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A character in Darkness at Noon

Nikolai Salmanovich Rubashov

Rubashov is a veteran revolutionary, former Party leader, diplomat, and political enforcer.

The book

Cover of Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler
Darkness at NoonArthur Koestler, 1940

A revolutionary is arrested by the state he helped create and ordered to confess to crimes he did not commit.

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Who they are in the book

Spoiler-free

Rubashov is a veteran revolutionary, former Party leader, diplomat, and political enforcer. He wants to understand whether the movement he served has betrayed its purpose or merely applied his own logic to him. His memories reveal real guilt even though the present charges are fabricated. He confesses publicly and is executed, ending as both a victim of the regime and a man who helped create its methods.

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