216
PARTISAN REVIEW
China,
It
IS
even easier than for Russia to sacrifice millions, and to
regard as military victories what are actuall y defeats in terms of lives
lost.
That fear is Russia's chief historical stimu lus today. It dictates
Russia's diplomatic behavior and military strategy, and is responsible
for its return to Stalinism. Russia is preparing for war not only
militarily but by means of ideological rearmament. Hence the hastened
tempo of the ideological revolution, aimed at quickly preparing the
nation for the impending war, since time is not on the side of the
Russians.
If
World War
III
comes to pass, it will be due to the Russian
fear of China.
What are the Russians hoping for? A war cou ld destroy the empire,
but it cou ld also strengthen it. It cou ld even become a new form of
existence for the empire: a means of ideological re-animation and
political rebirth.
The audience does not have long to wait. Its position, though, is
not entirely safe: the stage is too close to it, and there is no proscenium.
But to guess at the outcome of the conflict would be frivolous. It is
saddening to think of those three hundred million remaining Chinese
grabbing the baton to continue the human relay race: there is a kind of
ethnic and cultural monotony in that.
Translated
by Guy
Daniels
We regret the death of
ALVIN W. GOULDNER
1920-1980
.
4