https://doi.org/10.31261/RSL.2025.35.04
This article offers an analysis of the conduct and character of Aleksandr Leontyevich Onisimov, the protagonist of The New Appointment by Aleksandr Bek. Onisimov, a high-ranking official in the Ministry of Industry during the height of Stalin’s rule (1938–1953), is portrayed as someone whose traits – such as servility, caution, ruthlessness, and total subordination to the party leadership under Stalin – enabled him to maintain his position during the era of terror and purges. Yet Onisimov is also marked by personal honesty, modesty, and a sensitivity to the plight of the repressed. His career trajectory is primarily shaped by fear and the unconditional execution of orders from the party leadership. It is this life marked by constant fear that ultimately leads to his fatal illness. As the analysis demonstrates, Onisimov’s attitude was typical of the beneficiaries of the Stalinist era – writers, artists, scholars, and scientists who, in various ways, supported the totalitarian Soviet regime. Many of them helped construct and benefit from the criminal system, only to become its victims later. Such was also the fate of Onisimov, although he himself managed to avoid direct repression.
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2025
Published: 2021-02-26
10.31261/RSL
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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