126
PARTISAN REVIEW
political influence and gain dominance in new spheres all over
the world .. . the perfection otthe army is the main target: only
a strong army can back imperial politics.
They also note an affinity between the Soviet regime, its
foreign policies, and many Third World dictatorships:
... the "export of revolution" means largely the export of the op–
pressive technology of government perfected by the Soviet ap–
paratus, which certain local power elites are only too eager to
take over. . .. They are Bolshevik in the important sense that the
Bolshevik technology of oppression appeals to them.. ..
It is worthy of note that the authors of a study which so il–
luminatingly and mercilessly catalogues the defects of political sys–
tems claiming to have been inspired by Marxism continue to see
themselves as Marxists or "radical socialists ." Moreover, unlike
many other intellectuals in the West, they don't flinch from enter–
taining the possibility (as indicated in an earlier quote) that there
may be
some
connection between the theory and the practices it had
unwittingly inspired.
If
so, their clinging to a Marxist identity is at
least mildly puzzling. Perhaps Sidney Hook's observation
3
(in his
writings here reviewed) may apply to their case as well :
... today when a person characterizes himself as a Marxist, we
no more know what he really believes than we do when a person
claims to be a Christian.
Hungary
1956
Revisited
by Feher and Heller is a short study of a
recent revolutionary attempt to redress the huge imbalance between
theory and practice. It is also a reinterpretation of the
1956
revolt
and its aftermath with more than a few references to the new order
which replaced both the aspirations of the revolution and its Stalinist
antecedents .
The authors do not share the Western euphoria over the ac–
complishments of the Kadar regime ("an enlightened police state"
they call it) or what Khrushchev called "goulash communism" and
caution against "confusing pacification with legitimation." They
3. Marxism and Beyond.
By Sidney Hook. Rowman and Littlefield. $22 .95.
