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PARTISAN REVIEW
That democratic element is, finally , menaced by a process of
social decay whose speed is accelerating. Political society is breaking
down into lobbies. Political and social conflict, evanescent , is giving
way to the defense of mere regional and vested interests. Irresponsi–
bility is increasing in all senses and in all sectors of society (from
ministers of state to people driving cars, from writers to mailmen).
Political imagination and creativity have disappeared .
The equation the most daring "pacifists" have attempted to es–
tablish , between "Russian imperialism" and "United States (or West–
ern) Imperialism" is absurd. Politically , there is nothing to defend–
aside from human lives - in Russian society . In "European" societ–
ies , there are many things to defend, things which , if destroyed, may
never exist again .
But what there is to defend cannot be defended by the states
and governments as they exist . First , because they are organically
incapable of doing it : the decay of Western managerial skills and the
mechanisms of management in society is neither accidental nor pass–
ing . The signs of decay are innumerable: from the aberration of to–
day's economic "policies" to the lack of a strategy towards Russia ,
from the absurdities of United States rearmament, to the permanent
sniping that takes place among the supposed "allies." Western "policy"
with regard to the Third World is the principal ally
Rus~ ian
penetra–
tion has in those countries: the events taking place in Central Amer–
ica demonstrate this to the point of caricature.
Next and most important, things are falling apart because
everyone is defending something else . It's a fact that we can stop
supporting Franco, Salazar, Papadopoulos, the Brazilian generals,
probably tomorrow Pinochet as well- but that support is never with–
drawn from a communist regime once it is established. But neither
that fact nor official rhetoric can mask the massive support Western
governments supply to the dictatorial regimes of the Third World.
(The hypocrisy of the French "left" in this instance is , as usual, par–
ticularly delightful. Many regimes supported by France in Africa
have no reason to envy - that's the least one can say - their Latin
American counterparts. And the African regimes depend much more
for their survival on Paris than do the South American regimes on
Washington.) Elementary realism indicates that, the more the con–
frontation with Russia intensifies, the more Marcos, Mobutu, and
d'Aubisson benefit from the unconditional support of "democratic"
governments. And the day is not far off when people will be asked to
support Botha in the name of the democratic and humanistic values
of the West.
