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Not sure if this is the right place for this question, but it seemed the best option.

I had an idea for a short story about a (neo-noir) hardboiled detective in a near future European communist society. But I have no idea how realistic this would be. I'm not very worried about the futuristic aspect. There are enough good neo-noir examples. It's the compatibility with communism that looks difficult. Hardboiled detectives have always seemed very American to me. The only good example of a socialist noir story I can find is the novel and movie Zift.

How would communist officials react to a private detective? Is there any historical precedent (in real life or in literature)?

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    $\begingroup$ This might be more suited to our Writing site than here, but just ask a single focused question there (as we require here). Please ensure to take their tour and read-up in their help centre before posting to ensure that your question is in-shape. Best to delete this one as it's off-topic (not about worldbuilding). $\endgroup$
    – Escaped dental patient.
    Commented May 10 at 13:48
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    $\begingroup$ @Escapeddentalpatient. He may not realise it himself but what he's really asking is if private enterprise is at all possible within a communist regime, the problem is he hasn't outlined the exact style of communist regime, what the regime controls and doesn't, if it has money at all or runs more like a comune, just saying 'communist society' doesn't tell you were the cracks and wriggle room is. $\endgroup$
    – Pelinore
    Commented May 10 at 14:29
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    $\begingroup$ The Amazon Prime show Comrade Detective is a funny modern parody that pretends to be a Cold War era cop show. It has some tropes you might find useful: it is willfully ignorant of corruption, the "crimes" being investigated are "crimes against Communism", it holds that the job of the police is to enforce political orthodoxy, not to solve petty crime between residents. You can have a detective in a Communist society, but you have to actually take "Communist society" seriously instead of pretending it's just like America or the UK but with a red flag. Entire lifeways were different. $\endgroup$
    – Tom
    Commented May 10 at 14:32
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    $\begingroup$ We did have detective novels and the occasional police procedural film or series and true crime shows in the former socialist republics of eastern Europe, and I know for sure that they also had detective novels in the USSR, because I have read some of them. Private detectives, not so much -- mostly because very little need for their services, as divorces were trivially simple compared to what is shown on American TV shows. $\endgroup$
    – AlexP
    Commented May 10 at 14:51
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    $\begingroup$ This isn't worldbuilding. Per the help center we do not help people write stories. Worldbuilding is about developing the infrastructure upon which stories are written. (a) The part of this question focusing on historical examples would be better asked at History. BTW, on SE you can ask one and only one quesiton per post. (b) Solving criminal mysteries is a useful occupation in every governmental system, so your question really boils down to how a hardboiled detective would be represented in a communist regime (again, ask on History). But that's not worldbuilding. $\endgroup$
    – JBH
    Commented May 12 at 20:06

3 Answers 3

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Remember that real-world Communist systems were autocracies. Some more, some less, but in all of them the leadership of a cadre party was trying to re-educate their population for what they claimed to be the greater good.

  • Communist systems control the news, and they try to control rumor. Whenever an investigation becomes politically sensitive, the secret police takes over and investigates before it decides what it will release. And what gets swept under the carpet. This could include crimes which "were not supposed to happen in a socialist society." Or crimes where the perpetrators were politically connected. Freelance investigators could become a problem.
  • Communist systems try to control the economy. Freelance professions were viewed with suspicion, for they were on the slippery slope towards capitalism.
  • Communist systems very much control the use of force by people who were not explicitly authorized by the ruling party. A freelance detective could hardly carry a revolver in his trenchcoat. For that matter, trenchcoats were probably not available, either.

During the Communist era in the German Democratic Republic, there was the crime show Polizeiruf 110. Look at some old episodes (before it was continued after Unification). If you can find them, and if you can deal with the language. The script writers were doing some interesting footwork regarding "acceptable" crimes and "acceptable" criminals in a "workers' paradiese" ...

You might, of course, put the character and mix of weariness, cynicism, and idealism of noir into a regular police officer in such a system.

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  • $\begingroup$ did you mean "discontinued" after unification? $\endgroup$
    – Pelinore
    Commented May 10 at 14:33
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    $\begingroup$ @Pelinore: It is still on. The 412th episode was broadcast on 21 April 2024. $\endgroup$
    – AlexP
    Commented May 10 at 14:55
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    $\begingroup$ @Pelinore, the post-unification episodes try to catch regional flavor in the reunified states. $\endgroup$
    – o.m.
    Commented May 10 at 14:59
  • $\begingroup$ @o.m. I think I'll be going for your last paragraph. Now I have to find those old Polizeiruf episodes. I'm used to subtitles and somewhat fluent in German, so that's not gonna be a problem. $\endgroup$
    – mdriesen
    Commented May 11 at 8:20
  • $\begingroup$ @mdriesen I have some of the DVDs, and they're not subtitled (even in German), nor apparently are the copies available on Amazon Prime. $\endgroup$
    – prosfilaes
    Commented May 11 at 14:25
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In a purely communist society, a private detective is not possible, because private transactions don't take place. All production, including the production of detective services, would be carried out by the state and all consumption, including of the consumption of detective services, would be allocated by the state. That still leaves plenty of options, including:

  1. Set the story in an impure communist society, in which much production (e.g. industrial production) is carried out by the state, but not all, and much consumption is allocated by the state (maybe the consumption of essentials or non-discretionary goods and services). This would still leave room for private transactions for services such as detectives.
  2. Set the story in a pure communist society and have the detective operating on the black market.
  3. Set the story in a pure communist society and have the detective services provided by the state. They could be a "private" detective in the sense they investigate in response to the request of an individual, even though they're paid by the state. In that case they may not have the same social role or rights and privileges as police.
  4. Have some quirky, specific reason why a society might allocate everything according to communist principles, except detective services which are private.

The choice would really depend on the needs of the story. If it's a story about bureaucracy, option 3 could give lots of fun juxtapositions with the tough, hard-boiled detective filling out lots of necessary paperwork. On the other hand, if it's a story about cynicism and exposing the underbelly of society, then a black market private detective might work.

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  • $\begingroup$ I like your first suggestion. I'll keep that as plan B in case the regular police officer doesn't work out. $\endgroup$
    – mdriesen
    Commented May 11 at 8:25
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Most detective stories are around things that would matter to the state, so your detective can be a guy employed and licenced by your fictional government.

A detective investigating a legal case and not just spying on people while being paid is totally plausible, so 95% of stories are fine in that regard.

Solving murders, catching fraudsters, and revealing cheating spouses are all things that you can do without any issues in your setting. If you want some industrial espionage stuff then you better send them abroad but still spying for the communist government.

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