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to justify-in the broadest sense and on th e hi ghest metaph ys ical
level-the ex isting o rder o f things. T hi s tendency na tura ll y is imbued
with a strong Ch r istian spirit, and all genres, incl udin g the sharpest
sa tire, h ave been con secrated, as it were, by tha t same tendency. What is
good for litera ture proves
to
be an imped iment
to
analyti cal though t,
however;
From Under the R u bble
is a su perb illu stration of how the
though t process depends on the ha rmonic laws of the thinkers'
language as they a re predetermined by litera ture.
Whil e self-purifi cation is call ed fo r o n the moral pl ane, the
p roposal rega rding politics is for a return to a theocra ti c order and / or
to regionalism or decentrali za tio n. An y chance o f weakening the
to talitarian sta te the authors rightl y exclude as nonexistent, and
in stead propose a palatable substitute. T hi s is true o f Mikhail Agurs–
ky's articl e in
From Un der the R u bble
and , to a grea ter extent, Roy
Medvedev's book
On Socia list Democracy .
T he na ture o f thi s book is
defin ed by its titl e, in which "democracy" is p receded by an adj ecti ve.
Its premi se is the pet idea of important pa rty bureaucra ts seeking self–
res pect: tha t Marx and Lenin were perverted by Stalin and that, in
rea lity, the ex istin g sys tem is fundamentall y a good one- a ll tha t has to
be done is purify it o f perversion s.
A second premi se is the view o f democracy no t as a concept of
society, bu t as a governmental mechani sm. It fo ll ows from thi s, first of
all , tha t democracy can be adapted to the aims o f a to talita ri an sta te, as
a res ult o f whi ch tha t sta te onl y stands to ga in . For 405 pages Roy
Med vedev goes on to tell how thi s should be accomp lished. In contrast
to the au tho rs o f
From Under the R u bble,
who do not beli eve in
democra tic transforma tions " from above," Medvedev is specifica ll y
talking about tra nsfo rming the U. S.S. R . into a sociali st democracy
th rough the effo rts of the party appa ra tu s, to whose top echelon thi s
book is in fact addressed as the onl y audi ence capable of understanding
its contents and then acting in compliance. Like a Ma rqui se de
Pompado ur, Medvedev whi spers into the ea r o f the Kremlin 's Loui s
XV . Med vedev's lang uage reproduces pa rty jo urna lese w ith perfect
accuracy. At the same time, the a utho r natura ll y is wa rmed by the
tho ught that he is p roceeding "scientifi ca ll y," i.e., tha t hi s app roach
has much in common with the ideas o f Wes tern Ma rxi sts and econo–
mi sts, to whom he frequentl y refers. Let us no t deny it: it has. All of
thi s is p rompted, no doubt, by the hi ghes t mo ti ves- a concern for the
fate o f hi s coun try and hi s people. The acti va ting p ri nc ip le o f the book
is rather pragma tic: let's see wha t good we can do within the exi sting
framework .
