LEON WIESELTIER
423
After Poland, however, no more. It has been observed about
Sontag's change of heart, most credibly by Diana Trilling, that
honesty about communism is not exactly heroic in 1982. (Bernard–
Henri Levy felt entitled to make the same observation, having
discovered the truth about communism as early as 1977 .) Still, anti–
communism, even late and loosely put, is correct. And yet Sontag's
anticommunism leaves a doubt. The idea is there, but it is strangely
inflected. Consider her case, again. "We" were not enough opposed
to communism because "we" were too much opposed to fascism. And
the reason "we" must be more opposed to communism is - because it
is fascism! Where, then, is the change? The basis of Sontag's anti–
communism is antifascism. The equation of communism with
fascism makes you think that this was not quite the conversion it was
cracked up to be. Fascism is still the criterion of crime, the fact that
puts the fire in her blood.
I do not mean to suggest that Sontag is not anticommunist
enough; such inquisitions I leave to
Commentary
and the
National
Review.
I mean to suggest, rather, that the habits of anti–
anticommunism die hard, harder even than Sontag thinks. She has
accomplished a rather curious thing; she has arrived at a perfectly
praiseworthy position in a manner that destroys all confidence in her
judgment. Her statement at Town Hall was, finally, the political
apology of an unpolitical person. Only an unpolitical person could
support, as she did in her reply to her critics, something she called
"the democratic movement in El Salvador. " There is no democratic
movement in El Salvador. There are parties. Some are revolu–
tionary , and shoot citizens on their way to the polls; some are
reformist , and seek to implement some meritorious programs by the
indulgence of the military; some are reactionary, and kill any
adversary they can. An imperfect (that is , political) choice must be
made, a choice that Sontag stays above by supporting only a
"democratic movement," which is perfect.
Her reflections on communism are similarly innocent of the
practice of politics. She is taking positions, that's all. A really serious
anticommunism might be a little less worried about being mistaken
for "reactionary forces." Russia is a greater threat to the idea of
democracy than the Republican Party. There are times, therefore,
when intellectually unattractive alliances must be made . A hawkish
foreign policy may be based upon a view of the world that is philo–
sophically odious, upon a form of patriotism that rides roughly over
