56
PARTISAN REVIEW
In my view, the main cause for emergence of the Russian national–
ist opposition has been the stagnation of the regime and its concurrent
stability. The nationalist opposition basically represents a rebellion of
the semi-intelligentsia, a group drawn largely from the service sector,
against the intelligentsia and the senile partocracy, which is incapable
of reviving the dynamism of the regime either by democratization or by
re-Stalinization, thus opening "the way up" for the semi-intelligentsia.
Nevertheless, the service sector has a potential ally in the partocracy.
The danger then is this: in the event of some acute crisis, the
regime could lapse into open neo-Nazism, perhaps with an admixture
of Orthodox clericalism-in other words, into total senility. Neo–
Nazism would not save the regime, but might prolong its existence and
produce new victims. In this case a military venture would also be
possible.
I should like to stress that such dangers are not great. The crux of
the problem Russian nationalism presents at the present time is that it
divides the people and thereby works to the advantage of the regime
and to the detriment of the multinational democratic movement,
which alone is capable of offering a radical and humane solution to the
major problems of the USSR, including the problem of nationality.
Translated by Susan Brownsberger
We regret the death of
JAMES T. FARRELL,
an early contributor to
Partisan Review.
