LEON WIESELTIER
425
out tha t J a ruze lski is working for the same ma n as Ara fa t. But no;
the subj ect is Pola nd , not Pa les tine. It is importa nt to resist such a
shrinkage of the intellec tua l vocation . Sa id has no t.
0
doubt he is
in favor of di sarmament because the des tructi on of the world would
rob the Pa les tini a ns of the ir ri ght to self-determina ti on .
Noam C homsky was simil a rl y se rene about the developments
in Pola nd. "Wha t lessons a re to be drawn from the impos ition of
marti al law in Pola nd ? The a nswer , in my vi ew, i : virtu all y none ."
In a sense, tha t is true; Chomsky never lea rns . At leas t not from
mi se ry tha t comes from M oscow. The developments in Indochina,
however , or in Centra l Ameri ca, are a lways full of lessons. There
was something tha t C homsky did say about Pola nd , though , tha t
dese rves study. H e denied that the ma tter has a ny bearing upon
either "sociali sm" or "communism ." The fo rm tha t hi s deni al took
was breathta king. "For diffe ring reasons, the world's two grea test
propaganda systems have long been united in describing Lenini st
regimes as a fo rm of 'socia lism' or 'communi sm .' This pos ition has
always been rej ec ted by the liberta ria n Left , whi ch recogni zed tha t
'socialism will be free or it will no t be a t a ll' (Rudolph R ocker)." With
thi s sema nti c tri ck C homsky slips by the experience of whole
societies . The problem o f Pola nd need not be solved , as the philoso–
phers say, but cured ; like ma ny philosophers' problems, it is onl y a
mi use of la nguage, a mi definiti on of a term . Define soc ia lism
properl y a nd it is out o f da nge r . Define it imp roperl y a nd millions
die; still , its ca ree r in the concrete is no proof against it. In fac t , thi s
is not a t a ll like philosophy; it is like theo logy . More spec ifically, like
the theology of the one true bel ieve r. Onl y he does not ta ke God's
name
In
vain .
Sa id's a nd C homsky's replies to Sontag a ppea red in the la te
Soho
Week(y N ews ,
but it was in the pages of the
Nation ,
where Sontag
published the tex t of her sta teme nt , tha t the Left's replies to her a nti–
communi sm were mos t clea rl y given . Some a rgued tha t they had
neve r bee n dece ived ; some, tha t there was no thin g
to
have been
dece ived about ; some, tha t they had been dece ived , but no t exac tl y
by communi sm ; ome, th a t the deception was a reason for hope .
Philip G ree n a nd Aryeh Neier a rgued tha t they had neve r been
dece ived . They we re ce rta inl y neve r procommuni st; a nd yet they
are not known by their a nticommuni sm . T he same may be said o f
ma ny on the democra ti c Left. They a re good people. They detes t
di cta tors. Yet they speak mo re against some th a n against o thers.
