By Ryunosuke Akutagawa, from “A Certain Socialist,” a short story written in 1926. Akutagawa (1892–1927) was the author of more than three hundred works of fiction and non-fiction, including the short stories “Rashomon,” “The Spider’s Thread,” and “In a Grove.” Translated from the Japanese as a part of a manuscript in progress by Ryan C. K. Choi.

A young man decided to become a socialist, and when his father—a low-ranking civil servant—heard, he threatened to disinherit him, though the young man was not convinced, except of his own righteousness and by the fervor of his friends, together with…