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analys is of the beginnings of railway regul a ti on in the United Sta tes,
whi ch h e expl ained as the forma ti on of a rail road ca rtel, was warml y
appl auded in reviews by the
laissez-faire
advocates.
So we have a hi storical conjun cti on-a fallin g-off fr om a peri od of
apparent grea t economi c success, a failure of professional economi cs to
predict or prescribe and to analyze the politi cal factors whi ch super–
vened in the economy, and a long-standin g current of di ssati sfaction
with the capitalist sys tem, reinforced by the spreading presence of an
actual rival. The books of Harrin gton and Lekachman directl y ari se
from thi s tri p le intersecti on , tha t of Drucker more tangenti all y.
Harrington 's work is a deepl y felt, carefull y thought out, awk–
wardl y expressed argument that Marx's analysis of capitalism is still of
great value and in fact suppli es the key to understandin g the present
situa ti on . The p resenta ti on is in man y ways characteristi c of Marxi an
theoretical writing: cita ti ons and content analysis of the Master, grea t
learning in the writings of o th er Marxi sts as well as of contemporary
economi sts and sociol ogists, a citati on of current economic facts and
politi cal tendencies. T he mann er is, h owever, unch aracteri sti call y
cheerful and devoid of spiteful polemi cs.
Indeed , Harrington is almos t ecumeni cal among Marxi st sects and
ri va l viewpo ints, Stalinism and the burea ucra ti c coll ecti vism of the
Soviet Union alone falling outside the pale. He di splays u nderstandin g
and apprecia tion of mos t of th e current Marxi st writers; I do ubt if the
word " brilli ant" has ever been used so often in a book not dealing with
di amond cutting. Even when h e di sagrees, most notabl y with the
Fren ch Marxi st, Loui s Althusser, th ere is a ton e of respect and a
willingness to learn .
It is, I suppose, intrinsic to the very philosoph y of Marxi sm tha t
works of Marxi st analysis frequentl y tend themselves to be politi cal
acts.
It
is not hard to see refl ecti ons of the current politi cal situa ti on on
the Left and of Mi chael H arrington 's own ro le. T he Cold War forced
the democra ti c socialist movement into an un compromi sin g anti–
Stalinist positi on ; independent Marxi st thinking, cru shed by Stalin
and hi s henchmen , coul d onl y survive by accepting an anti-Stanlini st
orthodoxy. I accep t the poss ibilit y tha t thi s ri gidity may h ave been
hi stori call y n ecessary at a certain moment; but orthodoxy does no t
promote p rogress in social th ought. In the United Sla tes, thi s ri gid
reaction led to support of the Vi etn am War by the offi cial leadership of
wha t was left o f the sociali st movement.
T he New Left in thi s country and elsewhere and, in Europe, some
element of fr eedom among the Old Left induced by its grea ter strength
