BEAT ME, DADDY
183
ficiality of data, sloppiness of terminology and analysis, and special–
pleading; and, second, that his exclusion of ethical values from the
"real" world leads to a prostration before authoritarian ideologies
like fascism and Stalinism which is especially dangerous in a period
like this one.
1.
I have just spent a delightful half-hour skimming through the
pages of
TheManagerial Revolution.
What Olympian certainty, what
grand formulations, what a parade of scientific objectivity- and what
predictions! P. 178, for instance: "I have predicted the division of
the world among three super-states. The nuclei of these three super–
states are, whatever may be their future names, the previously existing
nations Japan, Germany and the United States." Or p. 224, where
he doubts that "the present regime in Russia will long continue"
because, mainly, "the Russian managers, the new ruling class, are
qualitatively weak." He goes into some detail about the stupidity and
incompetence of the Stalinist bureaucracy---of course, this was before
the Red Army's advance had converted Stalin retroactively into a
Great Man-and predicts that "during the course of the next years,
~ ; 1~ia
will split apart into an Eastern and a Western section," with
Jap::m taking over the East and Germany the West. "We may be
sure," he concludes with that certainty he always has on tap, "We
may
be
sure that the completion of the fusion [of Western Russia
with Europe] ...
'viii
find Russia subordinated to the European
center, not, as the spinners of Bo:Shevik nightmares tell us, the other
way around." In three years all these grand idea<s have had to be
quietly dropped overl:oard ; but there's no cause for alarm: Burnham
ha'S a new theoretical cc:tt, made by turning the old one :nside out.
Burnham is a prophet who cannot predict the futu1
~
but is very
good at predicting the past. A careful study of the
New York Times
has convinced him that the Red Army has made big advances in the
past year and half and that Russia is dominating the international
scene. He therefore announces his scientific conclusion: Stalin is a
Great Man. Why? Because he is successful. Why is he successful?
Clearly because he has all the attributes of a Great Man.
As
far as
Burnham can see, the tide of Stalinism is destined to 1.ontinue its
present flood until it engulfs the world-just as in 1941-2, when Hit–
lerism was at its peak, Burnham predicted its "inevitable" lltmuance
on an upward course.
As
the pragmatist is likely to do, Burnham pre–
dicts the future by simply extending the present forward; and he
