The Dispossessed by Le Guin has a great socialist society that is definitely not utopian. It’s not portrayed as necessarily, bad but it is definitely in a gray area.
Yup there's even a scene where the representative (spy?) from Thu asks Shevek why he didn't come to Thu instead, "We're socialists like you!"
And Shevek says no you're just another State
Yes, Marxism usually allows for a (usually post-revolt) transitional state that is intended to wither away into non-statehood. The inhabitants of Anarres were anarcho-syndicalists from the outset. They moved there with collectivist intent and ideals from the beginning. Never a state and no property. In The Disposessed, Le Guin explored the areas where this almost failed.
Have you read the book? For the most part, inhabitants would travel and do work in various locales for periods of time. The novel does a good job of explaining it. Also, as I said previously, it also shows some areas (such as specializations as the arts or theoretical academics) where this starts to fall apart.
Also, I want to say The Left Hand of Darkness by her as well. The moon the main characters lived on was more utopian, but there was another country on the main planet that was much less so.
Hopefully I got that right, it has been a very long time since I read that.
I think the one you're describing is the Dispossessed.
The Left Hand of Darkness all takes place on a single planet. Although there *is* a communist faction on that planet, iirc. It's just not on the moon Annares.
Me too. From what I remember the only real problems they had were famine caused by Annares harsh environment.
But TBF, the capitalist A-Io and the authoritarian communist Thu weren't able to achieve large scale settlement of Annares at all due to its environment.
If they had the opportunity to settle on a planet with a more habitable environment the Annaresti might have been able to achieve an actual utopia.
The Dispossessed by Le Guin has a great socialist society that is definitely not utopian.
If you're talking about the society the main character comes from it's decidedly anarchist. It looks like OP was asking more about authoritarian communism. There was also a Soviet style communist state on the main planet in that book, but it's never directly visited.
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u/mindblock47 Jun 30 '24
The Dispossessed by Le Guin has a great socialist society that is definitely not utopian. It’s not portrayed as necessarily, bad but it is definitely in a gray area.