FUTURE OF SOCIALISM
351
· talistic," with the implication that this is something unalterable, a
sort of racial characteristic like the color of eyes or hair. But in fact
it cannot be unalterable, since capitalism itself has manifestly no
future, and we cannot be sure in advance that the next change in
the United States will not be a change for the better.
Then, again, we do not know what changes will take place
in
the USSR if war can be staved off for the next generation or so. In
a society of that type, a radical change of outlook always seems
unlikely, not only because there can be no open opposition but because
the regime, with its complete hold over education, news, etc., delib–
erately aims at preventing the pendulum swing between generations
which seems to occur naturally in liberal societies. But for all we
know the tendency of one generation to reject the ideas of the last
is an abiding human characteristic which even the NKVD will be
unable to eradicate. In that case there may by 1960 be millions of
young Russians who are bored by dictatorship and loyalty parades,
eager for more freedom, and friendly in their attitude toward the
w~.
.
Or again, it is even possible that if the world falls apart into three
unconquerable superstates, the liberal tradition will be strong enough
within the Anglo-American section of the world to make life tolerable
and even offer some hope of progress. But all this is speculation. The
actual outlook, so far as I can calculate the probabilities, is very dark,
and any serious thought should start out from that fact .
