862
PARTISAN REVIEW
well. We do not need to study the evidence of experience to determine
whether monarchy or aristocracy may be under certain circumstances
the most suitable form of government. Our rhetoric informs us unequi–
vocally that democracy-any form of government, that is, which
calls
itself a "democracy"-is always best.
If
the working class practices racial exclusion in its unions, or breaks
machines that might soften mankind's load, or supports dictators, or
violates human rights, well, then, the working class is surely being
"misled," not at all "expressing its historic role" as would be the case
if
these same acts were carried out by the "reactionary capitalists" or
"landlords." In terms of our rhetoric, a European should regard it as
a delight and privilege to be massacred by colonial bandits in a tropical
jungle, if only the bandits have taken care to clothe themselves with
moral loincloths of revolutionary nationalist slogans.
As for wars conducted by the good men-and they are continually
pressed to start wars in order to punish the children of Satan who refuse
to accept their benign advice and leadership---as for these wars, it is
morally self-evident that they are always fought in defense of peace,
and against the plots of aggressors.
Even to raise questions about the relation of the rhetoric to reality
is enough to brand one as "backward-looking," "cynical," and "reac–
tionary." The "right wing" is occupied only by one's opponents. No
one, in our day, would be so idiotic as to anchor his political position
openly on the Right. The wildest conservative of the twentieth century
offers his incense to the people's will, and does not dream of "setting
the clock back." The blasphemy of suggesting that the working class is
no better than some other classes, that not every war is worse than any
peace, that there will always be classes in society, that the popular will
is as much a fiction as the divine right of kings- such blasphemy is as
rare in our day, and as heretic, as witches.
It is not simply that reactionaries alone would question the axioms
of the accepted political rhetoric. The fact is that there are no longer
any reactionaries.
Everyone
is forward-looking, progressive, democratic,
pro-labor, and ardent in the defense of peace. Juan and Evita Per6n are
the idols and idolizers of the Argentine working class. Hitler was the
mere voice of the German people's will. Truman's Fair Deal is going
to bring more and more of everything to everybody. Attlee will destroy
the privileges of the rich
if
he must destroy England, also, in the process.
Stalin's government, by definition, is the rule of the workers under the
world's most democratic constitution, and if any Soviet citizen thinks
differently, the MVD will prove it.
