Über-Utopias of Perpetual Busyness: Marzahn and Huaxi

"If work and leisure are soon to be subordinated to this one utopian principle - absolute busyness - then utopia and melancholy will come to coincide: an age without conflict will dawn, perpetually busy - and without consciousness" (From the Diary of the Snail. Günter Grass, Nobel prize-winning author reflecting on the traumas of the 20th century). Grass’ utopian principle of absolute busyness rings particularly true in the case of two urban communities: namely, Berlin Marzahn, built under the watchful eyes of the former East German Socialist Unity Party; and Huaxi, a planned community in Eastern China that was founded by Wu Renbao, a retired village chief of China's communist party. Each community was conceived as a showcase community or utopian über-community which would be defined within the context of utopian communal history. Since both communities functioned as a workers’ paradise of sorts, they remained deeply embedded in socialist and communist ideology. Furthermore, while the leadership kept the communities busy and content by providing an abundance of leisure activities, high standards of living, and access to public spaces, it fostered party conformity. Most importantly, however, as time and space remained in a perpetual flux of work and play, no room was left for revolutionary consciousness.