PARTISAN REVIEW
103
unverifiable, but the fact that it is assumed to
be
true suggests a decline
in the power of words. It is this reality which gives some credence to
Marcuse's famous argument about "repressive tolerance" (although it
does not necessarily say anything in favor of the selective intolerance
he proposes as a remedy).
What the terrorists have grasped in their desperation is that serious
social change is not likely to come about by persuasive reasoning or
peaceful demonstrations alone. In this respect, they seem to agree with
the arguments about the fallacies of revolution as theater. The tragedy,
of course, is that their solution is itself not the break with the past they
imagine, not the future they hope for. It is still not the revolutionary
praxis
grounded in a sustained theoretical critique of existing possibilities,
long-term objectives and commensurate means whose necessity the New
Left seemed to acknowledge only a few years ago. Perhaps the condi–
tions for the unity of theory and practice are not at hand ; certainly the
will to achieve it has flagged.
In other words, it is difficult not to be pessimistic about the future
contours of the New Left if it does not distinguish itself clearly from
terrorist factions. In the past, terrorism has always been on the fringe
of radical movements, at least those with any hope for success. After
the murder of Shatov in Dostoyevsky's
The Possessed,
one of the conspira–
tors named Liputin feverishly asks Peter Verkhovensky, the leader of
their cell:
"One thing; only tell me the truth. Is there only one group of five
in the world, or is it true that there are several hundred of them?"
After some hesitations and temporizing, Peter answers:
"You're a fool, Liputin. What difference could it make to you now
whether there's only one or a thousand?"
To which Liputin triumphantly replies:
"Which means that there is only one. I knew it! I knew it all the
time that there was only one. I knew it all along!"
Today, it is unlikely that our Peters would have to hesitate and our
Liputins feel so isolated.
Martin Jay
