Reading The Zhivago Affair.
The authors quote John Maury, CIA Soviet Russia Division chief.
Pasternak's humanistic message - that every person is entitled to a private life and deserves respect as a human being, irrespective of the extent of his political loyalty or contribution to the state - poses a fundamental challenge to the Soviet ethic of sacrifice of the individual to the Communist system[.]
There is no call to revolt against the regime in the novel, but the heresy which Dr. Zhivago preaches - political passivity - is fundamental.
Pasternak suggests that the small unimportant people who remain passive to the regime's demands for active participation and emotional involvement in official campaigns are superior to the political 'activists' favored by the system.
Further, he dares hint that society might function better without these fanatics.
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