Do you think man is responsible
for his actions?
As far as he is free, yes.
Do you think man can overcome
his destiny?
Yes, if he accepts it.
What do you think about suicide?
It is one of the many things that
I cannot understand.
Do you believe in the possibility of
a perfect political order?
No.
Or
in the possibility of perfect laws,
institutions, authority?
No.
In a Christian State?
No; it would be a contradiction
in
terms.
In a Christian society?
That alone would
be
a Christian
society in which love replaced
the law.
What do you mean
by
socialist
revolution?
The elimination of the economic
and social obstacles which at
present impede human freedom.
Do you think it will bring happi–
ness to mankind?
Not necessarily. Old troubles will
linger on and new ones will de–
velop.
Do you think freedom can survive
in a socialist country?
In the age of monopolies, I think
that without a certain number
of socialist measures, freedom is
impossible.
As in Russia?
In Russia there is no socialism,
but its opposite-State capital–
ism; no freedom, but its op–
posite.
697
Do you think the educated classes
have a leading part to play in
society?
No.
Do you agree with the maxim
uy
ou
can't go wrong if you always
follow the working class"?
As
a compass it has lost its useful–
ness. The working class is not
going in anyone direction.
But on the whole, can it not be
said to tend in one directioll?
Its direction varies from one coun–
try to another, from Labour
to
Social-Democrat to Communist
to Titoist to Syndicalist to Peron–
ist and so on. To say that one
should always follow it, is mean–
ingless.
Are
proletarian
organizations,
when free from external pres–
sure, not spontaneously progres–
sive?
Not spontaneously.
What ultimately decides the real
nature of these organizations?
The conscience of their members
and their leaden.
Are you a pessimist?
No.
Have you confidence in man?
I have confidence in the man who
accepts suffering and transforms
it into truth and moral courage.
And so now I think that out of
the terrible polar night of the
Siberian slave labor camps,
Someone may come who will re–
store sight to the blind.
Someone? Who?
His name does not matter.
Rome, 1954
(Translated by Darina Silone)
