304
GEORGE LlCHTHEIM
If):
first, there is the alleged fact that "the lower-class individual
is likely to have been exposed to punishment, lack of love, and a
general atmosphere of tension and aggression since early childhood
-all experiences which tend to produce deep-rooted hostilities ex–
pressed by ethnic prejudice, political authoritarianism, and chili–
astic transvaluational religion." "All of these characteristics produce
a tendency to view politics and personal relationships in black-and–
white terms, a desire for immediate action, an impatience with talk
and discussion ..." "It is interesting that Lenin saw the character
of the lower classes, and the tasks of those who would lead them,
in somewhat these terms. He specified as the chief task of the Com–
munist parties the leadership of the broad masses, who are 'slumb–
ering, apathetic, hidebound, inert and dormant.' These masses, said
Lenin, must be aligned for the 'final and decisive battle' . . . by
the party which alone can present an uncompromising and unified
view of the world and an immediate program for drastic
change ..." And so on, following earlier observations on the
readiness of the masses "to follow leaders who offer a demon–
ological interpretation of the evil forces (either religious or
political) which are conspiring against him"
(sic).
To this Mr.
Lipset adds the following priceless footnote: "Most of these char–
acteristics have been mentioned by child psychologists as typical of
adolescent attitudes and perspectives. Werner Cohn, in an article
on Jehovah's Witnesses, considers youth movements as a prototype
of all such 'proletarian' movements." Why "proletarian" the reader
of either Mr. Lipset or Mr. Cohn may well ask? Apparently because
this adjective is intended to denote "an aura of social estrange–
ment." That the Bolshevik party had about as much in common
with Jehovah's Witnesses as chalk with cheese; that its core was
made up of "professional revolutionaries" stemming from the
intelligentsia, who also staffed its chief rival, the Populist party
(SR); that the ideology of Leninism is to be understood in terms
of the Russian intelligentsia's traditional radicalism-these and
other decisive historical circumstances find no place in such at–
tempts at system-building. (Incidentally, Hitler's concentration
camps were full of Jehovah's Witnesses who apparently did not
regard him as a suitable leader to follow, despite his "demon-
