BOO KS
581
It
is in the nature of this situation that general assumptions, orig–
inally designed only as working hypotheses, soon assume the status of
final judgments and conclusions. These permeate the whole literature
of the subject and most authors are not even aware that this is the
case. One merit of the present study is that in it the principles on which
most historical and sociological research into the nature of Bolshevism
rests are clearly articulated and consistently followed. These principles
may be enumerated as follows:
( 1) An unbroken line of thought and political attitude runs from
Marx to Lenin and Stalin. Marx is the discoverer and formulator of
a
the~ry
which Lenin translated into practical terms and which Stalin
put into effect. Strategy (Marx) is followed by the development of
tactical means (Lenin) and ends with the execution of a preconceived
plan (Stalin). To be sure, Gurian adheres to this argument with great
caution and many qualifications, but essentially he agrees that there
is no difference in principle between Marx and Stalin.
(2) Bolshevism is understood in religious terms. "What believers
of traditional religions ascribe to God . . . Bolsheviks ascribe to the
allegedly scientific laws of social development." (This
quid pro quo
of
God and historical law has by now apparently convinced everybody who
believes that neither the existence of God nor that of historical laws
can be demonstrated scientifically.)
It
depends on the personal religious
(or anti-religious) convictions of the author whether this new secular
religion is taken as the great alibi of the regime (because of the "ideal–
ism" involved) or whether, as happens more frequently, it is taken as
a perversion of true materialism. More recently, however, the secular
religion of Bolshevism is understood as a substitute for the true faith,
the one great modern heresy growing out of a secularized society.
In
this latter version, which is the thesis of the present study, the very
emergence of a "secular religion" is presented as a demonstration of
the inevitability of human religious needs and as a supreme political
warning against the abandonment of traditional religion.
(3) The new immanentist creed is the logical product of the modern
secularized world and its inherent tendencies. A political life that has
lost its transcendent measure and believes that ultimate aims can be
reached and realized on earth can only end in some form of totali–
tarianism.
I
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This is not the place to take issue with the validity of these judg–
ments, each of which corresponds to a true predicament of the modern
political situation and none of which, being "value-judgments," can be
proved or disproved by the facts and the sources themselves. They are all