42
PARTISAN REVIEW
actually closed to the public. Everyone knows that he responds to
almost every illegal act of the authorities and that he is active in the
Committee for Human Rights, that organization so odious to the
government .
And, still, Sakharov does not indulge in dicta, never attacks
others with rude words, never condemns a man broken by life or by the
KGB. He has no trace of malice against anyone or anything. He is
incapable of condescension.
Some readers must certainly feel utterly perplexed by now. What
is the connection between Sakharov and the people? He must be an
exception, perhaps even among the Soviet intelligentsia. However, I
dare to maintain that Sakharov is not only not exceptional, but even
typical. The real question is: for which milieu is he typical?
Sakharov himself begins his
Memorandum
with the following
words: "The author's views were formed in the milieu of the
scientific-technical intelligentsia which manifests great concern for
theoretical and practical problems of foreign and domestic policy, as
well as for the problems of future mankind."
The point is that the vario.us layers ofSoviet society are remarkably
divergent from one another in a number of important moral and social
characteristics. One might almost say that several peoples or nations
co-exist within the Soviet Union. These differences are not easily
recognizable. People are too prone to generalize and to over–
emphasize national characteristics.
In free and developed countries, people of different social layers
are brought closer together by common traditions, by democratic
organizations and processes and, finally, by religion. All these
connective and equalizing elements barely exist in the Soviet Union.
Instead oppression reigns. Oppression, as we know, bends or breaks
some people, while others are hardened and cleansed by it. Moreover,
each layer of society reacts differently, both psychologically and
philosophically, to such oppression. Some people try to break away
from oppression, to go forward so-to-say, others go backward; some
turn to the left, others to the right. That too hinders mutual
understanding among the different layers of society.
Mutual understanding is further obstructed by the primitive
