Konrad and Alexandra (pdf) - Rolf Gross

erated him. Had he not himself said that the Empire and the institution of the Tsar were ready
to collapse? Didn’t he also feel that a revolution of the masses of dispossessed people was
imminent? What would one do if that happened?
Konrad sniggered. "Life has always been dangerous, it is only because the past few
years have been so peaceful that people are pursued by fearful premonitions. You are much
more sensible than you admit to yourself, was it not your idea to counteract your fears by
studying medicine? What to do? Exactly what you are doing!"
But, she pointed out that her work had not assuaged her fears or ended her nightmares.
"Maybe I should try to imagine how such a collapse would look to be able to cope with my fears
should it happen."
Konrad shook his head. "Dearest woman, you are pregnant, that is most likely the
reason for your nightmares. Brimus is disturbing your peace of mind. The
Gedankenexperiment, the thought-experiment you propose would put you into a
hypersensitive, hysterical condition, which would be more dangerous for your emotional
balance than your premonitions. Be alert, watch the evolution of events with your clear eyes
and act very fast when necessary without regard to your personal property, possessions, or
safety."
Alexandra remembered the certainty she had experienced in front of van Gogh’s
paintings, that her body and her eyes would protect her from going insane. At this moment
Brimus kicked her into the stomach. She sighed and with a laugh gave Brimus a slap.
She was, of course, not entirely wrong, thought Konrad later. The University was
infiltrated with radicals, and because he was a young docent who did not belong to the
establishment, he was often approached by these people trying to recruit him to their various
causes. Konrad had a deep-seated aversion to radicals and their theories: One could spot
them by their poor clothing and emaciated looks. Not that they were really poor, that was their
"uniform." The most rabid of them were invariably women. They were brighter, and more
determined than their male co-students.
Konrad found the ideas of the radical extremists chaotic and irrational. They were
almost without exception confused political dreamers, influenced by mystics. Many were
religious fanatics, who in the hope of becoming a revered "martyr," would willingly let
themselves be rounded up and be taken to prison or sent to Siberia. There was no single
leader that united them—if one excluded the old Tolstoi. The many groups fought each other
more viciously than their common enemy.
Alexandra had been inoculated by her father against religious and political fanaticism.
Her Georgian background made her a critic of the "system," not because of any vague
philosophical idealism, but because the "system" was Russian. Her newly acquired "socialism"
was not political ideology but practical humanism.
But, thank God, he mused, Alexandra had not yet been exposed to the worst in St.
Petersburg. Every month thousands of illiterate peasants streamed into the city and
overcrowded the horrible slum dwellings that housed the factory workers. They worked and
slept in shifts, two or three people to one bed. Mercilessly exploited, their life was much better
compared to the villages where a decade ago their parents had still been serfs.
Social friction was an inevitable consequence of these conditions, but this proletariat
consisted of uneducated and unmotivated illiterates. They could not grasp the confusing
114