How the Steel Was Tempered

“How the Steel Was Tempered” is partially autobiographical novel by Nikolay Ostrovsky.

The novel reflects events of the era of the Civil War, the Civil War in Ukraine, the German occupation of Kharkov and the intervention of the Entente, the Soviet-Polish War, the debates among young people about the NEP, the “Left Opposition,” about Lenin’s call to join the party and Komsomol, about the Komsomol’s participation in the “Workers’ Opposition,” Trotskyism, the restoration of the national economy, and socialist construction in the early years of Soviet power.

The most precious thing in a person is life. It is given only once, and it must be lived so that you won’t be painfully hurt by years lived without purpose, so that you won’t be burned by shame for a petty and mean past, so that when dying you can say: all life and all strength were devoted to the most beautiful thing in the world—the struggle for the liberation of humankind. And you have to hurry to live. After all, a ridiculous illness or some tragic accident may cut life short.