Proletariat Despair In Uncle Vanya

Anton Chekhov’s play “Uncle Vanya” tells the story of a late 1800’s Russian estate tossed into turmoil by the arrival of a professor Serebryakov, a man that has retired from academia to live on his dead wife’s land. The tiresome Serebryakov, displays arrogance and tyranny to everyone around him, and only stays on the estate due to the blind admiration of his former mother-in law. His beautiful young wife, Elena, is lusted after by the other men on the estate, including the doctor Mikhail Lvovich Astrov and the manager of the estate, Ivan Petrovich Voynitzky, Uncle Vanya. Indeed, the primary conflict in the novel is between Vanya and the professor, for upon meeting the figure for which he has toiled for years, Vanya realizes that he has wasted his life laboring for a useless man. It is possible; however, to extend this conflict to a broader matter, what Karl Marx would describe as a larger class struggle between the proletariat, the class that forever labors to support the bourgeoisie, which controls the means of productions and shamelessly exploits the work of the proletariat for their own benefit. The play “Uncle Vanya” exemplifies the type of world the Marx described facing “the specter of Communism”; one where the proletariat and the bourgeoisie are on the verge of revolution.

As previously stated, the primary conflict in the book is between Professor Serebryakov, and his estate manager, Vanya. Vanya feels as though his “life is a waste”, because instead of working for his own gain and notoriety, he has spent most of his life working for the benefit of Serebryakov. In the play, Serebryakov represents the bourgeoisie, the group that owns the means of production; that oppresses the destitute working class, abuses and exploits them. Serebryakov is the wealthy, educated person for whom the estate is run; he makes himself a great burden to the workers of the estate and demands that the peasants send him the fruits of their labor. Serebryakov has absolutely no concern for the comfort or happiness of his workers. He happily deprives his own daughter, forcing her to live in near poverty so that he can live leisurely. In this way, the professor shows that he is not concerned with any sort of familial relationships; it is all about money. In the play, the professor is not supported by the sweat of his own brow or the work of his own hands; but has achieved his position by riding on the backs of his workers.

Uncle Vanya, and, to a lesser extent, Sonya, daughter of Serebryakov and his dead wife, represent the proletariat. Marx defined the proletariat as the poor, anonymous working class, the joyless workers that endlessly toil not so that they can enjoy the products of their efforts but so that they receive a miniscule wage. These people exist solely so that the bourgeoisie can enjoy their profits. Sonya describes how she and Vanya “constantly toil for others’, how they “spent their nights translating <Serebryakov’s> books”, and “worked without rest.” She tells of how they “didn’t spend a kopeck on <themselves>”, “for they sent it all to <Serebryakov>”. Sonya and Vanya’s relationship with Serebryakov is characterized as similar to that between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat; the proletariat do all of the work, but the bourgeoisie receive all of the benefits. Technically, Sonya is the actual “owner’ the estate; in this sense, it is ironic that she is not the one to prosper from the estate. She instead must work for her father.

Although this obviously one-sided relationship had existed for years, open conflict does not arise until Serebryakov discloses his plan to sell the estate. When he hears this proposal, Vanya realizes that the bourgeoisie will unashamedly discard him, and “toss <him> into the snow”, mindless of all of his sacrifices. He laments that Serebryakov never “once thought of the man who worked for <him>,” only deigning to pay Vanya enough to survive. Vanya goes so far as to call himself a “pauper”, for he has given all his wealth to the professor. Serebryakov confirms Vanya’s sense of worthlessness by calling him a “nothing”, and making his contempt for the working class clear. After this announcement, the play climaxes when Vanya, disillusioned with the system, stages a small-scale “proletarian revolt” by attempting to shoot the professor (overthrow the bourgeoisie). Vanya endeavors to kill the