556
PARTISAN REVIEW
asked on what basis he had made his prediction, he said "Because
it would overflow." Murti-Bing holds such magic judgments to be
fossil remains of a past era. The "new" is striving to overcome the
"old," but the "old" cannot be eliminated all at once.
The one thing that seems to deny the flawlessness of Murti–
Bing is the apathy that is born in people, and that continues to live
in spite of their feverish activity.
It
is hard to define; and at times one
might suppose it to be a mere optical illusion. In the last analysis, peo–
ple bestir themselves, work, go to the theater, applaud speakers, take
excursions, fall in love, and have children. Yet there is something
impalpable and unpleasant
in
the human climate of such cities as
Warsaw or Prague. The collective atmosphere, resulting from an
exchange and a re-combination of individual elements, is bad. It is an
aura of strength and unhappiness, of internal paralysis and external
mobility. Whatever we may call it, this much is certain: if Hell
should guarantee its lodgers magnificent quarters, beautiful clothes,
the tastiest food and
all
possible amusements, but condemn them
to breathe in this aura forever, that would be punishment enough. No
propaganda, either pro or con, can capture so elusive and little–
known a phenomenon. It escapes all calculations. It cannot exist on
paper. Admitting, in a whispered conversation, that something of the
sort does exist, one must seek a rational explanation for it. Undoubt–
edly the "old," fearful and oppressed, is taking its vengeance by
spilling forth its inky fluid like a wounded octopus. But surely the
Socialist organism, in its growth toward a future of guaranteed
prosperity, is already strong enough to counteract this poison; or per–
haps it is too early for that. When the younger generation, free from
the malevolent influence of the "old," arises, everything will change.
Only, whoever has observed the younger generation in the Center
is reluctant to cast such a horoscope. Then we must postpone our
hopes to the remote future, to a time when the Center and every
dependent state will supply its citizens with refrigerators and auto–
mobiles, with white bread and a handsome ration of butter. Maybe
then, at last, they will be satisfied.
Why won't the equation work out as it should, when every step
is logical? Do we have to use non-Euclidean geometry on material as
adaptable and plastic as a human being? Won't the ordinary variety
satisfy them? What in the hell does a man need?
(Translated
by
Jane Zielonko)
