Rubashov, himself an aging Bolshevik revolutionary and one of the few
             survivors from Lenin's old guard, is brought to a confrontation of his own
             past during his imprisonment and interrogation. The period is Stalin's
             Russia of the 1930s, a time when Stalin systematically eliminated all
             opposition to the new ideology of collectivism,' and his own rule. As a
             result, Rubashov is forced to undergo the same experience of suffering and
             psychological torture that he himself had been party to inflicting on many
             an innocent individual, including his own friends and even his lover, in
             the name of the revolution. This leads him to a great deal of introspection
             and soul searching on his personal value system and indeed, the ideology
             followed by the Party. Reflecting back on his own life, Rubashov slowly
             reaches the conclusion that the end does not justify the means.
             Now that Rubashov finds himself in the shoes of his own victims, he
             begins to re-examine the justification used by the Party in inflicting
             suffering on many individuals who betrayed even a hint of individualism or
             opposition to the cause. For instance, he recalls the case of Bogrov, a
             naval engineer: "â€advocatedâ€submarinesâ€large range of action. The Party is
             in favor ofâ€small rangeâ€not have been enough to put him out of the wayâ€had
             to be discreditedâ€." (Koestler, 122) Slowly, Rubashov realizes just how
             much the Party has acted only in its own interests and not the interests of
             the masses. Truth and progress have no role to play. As Rubashov records in
             his diary, "â€leading agriculturistâ€shot with thirty of his collaborators
             because he maintainedâ€nitrate artificial manure was superior to potash."
             (79). With imprisonment bringing Rubashov to the receiving end of the
             Party's policies, he realizes that he has spen...