COMMUNISM NOW: THREE VIEWS
ISAAC DEUTSCHER
"Is de-Stalinization a sign of a liberal trend in Soviet
society or is it only a temporary expedient?" This is probably the
question most frequently debated by the intelligentsia nowadays. I
shall perhaps be forgiven for saying that behind the mere formulation
of the question one can feel an extraordinary remoteness from the
realities of the issue. The view that de-Stalinization is only a "tem–
porary expedient" or a slick maneuver, carried out by a few men
in the Kremlin in the course of a narrow personal struggle for
power, had perhaps a semblance of plausibility in the year 1953
or 1954, before the full force of the reaction against Stalinism
had become apparent. In 1956 this view is patently anachronistic
and untenable. The break with Stalinism is now felt in every aspect
of Soviet activity and thought: in domestic and foreign policies,
in education, in philosophical writing, in historical research, and
indeed, in the whole atmosphere of Soviet life. The scale and range
of the changes taking place indicate that what we are witnessing is
a many-sided, organic, and at times convulsive, upheaval in the ex–
istence of a huge segment of humanity.
I shall not dwell here on such recent events as the Twentieth
Congress and Khrushchev's speech, the importance of which is ob–
vious. What these and similar events show is that even if Stalin's
successors had originally been guided by mere tactical considerations
the effects of their moves have by far transcended all tactics. The
autocratic system of government, bequeathed by Stalin, is shattered.
The backbone of the M.V.D., the political police, is broken. The
univers concentrationnaire
is dissolving. Stalinist monolithic uni–
formity is slowly, painfully, yet unmistakably beginning to give way
to a certain diversity of outlook.
If
the "liberal trend" is defined as a
radical lessening of governmental coercion and a striving for gov-
