Dmitry Furmanov was a Russian writer who would become a commissar for the Bolsheviks in the Russian Civil War.  A commissar was a position in the Bolshevik movement that encompassed multiple appendant bodies of representation (military, political, etc) but all represented the same organization: Communist idealism.  It was the job of the commissariat to ensure that the party interests were being realized on day to day operations in all of their respective fields of work.  For example, a commissar attached to a Bolshevik military battalion had the duty and obligation of working not only to recruit more to the cause, but also to ensure that the communist vision is realized by executing and planning phases of actions against the enemy.  Whereas a commissar that represents the people would focus more on the morale and unity of the people on the home front.  These individuals represented the senior leadership of the Bolsheviks and ultimately had a say over the policy, management, and development of the communist movement.

Furmanov’s particular commissar job led him to envelop a novel about arguably the most renown and famous hero of the civil war: Vasily Chapeav.  Chapeav was a soldier of the Bolsheviks who was elected by his fellow soldiers to command their unit against the White Army.  Later in the Civil War, Chapeav demonstrated himself as a confident and competent leader up until his last battle in which he and his unit were ambushed by White Forces.  In his death, Chapeav exemplified the veracious spirit of the Bolshevik effort and went down in history as a hero of the Civil War and was immortalized throughout the future soviet military existence.