BOOKS
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things are finally of equal value if they function equally well, by insist–
ing on the perverted relationship between the traditional and the new
secular religions: the latter have simply "secularized" originally trans–
cendent contents, whose truth consisted precisely in their being trans–
cendent. The argument stresses that the classless society is nothing but a
secularized perversion of the Kingdom of God, etc. Whether this is his–
torically true or not, the argument for traditional and against secular
religion remains weak because it rests on the assumption that socially
and psychologically we cannot do without religion, an assumption lead–
ing to the use of a terminology which calls an anti-religious attitude
religious too. (The question is whether this is permissible. Engels long
ago pointed out that the concept of a "religion without God" is like
conceiving of chemistry as "alchemy without the philosopher's stone.")
The argument itself can be faced squarely only if one admits the gulf
separating faith from atheism. Insofar as Marx: can rightly be called
the father of the social sciences, his victory in the modern world is
perhaps nowhere shown more clearly than in the acceptance of his
methodology by his very opponents.
Finally, it is a matter of record that Lenin, like Marx and all the
more educated Marxists, took pride in being the true heir of secularized
Western thought. The point, obviously, is not that Marxist thought is
still firmly embedded in the Western tradition, as it is to a larger degree
than Marx himself realized, but that the secular world is unavoidably
adopting Marxist habits of thought.
The great temptation, and to a degree justification, of the view
of Bolshevism presented in Gurian's study lies in the fact that Com–
munism, as against racism, contains elements intrinsic to the great tra–
dition of political thought. The turning point, where Bolshevik totali–
tarianism overtook and liquidated communism as we knew it from
Marx: to Lenin, is difficult to perceive and can hardly be located with
precision before the development of the Soviet system comes to an
end.
In
the meantime Gurian's statement, which applies its working
hypotheses cautiously and supports them with great distinction of schol–
arship, can well
be
taken as a definitive test of our present knowledge
and understanding of the subject.
Hannah Arendt
