liberating people and making them happy, especially those who haven’t asked for it. You probably fancy that there’s no better place in the world for me than your camp and your company. I probably should even bless you and thank you for my captivity, for your having liberated me from my family, my son, my home, my work, from everything that’s dear to me and that I live by.”

Related Characters: Yuri Andreevich Zhivago (speaker), Liberius Mikulitsyn

Page Number and Citation: 402

Explanation and Analysis:

Bolshevik Term Timeline in Doctor Zhivago

The timeline below shows where the term Bolshevik appears in Doctor Zhivago. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

...now a professor, speaks in a dull, academic register. Nikolai Nikolaevich has become a dedicated Bolshevik, prompting a fierce political debate with Alexander Alexandrovich. Even Shura Schlesinger is now committed to... (full context)

...with the family’s defective stove when Nikolai Nikolaevich enters with important news: supporters of the Bolsheviks and the Provisional Government are fighting in the streets. (full context)

...treats him at home until he is able to go out for medicine after the Bolsheviks gain the upper hand. A few days later, on a nighttime walk, Yuri buys a... (full context)

...the Siberian youth, Evgraf—who turns out to be Yuri’s half-brother, who is well-connected with the Bolshevik authorities. Evgraf advises the Zhivagos to escape Moscow for the provinces, and so they resolve... (full context)

...former prisoner of war recommended to his position by Tiverzin, who is now an important Bolshevik. Strelnikov quickly built himself a reputation for ruthless and determined leadership and has become an... (full context)

...Red Army commander is a quintessential Muscovite, very unlike the locals, though Samdevyatov is a Bolshevik himself. Tonya asks Samdevyatov if he knows Lara Antipova, but Yuri keeps silent. The Zhivagos... (full context)

...faces a building distinguished by its elaborate caryatids, formerly the Merchants’ Association and now the Communist Party headquarters. (full context)

...Strelnikov. Yuri concedes that Strelnikov confounded his expectations, but he tells her he believes the Bolsheviks, who distrust Strelnikov as a non-party officer, will eventually betray Strelnikov. This news seems to... (full context)

...for centuries was the only means of transport to Siberia. All along the highway the Bolsheviks have been deposed, replaced first by the Provisional Government and now by Admiral Kolchak’s dictatorship.... (full context)

...Galuzin oversees the event, and he rises to give a speech. He rails against the Bolsheviks, describing them as agents of foreign capital who have stolen and sabotaged the revolution. His... (full context)

Yuri goes back outside to read the decrees. Astounded by the Bolsheviks’ paranoid demands for searches and seizures to find hoarded food, he faints. Helped by passersby,... (full context)

...hold of the city. As they predicted, Strelnikov has fallen out of favor with the party and gone into hiding. Lara explains that in Yuri’s absence, she and Tonya became close.... (full context)

...but Komarovsky is unfazed; he explains that Yuri is a known target of the local party, led by Pavel Ferapontovich Antipov and Tiverzin, who are planning one last major purge as... (full context)

...to himself, however, and instead he listens quietly to Dudorov explain his newfound embrace of Bolshevism after his return from exile in a labor camp. Yuri gets up to leave, explaining... (full context)

Doctor Zhivago

Boris Pasternak

Bolshevik Term Analysis

Bolshevik Quotes in Doctor Zhivago

Bolshevik Term Timeline in Doctor Zhivago