VADIM BELOTSERKOVSKY
47
dissenting view. On the whole, the range of their political views
oscillates from moderate, theoretical liberalism to fierce reaction.
Almost all of them reject revolutionary methods in the struggle against
the existing regime . This marks yet another index of the striking
difference between contemporary Soviet society and that of pre-Rev–
olutionary Russia, where it was the humanistic intelligentsia which
held the most radical views and produced most of the revolutionary
leaders and ideologists.
The ideological orientation of the category I have referred to as the
"coerced" is , of course, very different . For them, abrogation of
censorship and granting of other democratic rights is not an end in
itself, but only the means of achieving the liquidation of their status as
. 'coerced ones ." For fifty-five years they have suffered the ultimate
form of subjugation. Once this butden is removed, any new form of
oppression, even a less heavy one, will seem intolerable to them. As
supportive evidence may I cite the developments in Eastern Europe
during the uprisings of 1956 and 1968, when people were striving to
achieve self-governing institutions . The "coerced ones" in any event
are not inspired by the idea of restoring capitalism-since the new
bosses would be the trusted and prosperous lackeys of the present
hated regime and the black marketeers, now feeding off the regime,
incapable of doing anything else. They are even less inspired by the
prospect of retaining state capitalism with a democratic, multi-party
··super-structure.·· Not to mention the basic incompatibility of such a
combination ,2 this would mean that a great number of the hated
bureaucrats would have to remain and would retain their power. The
relatively passive attitude of the' 'coerced ones" is explained to a large
extent by the lack of an acceptable alternative to the existing regime.
Besides, it is much more difficult for them to fight than it is for the
creative intelligentsia. Loss of a job in itself is a catastrophe for them.
The' 'pen," the most basic weapon of the humanistic intelligentsia, is
2Nationalized heavy industry, since it is invariably a losing proposition and produces low-quality machinery, is
in constant and ever-increasing need of pumping in new capital which has to be transferred from other sectors of
the economy as, for instance, consumer goods industries (owned by the government or any other kind) because
machines cannot be coerced or' 'persuaded" to work under conditionsofshortages. Such pumping in of capital
isofnecessity compulsory, which means a totalitarian regime. The " hidden mystery" of stare capitalism is that
factories work and are built so that factories should not stop working- that is, to replace equipment pre–
maturely worn out because ofpoor quality and neglect and also to plug up the gaps in the economy arising from
the enormous and inevitable losses caused by the centralized adminiStration of a nationalized " large economic
system ."
