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merely the problems of absolute want but those of inequality: that
"fascism is a contrediction of the objective movement of history" and
must disappear: and that democratic values must come to full flower
under collectivism when the danger of a capitalist counter-revolution
recedes.
Like most mixtures of opportunism and mysticism, Laski's posi–
tion leads
him
to a brutality which will shock those who like myself
have regarded him, until now, as a protagonist of democr111tic socialism.
He lumps together the criticism: by socialists of Russian practices
which have betrayed socialist ideals with criticism by reactionaries
who wish to restore capitalism in Russia. He says of the position
taken by socialist critics that "it is a wholly mistaken one because it
is unhistorical." (p. 411) Mr. Laski does not understand what an
historical approach to a situation is. For him it is a justification of
what has happened after it is safely over. At heart it is the view that
whatever happens is right. And if all values are determined by the
mode of economic production, and if at any given time there are no
alternatives to the mode of production, as Laski believes, then what–
ever is,
is
right-or wrong for that matter, since there is no significant
moral judgment without the recognition of an objective possibility of
choice. There are reasons, of course, for whatever happens in history.
This does not gainsay the existence of objective alternatives; not always
and not in every respect, but wherever we attribute responsibility or
blame. Laski implies that if we understand the Russian Revolution
we will understand that its development in the main could be no other
than what it was. But it would be easy to show that from the dissolu–
tion of ,the Constituent Assembly to the Stalin-Hitler Pact other
alternatives existed equally compatible with the state of the produc–
tive forces. Laski recognizes this for certain aspects of Russian foreign
policy but not for domestic policy, although on his theory both are
related. "I think it probable that, had Lenin not precipitated the fatal
split in the working-class forces implied in the foundation of the
Communist International, certainly not Hitler, and perhaps not Mus–
soHni, would have attained to power." (p. 84)
In an obvious sense this is a war book: one cannot escape the
impression that had Hitler not invaded Russia, Laski's analysis, con–
clusions and even his theoretical premises would be very different.
We can anticipate the program of political action that follows from
his fundamental commitments, although Laski him:self may not at the
moment recognize it. It involves acceptance of ideological, and ulti–
mately organizational, hegemony by Moscow over the international
working-class movement. Such a program is disastrous and will
increase the chances of domestic fascism in democratic countries after
Hitlerism is defeated. Little can he said for it even as a strategic
move. The justification of labor and socialist support of the military
